Jessica Bai ’15: EA’s annual Spring Concert will be held on April 7th and, for the first time, it will feature a theme. This year, however, the concert will have a theme for the first time. The Music Department has decided on a “Broadway” theme in the hope that if familiar show tunes are performed, more people will attend the concert.
“We’re trying to look at a way of getting more interest for people to come to the concert since we’re not doing the end of the year Cabaret this year,” Joe Buches, Chair of the Music Department and Choir Director, explained. “We were thinking of doing something big and fun at the end of the year for a final concert.”
Photo courtesy of Brittany Belo ’14
The bands, orchestras, and choirs are all preparing numbers from familiar and beloved broadway musicals, including Wicked, West Side Story, and Phantom of the Opera.
James Finegan, who is directing the Upper School Orchestra and the Upper School Chamber Ensemble while Katie Bechtold is on maternity leave, is preparing a West Side Story medley with the orchestra that includes many of the popular songs from the musical.
“West Side Story is by classical composer Leonard Bernstein. He was the classical director of the New York Philharmonic for about 40 years,” Finegan stated. “He was one of the first classical composers to write a musical and it has different genres of music. It has jazz, it has swing, and it’s classically influenced. It has these beautiful melodies so I thought it would be interesting to do a Broadway musical with a classical sensibility.”
To complement the West Side Story medley, the orchestra will also play “For Good” from the musical Wicked.
Finegan added that, “I always liked the song. It is a really beautiful song. I thought it would work out with strings, and because we have Jessica Bai ’16 and Alex Archambault ’14 as flutists, [Bechtold] and I decided that since there were two parts for the two witches singing to each other would work really well with the two flutes.”
Band Director Ryan Dankanich plans to have the Concert Band perform a medley from Grease and a Phantom of the Opera medley. Dankanich noted that the band is especially excited to play the latter medley and unanimously approved of the piece.
“The Phantom of the Opera is something that, when I was growing up, my mom took me to see. I think I saw it three times on Broadway,” Dankanich reminisced. “I’m really familiar with The Phantom of the Opera music.”
In continuing with the Broadway theme, Buches and the vocal groups are also preparing to sing show tunes in the spring concert. The Vocal Ensemble is working on “Under the Sea” from The Little Mermaid, “Bring Him Home” from Les Misérables, “Somewhere” from West Side Story, and “Cups,” the hit song from the popular movie Pitch Perfect.
“[The Vocal Ensemble is also working on] some other songs for the a cappella concert [on April 3rd],” Buches added. “Concert Choir is also doing songs from Sweeney Todd, Wicked, Hairspray, and Chicago.”
Buches stated that when it comes to continuing the tradition of a themed spring concert, he would definitely consider the idea for subsequent years if students seemed to enjoy it. “It is most exciting to see kids be excited about a music concert. I just think that this is a nice change for the Spring Concert. It’s not always going to be a Broadway theme, but all the ensembles are working on and gearing up for Disney, so these songs are good for that trip as well,” said Buches, “I’m excited and I think the students are too, and I’m looking forward to it!”