"Out Of This World" Program Book May 2022

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About the Las Vegas Men’s Chorus….

Our Mission: The Las Vegas Men’s Chorus creates safe spaces for our community and allies through musical experiences which inspire all of us to be stronger together.

Community Harmony Opportunity Respect Unity Service Our Performance history has included performances for Golden Rainbow, Las Vegas Prime-Timers, Las Vegas Pride, World AIDS Day, and the Gateway Arts Foundation. Every year, in conjunction with the Clark County School District, we perform at “Real Men Sing,” a Men’s Choral Festival intended to bolster confidence and a lifelong love of singing in our community’s young men. As a GALA Chorus, we had the honor of attending the 2016 GALA Conference in Denver with over 125 other choruses from around the world.

Open Rehearsal/Auditions for our upcoming Summer 2022 Concert will be held on Sunday, June 5, 2022. We meet from 1:00pm – 3:30pm every Sunday at the LGBTQ Center of Southern Nevada (401 S. Maryland Pkwy, Las Vegas, NV 89101). Please follow us on all of our social media, reach out to a current member, or visit the website for more information. We would LOVE to have you add your talents to our ensemble.

On behalf of our Artistic Staff, the LVMC Board of Directors, and our entire ensemble, we want to thank you for spending your Sunday evening with us and we sincerely hope that you enjoy tonight’s show, an intergalactic musical journey through the Milky Way! We are so excited to have you with us today in our beautiful new home, the Artemus W. Ham Hall. Your support here today means everything to us all; we hope that you enjoy the concert. Have a wonderful summer, we will see you back here in August!!

Tenor 1

Tenor 2

Bass 1

Bass 2

Michael Amesquita Payton Cross Jr. Chris Doucette Erick Fields Averill Kelley James Koperski Ryan Miller Michael Morell Chris Perez Rob Scolari Peter Vega Rob Willis Masa Yamakawa

Gregory Acosta Isaac Burkholz Adam Denzler Eric Endy Paul Fadoul Christian Garcia Todd Gerber Ben Hensley Aaron Johnson Ralph Lozano Mike Nagy Jay Regala Steve Roselius Christopher Smith Stephen Sumner Stephen Trumble Jonathan Tuala

Daiki Anjiki Mikey Bond Jeff Chase Frank Coombs TJ Bar Phillip Fife Ed Flynn Kenton Jones David Korn Jim Long Mark McCreery Reed Merrell Eddie Monroy Ricky Muala Justin Reed Aaron Valentine Timothy Wells

Dennis Aragon Graham Bates Juno Buendia Fred Crescente Dominic Gaon Cherokee Hines Aaron Schave Matthew Vance Tim Vogl

LAS VEGAS MEN’S CHORUS BOARD OF DIRECTORS President: Patrick Bernard Russell Vice-President: James Koperski Secretary: Ryan C. Miller Treasurer: Aaron Valentine Member-At-Large: Jonathan Tuala

From our Artistic Director, Ryan Duff:

Artistic Director – Ryan Duff

Ryan is a 2001 graduate of Ball State University. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Choral Music Education. He also completed a Master’s Degree in Educational Administration from Southern Utah University in 2017.

Ryan is a proud member of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), the Nevada Music Educators Association (NMEA) and the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). He has served as the Chair of the CCSD Honor Choir since 2015, and currently serves on the Nevada All-State Choir Committee. Duff has also served as the 2020 Western Region ACDA Honor Choir Chairman,the 2022 All-Conference Sing Coordinator for the 2022 Western Region ACDA Conference, and as a member of the Western Region’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Task Force. He has served as President of the Nevada ACDA chapter, and currently serves as the Nevada ACDA Men’s Choir Repertoire & Resources Chairman.

Before his career as a teacher, Ryan worked as a Professional Singer and Entertainer.

Outside of Las Vegas, he worked for Holland America Cruise Lines, Busch Gardens Theme Park Entertainment, Cedar Point Amusement Park Entertainment, and Harvey’s Lake Tahoe. He has worked as Musical Director for several Professional Regional Musical Theatre Productions including "The Wiz," "Fame: The Musical," "Peter Pan," "Fiddler on the Roof," and "The Taffetas." His Las Vegas performing career as a singer and musician has included "Tony & Tina’s Wedding" at the Rio Hotel & Casino, "The Can-Can Cabaret" at the Paris Hotel & Casino, and performing as a Singing Gondolier at the Venetian Hotel & Casino

Hello and welcome to our 2022 Spring Production entitled "Out of This World." Today, you will hear tunes from practically every genre and era of music that promise to take you on an intergalactic journey of song! This show is very special to all of us, as we began working on this concept in January of 2020. Of course, that show was never completed, and we are now thrilled to present it here today!

Our ensemble members, our staff, and our Board of Directors have worked tirelessly to put this show together and we cannot wait to share! We are also thrilled to share the stage with special guests Justin McClendon and Ray Guzman from Arthur Murray Dance Studios of Las Vegas; you do not want to miss their performances!

Today is our first concert in our new home, the beautiful Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall on the campus of UNLV. We are delighted to start this partnership with UNLV and we look forward to our future endeavors together. We are thrilled to celebrate a return to live productions, and we are so grateful that you are here with us!

Prepare for take-off into outer space and enjoy the show!

Ryan Duff Artistic Director, Las Vegas Men's Chorus

Pianist – Laurence Sobel

A pianist, music director/arranger, and vocal coach. In Las Vegas, he has periodically played keyboard for Mamma Mia!, The Lion King, The Phat Pack, and Jersey Boys. He has performed in various venues including at the Palms, Caesar’s Palace, and the Hard Rock Hotel.

In addition, he has played at numerous cabarets and nightclubs in New York City. He has also played for national tours including “Song and Dance” and “A Funny Thing… Forum.”

Laurence served for 11 years on the faculty of the American Musical & Dramatic Academy in New York City. He holds a B.A. in philosophy from Harvard University, and also studied at the Manhattan School of Music and Tanglewood.

SAVE THE DATES: LAS VEGAS MEN'S CHORUS - PRIDE NIGHT Wednesday, June 1, 2022 NATIONAL ANTHEM @ LAS VEGAS AVIATORS LAS VEGAS MEN’S CHORUS PRIDE CONCERT 2022: Friday, June 3, 2022 – 7:00pm, FLAMINGO LIBRARY OPEN REHEARSALS/AUDITIONS SUMMER 2022: Sunday, June 5, 2022 @ 1pm, LGBTQ Center LVMC SUMMER SHOW 2022: Sunday, August 28, 2022 - 4:00pm UNLV, Artemus W. Ham Hall

Donate anytime to us via Venmo!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS & OUR HEARTFELT THANKS The LGBTQ Center of Southern Nevada UNLV Artemus W. Hall Staff Darren Abell, Website & Lights Justin McClendon & Ray Guzman, Arthur Murray Las Vegas Sectional Rehearsal Hosts LVMC Volunteers Tim Thomas - Bass Zane Creech - Percussion All of our supporters, musicians, current members, and alumni

From our President, Patrick Bernard Russell: “Hope itself is like a star- not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, and only to be discovered in the night of adversity."

- Charles Spurgeon.

Two years ago, our show was struck. The whole world had succumbed to its newest terror and nothing was the same. Our community, bigger than it had ever been, was disbanded. This show that we had worked so hard to put together was on the edge of event horizon; teetering on the edge of a black hole never to be heard from again. We rallied, we created online presence, we clung to the hope that one day we would be singing again. After many days and nights of adversity, the stars shone brightly on us once more. We are so happy to be here standing on this stage, in our largest performance hall, with more members than ever before. The Las Vegas Men’s Chorus stands before you with more talent, drive, love, and community ready to take on even more shine for the future.

This will be my last show as the President of this wonderful organization and I couldn’t be more proud of where we have come. This community has made me stronger, given me a sense of worth, and created so many memories that I cherish.

These men stand before you as a result of their hard work, not mine. The Chorus exceeds all expectations when we hit that stage. The harmony created by our amazing Artistic Director, Ryan Duff, is unheard of in Las Vegas. If the entire strip is full of stars of the rest of the universe, we are the Milky Way, full of our own vibrancy and life. Home to stretches of light and love, home to our own dreams and desires, home to our harmony and music.

I can’t tell you how excited we are to show you how far we have come. If space is our vehicle, time is our fuel. Our time is now and we are ready to take you Out of This World. Enjoy as we shine like stars burning brightly in the night sky. May we serve as a reminder to all of you, hope can never be lost.

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OUT OF THIS WORLD - ACT 1 The Final Countdown

“One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap for Mankind...”

Fly Me To The Moon Moondance Destination Moon (featuring Guest Artists, AMLV Dancers Justin McClendon & Ray Guzman) Old Devil Moon Blue Moon Moonlight Sonata (featuring Collaborative Pianist Laurence Sobel)

“It’s time to try defying gravity...”

Sky Full of Stars (featuring Guest Artists, AMLV Dancers Justin McClendon & Ray Guzman) Space Oddity Rocket Man (Soloists: Gregory Acosta & Stephen Trumble) Defying Gravity

****There will be a 15-minute Intermission****

OUT OF THIS WORLD - ACT 2 “And Jupiter aligns with Mars...”

Don’t Stop Me Now (Soloist: Michael Amesquita) Here Comes the Sun Aquarius

Alien Invasion Little Shop of Horrors Medley (Soloist: Juno Buendia) Diva Dance (from "The Fifth Element") (featuring Guest Artists, AMLV Dancers Justin McClendon & Ray Guzman) Star Wars: John Williams is the Man Hooked on a Feeling (from "Guardians of the Galaxy")

We Shine Like Stars Rewrite the Stars (from "The Greatest Showman") (featuring Guest Artists, AMLV Dancers Justin McClendon & Ray Guzman) I Sing the Body Electric Shooting Star (Soloists: David Korn & Ben Hensley) Shine Like Stars Over The Rainbow (Encore)