For this trip, all you’ll need is your imaginations and your memories.
The Everett Chorale invites travelers on “a musical trip” across the United States in its last — and sure to be popular — concert of the season this weekend.
The concert showcases folk and popular music, some Broadway tunes and some famous movie tunes, from all regions of the country.
“And everyone is going to recognize most of the music on the program,” music director Lee Mathews said.
People will be using their imaginations on this trip because the first thing Mathews will ask of the audience is to have everyone board a hot air balloon for the song “Up, Up and Away,” a jazzy arrangement of a tune made famous by the Grammy-winning group The 5th Dimension.
Then, as Mathews explained, there’s a really strong wind that blows everyone clear to Iowa for a stop in River City. If you try hard enough you might even see the Wells Fargo wagon but you’ll surely hear a medley of songs from Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man.”
The audience will hear the strains from a barbershop quartet singing “Lida Rose” and of course a rousing rendition of “76 Trombones.”
The crowd then boards an old steam locomotive for an arrangement of “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad,” that includes a peppy interlude in the middle.
“There will probably be lots of people humming along with ‘Dinah won’t you blow,’” Mathews said.
The next stop is catching a “show boat” on the Mississippi River for a medley of soulful Southern favorites, such as “Old Man River,” and “I Can’t Help Loving That Man.”
After intermission, the group hops a covered wagon for a trip to the old west and the movie “Paint Your Wagon.” The songs from this Western flick might not be as familiar as some others, but they are beautiful and everyone will remember “They Call the Wind Mariah,” Mathews said.
Pop quiz: Name an actor who starred in “Paint Your Wagon?” If you guessed Clint Eastwood, you’d be right.
The audience loads up again to cross the prairie to Colorado country where they’ll sing a medley of John Denver arrangements, including “Annie’s Song,” “Thank God I’m a Country Boy,” “Grandma’s Feather Bed,” “Rocky Mountain High,” “Fly Away” and “Leaving on a Jet Plane.”
That plane takes the group back home, where the chorale ends the trip with Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land.”
“These are very singable numbers,” Mathews said. “And they will also bring back some memories.”
Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424,
goffredo@heraldnet.com.
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