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Coweta audiences will be treated to a
musical “first” this Sunday, when the music of Irving Berlin’s
classic “Annie Get Your Gun” will be performed at the Centre for
Performing and Visual Arts at 2:30 p.m., April 19. The Sunday afternoon concert will feature New York opera baritone Lawrence Harris, Broadway vocalist Klea Blackhurst, and over 100 local adult and student and musicians – all led by Broadway conductor Aaron Gandy. Tickets for the April 19 performance can be purchased at the Centre, Scott’s Bookstore in downtown Newnan or Morgan’s Jewelers at Ashley Park. Ticket prices for the matinee performance are $5 for students, $12 for senior adults 55 and over, and $15 for general admission. Sunday’s performance will be the first time in theatrical history that the full music of the Rogers and Hammerstein Broadway musical has been presented in concert style. The Centre’s musical production required endorsement and permission from the heirs of the Rogers and Hammerstein estates. Sue Birch – who collaborates with Gandy, and who represents Blackhurst and Harris through the Sue Birch Music Agency - negotiated to secure the rights. “Most musicals are staged and fully costumed, as productions of “Annie Get your Gun” have been for many years,” said Don Nixon, Artistic Director for the Centre. “This is a concert version, so all of Irving Berlin’s music will be performed orchestrally and vocally, and the Roger’s and Hammerstein story line will be partially acted using hand props and simpler costumes.” “It will be done mostly in concert form, which allows audiences to enjoy the music without a full theatrical production, which would present an astronomical cost for us. And since no one no one has ever done this show in this form before, the granddaughters of Rogers and Hammerstein had to be contacted to approve the show in this form. So our audience will be witnessing a first.” The performance is being sponsored by the Centre, the Centre Patrons and the Masterworks Chorale, and has been produced in part through receipt of a Grassroots Arts Program grant from the Georgia Council for the Arts. The performance will mark the return of Gandy and Harris to Coweta County, and welcome vocalist Blackhurst to the Centre stage for the first time. Blackhurst – a well-known Broadway personality – is currently appearing in a national touring show of “Everything the Traffic will Allow,” based on the life of Ethel Merman. Harris – a celebrated New York opera baritone who was formerly an offensive lineman for the Houston Oilers – last appeared at the Centre in September, in a performance of Harris’ “Football to Opera” program for students. Gandy – an accomplished New York musician, musical director and conductor, and the conductor of Disney’s Broadway version of the “Lion King” – has worked with students twice before at the Centre. He conducted a master class for Coweta musical theatre students during the Centre STAR student performance of “Into the Woods” in 2007, after working with and conducting Centre STAR performers in the 2006 production of “Les Miserables.” Dr Lyn Schenbeck – who teaches strings in the Coweta County School System and conducts the Centre Strings student orchestra - first met Gandy when she appeared on a panel discussion for a national music conference. After talking to him about the school system’s Centre for Performing and Visual Arts, Gandy became interested in working with the Centre’s student programs. “He ended up developing a great deal of interest in the Centre and developed a professional partnership with us, for which we have been so grateful,” said Nixon. “He has worked with our students both times he has come, and his willingness to invest himself in them by providing quality instruction and collaboration for our students has been invaluable.” He, Harris and Blackhurst will stage “Annie” with over 100 local Coweta County performers – student and adult, professional and amateur. Students from Northgate and Newnan High Schools will join adult performers from the Centre’s Masterworks Chorale to form a 100-voice choir for the performance. Newnan High chorus teacher and Masterworks conductor Kathy Bizarth assembled the auditioned choir. Lyn Schenbeck has also assembled local professional musicians, high school band members and members of Centre Strings to create the performance’s orchestra. Smokey Road Middle School choral teacher Denise Meacham selected middle school students who will perform with Sunday’s lead vocalists, as well. “So this whole production really – kind of incredibly – brings together everything we want to do here at the Centre,” said Nixon. The school system’s Centre first serves the artistic students of Coweta County, he said, “and not only will some very talented students be able to perform a work of this caliber in front of an audience, they will do so with professional artists and under a professional conductor, all of whom are providing master-class experiences throughout the process.” Student master classes are regularly provided by professional artists who perform at or visit the Centre, often through the sponsorship of the Centre Patrons, local businesses and civic clubs, and the artists themselves. Cargill of Newnan and the Newnan Rotary Club most recently sponsored student flute and cello Master classes with artists Ed Arron and Angela Jones-Reus when they performed at the recent Wadsworth and Friends concert in Newnan. Jones-Reus - who chairs of the flute Department at the University of Georgia – and Arron – a famed New York cellist and musical director - performed for 125 high school musicians, then provided strings and flute clinics for local students. “Our students not only heard advice about how to make it professionally as musicians, but they received private instructions from two of the country’s top-performing flutists and cellists. “When you have artists at this level that are willing to invest in young lives what they have learned through years of academic and professional experiences... that is just invaluable. Musicians at much later stages of their artistic development would be very lucky – or would pay an awful lot of money – to be able to get the kind of experiences that our students had with them,” said Nixon. Other master classes at the Centre in recent years have included sessions with Martha Graham Dance, Dallas Brass, painter Francoise Gilot, and a host of accomplished musical, theatrical and visual artists. “Our second mission is to bring great, high-quality and enjoyable art and performances to our whole community, and that will certainly be on display here April 19th,” said Nixon. Plus, ticket sales help the Centre provide the next great experience for Coweta audiences and students, Nixon said. Local citizens who join the Centre Patrons provide funding for performances, classes and local scholarships, as well. Ticket for the 2:30 p.m. Sunday performance of “Annie Get Your Gun" are now on sale at the downtown Newnan and Ashley Park locations. For more information, or for directions to the Centre, call 770-254-2787. Note: THIS PROGRAM IS SUPPORTED IN PART BY THE GRASSROOTS ARTS PROGRAM OF THE GEORGIA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS THROUGH APPROPRIATIONS OF THE GEORGIA GENERAL ASSEMBLY AND IN PARTNERSHIP WITH ARTS CLAYTON.
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