The Gay Men’s Chorus Holiday Show: Song and Dance
The Gay Men's Chorus debuts its new dance troupe at this year's holiday show
“When you go to a Rockettes Christmas Show at Rockefeller Center in New York, you know that the Rockettes are eventually going to kick. But you don’t know what they’re going to wear, you don’t know what the song is going to be, you don’t know how it’s going to work out.” John Moran thinks people should view the annual holiday show presented by the Gay Men’s Chorus in a similar manner.
“We’re developing a tune that we’ve done many times in the past called ‘Our Favorite One’ and we introduce Santa Claus into it,” says Moran, the show’s director. “You know we’re going to do that song, but you don’t know what we’re going to wear, and you don’t know how we’re going to do it.”
The chorus’s holiday show, blending the sexy and playful with the sweet and sentimental, is one of its most popular. In addition to the standard seasonal and sensational offerings, including performances by ensembles Potomac Fever and Rock Creek Singers and the LGBT youth choir GenOUT, this year’s run of concerts introduces a new dance troupe, 17th Street Dance, lead by the chorus’s Craig Cipollini.
Moran sees the creation of the dance ensemble as an expansion in line with the intentions of the chorus’s founders more than three decades ago. “The ideas that were talked about then were opportunities for gay men to participate in many different areas of performing arts,” he says. Therefore, he argues, it’s time for them to dance a bit. Maybe even do a kick line.
The Gay Men’s Chorus performs its holiday concert “Naughty and Nice” on Saturday, Dec. 10, at 8 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 17, at 3 and 8 p.m., and Sunday, Dec. 18, at 3 p.m., at the Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U St. NW. Tickets are $25 to $65. Call 202-328-6000 or visit gmcw.org.
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