Summer Place Teams With Naperville Chorus for "Angelic Heights"
Ladies of the Chorus Join the Nuns in The Sound of Music
The Summer Place has teamed up with ladies from the Naperville Chorus. They will become the Sisters of Nonnberg Abbey in the Summer Place production of The Sound of Music, opening July 15 for 3 weekends.
The collaboration is a first for the two sister organizations. Both had their roots at North Central College. The chorus began in the 1920s as the Oratorio Society and became the Naperville Community Chorus in 1976. Summer Place was formed at the college in 1966. The combination was the brainchild of theatre leaders Ted Waltmire and Don Gingold. Ted's vision was to "flood the theatre with voices at the start and at the finale." Don reached out to Music Director Jeordano "Pete" Martinez and Chorus Secretary Patrice Basso, who loved the idea and organized the ladies of the chorus to participate.
“The stage version is different from the famous Julie Andrews movie,” says Gingold, President of the theatre group and Producer of the show. "The play opens with a beautiful rendition of Gregorian chant sung by the sisters, and the ladies of the chorus combine with our ensemble voices to bring the song to angelic heights.”
Not only are the sisters at the opening; they’re also at the wedding (oh, SPOILER ALERT, in case you haven’t yet heard the 80 year old story, Maria and Georg get married) where they reprise “How do you solve a problem like Maria” and then for the finale they accompany the gorgeous voice of Sadie Wynne, our Mother Abbess, in a reprise of Climb Every Mountain.
The songs are timeless and beautiful, and of course the combination of our singers and the ladies of the Naperville Chorus make the show a mountaintop experience.
The play is performed at the Naperville Central High School Auditorium and tickets start at $15; discounts for groups and senior homes. Visit SummerPlaceTheatre.org/tickets for all the details and to buy your tickets online while they last. There are 9 performances. Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 3:00pm beginning July 15.
Photo: The combined talents of ladies of Summer Place and of the Naperville Chorus; Mary Barrios, front-center, Vocal Director.