Review: SMILE A FEEL GOOD CABARET - A Virtual Performance By The Heartland Men's Chorus

The Heartland Men's Chorus presented their first virtual program of their 35th season on Saturday, September 26 with their presentation of SMILE A FEEL GOOD CABARET on Facebook Live. The production presented songs to make the audience happy, with one goal to make the audience smile.

The mission statement of the Heartland Men's Chorus has changed and now reads, 'Singing to inspire a world of love and acceptance'. Shawn Cullen, the Heartland's newly appointed Artistic Director remarked, "In a time when connecting to both music and community are shadowed by hardship, we want to give you a moment to simply make you smile."

Lamar Sims accompanied each vocal on the piano with songs from WICKED and HAMILTON. Adam Brown began the program with "Beautiful City" from GODSPELL and was followed by Brandon Shelton performing "Zing Went the Strings of my Heart", which had previously been performed by Judy Garland. Brian Larios followed with "The Morning After (Leave)".

After a brief fundraising video with Dudley Hogue, a clip from a 2019 concert featuring the entire chorus in a comical performance of "Way Ahead of My Time" was presented. There were three outstanding performances during the production the first was Michael De Voe performing "Over the Rainbow" from the WIZARD OF OZ. De Voe was followed by a video clip featuring Judy Garland from October of 1963.

The second outstanding performance was given by John Edmonds rendition of "I Love You Rachael Maddow". Deon Myer followed Edmonds with "Random Black Girl (Guy)" and Sean Carder followed with "Out There". The third outstanding performance was a duet featuring Pete Kuhn and Wilson Welch performing "For Good". Closing the show was Michael Schnetzer singing "We'll Be Back".

Though the virtual production lacked the energy and interaction of the live audience, it was a well-thought-out and delightful change for a Saturday night. It was great to once again see local talent doing what they do best, entertaining,

Photos courtesy of the Heartland Men's Chorus.