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Emma Gingold / Wednesday, July 22, 2020 / Categories: Past Shows, News

Songs of Hope: An Evening of Music

Sunday, July 26 at 7pm

Event date: 7/26/2020 7:00 PM Export event

Theatres around the world have been closed due to the Covid-19 virus.  

Before the pandemic, Summer Place Theater was busy preparing for our 54^th season.  Directors and designers had been hired, auditions scheduled... all the work that goes into making a season happen was happening – and then the world ended.  At first, we thought we might eke out a return before the end of summer, but as the weeks went by and the line on the graph on the nightly news got steeper, the realization set in that we'd all be apart for a lot longer than we'd first bargained for.

But we can still be together apart.

After a time, we turned our thoughts from what we couldn't do to what we could (after all, Shakespeare wrote "King Lear" while the Globe Theater was closed due to plague), and thanks to modern technology our performers could still perform.  It's taken some time to learn how to use the software, and to re-muster the troops, but we've come together remotely to do what we would've done under one roof this summer: to entertain and, hopefully, make the world a little bit better of a place.

 

An Online Presentation: Songs of Hope

Premeiring Sunday, July 26^th, at 7:00 PM

Watch on Youtube   |   Watch on Facebook

 

Five great songs of hope - and we all need a bit of that right now!

 

"Maybe This Time" from Cabaret

Performed by Abby Uphoff accompanied by Rex Meyer

 

Abby Uphoff is so excited to perform “Maybe This Time” in the Songs of Hope Cabaret! Some of her past credits include Sebastian in The Little Mermaid, Susan B. Anthony in Votes for Women, and Glory in Almost, Maine. She would also like to thank her parents for their constant love and support.

 

"This is Not Over Yet" from Parade

Performed by Mike Lynch accompanied by Emma Gingold

 

Mike Lynch is so excited to be a part of "Songs of Hope". He dreams of one day writing musical theatre for a living, but until then he will be performing the works of composers he admires. "There are two reasons I chose "This is Not Over Yet" to perform: 1.) At the beginning of quarantine, I fell in love with Jason Robert Brown. I have been binge listening to all of his shows from Songs For A New World to Bridges of Madison County and I was dying to perform a piece written by him. 2.) This song inspires hope in me more than almost any other and I think this song specifically will resonate a lot in the current climate."

 

There's No Business Like Show Business from Annie Get Your Gun

Performed by Tina St. Angelo Wetzel, accompanied by Emma Gingold

 

Tina St. Angelo Wetzel lives in Naperville. She performed in Summer Place musicals from 1973-1979, then returned 37 years later to perform in The Music Man for our 50th Anniversary! "I chose 'Show Business' because it is the unofficial anthem of the arts. We are missing every aspect of the performing arts. It takes a lot of talented people!! The show WILL go on. As always, this is for my family."

 

"Capacity" from Contact: A New Musical

Performed by Kayla Lollar, accompanied by Rex Meyer

 

Kayla Lollar most recently music directed last summer’s production of Mamma Mia! She also performed in our musical revue spring fundraiser in March.

 

"A New Life" from Jekyll & Hyde

Performed by Katherine Damisch, accompanied by Emma Gingold

 

Katherine Damisch returns to Summer Place Theatre after rockin' it out as Judas, singing "Jesus Christ Superstar" and others in our spring fundraiser. When not onstage, she's either working for the Chicago Wolves, seeing shows, or cheering on the Northwestern Wildcats. All love to her family during this time, especially Kevin, the best quarantine companion ever.

 

Don Gingold returns to emcee another Summer Place performance! Don is the President of the theatre's Board of Directors and a long-time Naperville resident. He had the pleasure of hosting our spring fundraiser in March, and in 2019 he enjoyed playing the villain Henri in Summer Place's production of My Three Angels.

Pianists

Emma Gingold is a pianist and music theory teacher whose first show with Summer Place Theatre was over fifteen years ago. You'll sometimes find her conducting the orchestra for Summer Place's musicals, like last year's South Pacific and other favorites like Footloose, 9 to 5, and Camelot. She was the accompanist at Lyons Township High School for nearly ten years, and she looks forward to starting her graduate studies in Collaborative Piano in the fall. Emma lives in Elmwood Park and has a hound dog named Bonnie.

Rex Meyer has helped produce beautiful music for a number of our shows, most recently a keyboardist for last year's Mamma Mia and this past March led the band for our spring fundraiser. We're glad to see him back and helping bring some songs of hope to life.

Vocal Coaches: Kelly Bailey, Katie Casserilla, Emma Gingold, Audrey McGee

Our Audio and Video Streaming Engineering was performed by Emma Gingold.  

The Online Performance Committee includes Sarah Batzel, Mark Burrows, Katie Casserilla, Hannah Gleason, Tracy Kay, Kayla Lollar, Katherine Monson, Audrey McGee, and is led by Kelly Bailey and Emma Gingold

 

 

"We offer it freely, but look to our friends to help support live theatre in Naperville" - Don Gingold.

If you love and miss theatre and enjoy our virtual summer offerings, please consider making a donation.  Like so many other performing arts organizations, we depend on box office revenue to pay the bills that don't stop even when our performances do, like storage, insurance, etc. You can always give a one-time donation of any size here on our website, and now you can also show your continuing support for Summer Place by becoming a monthly subscriber on our Patreon. We post classes and performances there that aren't viewable anywhere else as a thank you to our wonderful patrons.

We are your community theatre, but you're our community – and we simply couldn't do this without you!

The show debuts on Sunday, July 26, at 7:00pm and will be available to stream for a limited time. 

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