SEQUIM — The Grand Olympics Chorus will host a musical extravaganza featuring songs from the 1960s in four-part barbershop style at “A Grand Musical Adventure!”
Two performances are set at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Saturday at Trinity United Methodist Church, 100 S. Blake Ave. in Sequim.
Along with the chorus, the concert will feature Juan de Fuca Harmony, Makin’ Treble, No Batteries Required, Rhapsody and the Rainshadow Singers, along with the Port Angeles High School Symphonic Choir.
The show’s songs are linked together by a storyline chorus members developed based on a short, 10-minute production they developed for a competition in spring 2023, musical director Connie Alward said.
“This show is an expansion of that,” she said. “Our group won the audience choice award; they really enjoyed our ’60s thing.”
That production spawned from chorus members learning 1960s-era songs together when the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to meet via Zoom.
“A Grand Musical Adventure!” links songs from the chorus, Juan de Fuca Harmony, the high school choir and the three quartets with a simple storyline: chorus members are on their way back home from a musical festival when their bus breaks down, and they’re stuck at a rest stop. Fittingly, in a scene where the group’s bus fails to start, members sing Simon and Garfunkel’s “Sounds of Silence.”
There, they meet other groups returning from the same festival, and they each bring their musical talents to the story.
The high school choir has some 1960s-era songs to offer, Alward said, including “Happy Together,” “Build Me Up Buttercup” and a Beatles medley.
Alward’s favorite chorus piece is The Mamas and Papas’ “California Dreamin’” that had the audience from the 2023 spring competition out of their seats with arms waving.
The Rainshadow Ringers, a handbell ensemble, will provide entertainment during intermission.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun; the whole show’s been a blast to put together,” Alward said.
Tickets are $15 and are available at GrandOlympics Chorus.org.
Funds raised from the concert — which also features a silent auction — go toward purchasing music and covering competition registration fees for the nonprofit groups, Alward said.
Grand Olympics Chorus is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and a chapter of Sweet Adelines International.
