The weather outside was indeed frightful, as the New York City Gay Men's Chorus' (NYCGMC) 30th anniversary holiday concert and the first big snowstorm of the season occurred during the same weekend, but that failed to deter the Chorus, its guest Victoria Clark, or its faithful followers from turning out for a festive "Together at Town Hall: a Holiday Celebration of the Power of Love," on December 20. Artistic Director Dr. Charles Beale conducted, Jamie Harris staged the event, Chip Prince provided piano accompaniment, Tom McGillis interpreted the proceedings in sign language, and an orchestra of six assisted. There were two performances and the evening one is considered here.

"We're singing our favorite songs tonight," Beale announced at the start of the evening, also disclosing that NYCGMC's 30th season was almost cancelled, because of the financial crisis' impact on the Chorus as a nonprofit organization. The rousing opening, with soloists singing from the audience, in the balcony as well as on the orchestra level, before they joined the full Chorus on stage, was "The New World," from Jason Robert Brown's "Songs for a New World." In "Together Wherever We Go," by Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim, from "Gypsy," with some lines adapted for the occasion, the couplet "we're changing the laws,/we're earning applause" merited a mid-song ovation. Matters took a folksy turn with Larry Moore's arrangement of five lovely Appalachian Carols, with fiddle (violinist Justin Smith) and guitar (Courtney Sappington) prominent in the accompaniment, and Ransom Bruce, Ben Coleman, Jeffrey Meyer and Guy S. Jacobs as vocal soloists. NYCGMC agreeably realized "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen," with arranger Mark Riese's diverse variations. Christopher M. Lucas was the soloist for a swinging jazz number, "Run to the Manger," by Kirby Shaw.

photo courtesy of NYCGMC
Victoria Clark
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Victoria Clark lent a crystalline legit soprano to Jeffrey D. Harris and Robert Hillyer's "Christmas Eve," with oboe (Matt Hong), violin, and piano, segueing into Adolphe Adam's "O Holy Night," with the Chorus. Clark also participated in Irv Taylor, Dudley Brooks, and Hal Stanley's "(Everybody's Waiting for) The Man with the Bag," for which she got a kiss from Santa (John B. Cadue). Belying her classy image, Clark sang Joan Javits and Philip Springer's classic gold-digger number "Santa Baby," earning her a canned ham, which prompted her to query, "Is that a comment?" and which she gave away; a ThighMaster, which she kept; and a boa, which she declined, urging, "Save it for the Parade."

A hot "I Pray on Christmas," by Harry Connick, Jr. found Beale at the piano, Hong on saxophone, and Smith featured as well, with an ensemble of Chorus soloists. Following an exhilarating audience sing-along of "The Twelve Days of Christmas," NYCGMC Charter Members, including Jordan Michael Barbakoff, Fred Goldhaber, and Mark McManus, assisted by young Jeremy Wilson on guitar, recalled the Chorus' early days to lead into folksinger-of Peter, Paul and Mary fame-and composer Peter Yarrow's "Light One Candle," as a celebration of Chanukah and of the Chorus' future. NYCGMC's justly noted, moving, trilingual version of Franz Gruber and Josef Mohr's "Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht," also sung as "Silent Night," and conveyed in American Sign Language, followed.

The Chorus' quilt panel, with the inscription "Love Lives On" and a silver star for each member NYCGMC has lost, mostly to AIDS, hung onstage above the singers. For departed Chorus couples, the silver stars are joined and, in memory of them and in support of marriage equality, NYCGMC offered a dulcet "Concord," from the Masque in Act Two, Scene One, of Benjamin Britten's opera "Gloriana." Choristers further recalled their losses by holding lit candles during Chester W. Powers, Jr.'s "Get Together," with sweet solo by Kip Bonsignore.

NYCGMC capped the concert by blending Brotherhood of Man's "United We Stand," Supremes' song "Aint No Mountain High Enough," and the traditional "Go Tell It on the Mountain," with Lamont Mundell and Michael Osso as soloists, for an uplifting finale, and "We'll Always Be Together," from "Grease," with a bit of "Joy to the World" thrown in, for an encore.

NYCGMC's season continues, at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, at New York University, on March 25 and 26, with the "Big Gay Sing 2," a full evening of sing-alongs, and, on July 7, with "High" a "shocking and entertaining" rock opera about crystal meth and other "addictions that plague our society." Visit www.nycgmc.org for further information and to purchase tickets.