Local incubator for the national stage

Watching the Mount de Sales Academy's Troubadours' production of "Seussical the Musical" last weekend, it was evident John Freeman, fine arts department chair and director for the musical, could inspire a future Miss America to pursue a stage career. The actors were fully engaged with the audience, following seamlessly the choreography of Suzanne Webb, Middle School fine arts instructor, and the musical score, under the direction of Donna Washburn, Upper School choral director.

The musical incorporates several familiar Seuss stories, a mind boggling script to commit to memory, but done without a hitch by the large cast of characters. Katherine Daniel as The Cat in the Hat narrated the plot with sass; the elephant, Horton the Who, played by Billy Chung, was appropriately anxious over the residents of Whoville, after Mr. Mayor, Justin Kim, asked that he watch over his flock of children.

Elise McCombs' Jo Jo, the smallest speck on a planet of dust, was nettlesome to Horton, for he wouldn't stand tall to be heard, even after repeated refrains of "a person is a person no matter how small." Blustering General Genghis Khan Schmitz, aka Jack Bass, equally unsuccessful in transforming daydreaming Jo Jo to a warrior for the Butter Battle, was forced to reassess his role as a warmonger.

Nadia Wilcher, as Horton's antagonist, the busybody Kangaroo, was the disbeliever of Whos and Whoville, belting out threats of insurrection with the strong voice of someone well beyond her high school years. The Grinch, portrayed with Jim Carrey panache by Will Bass, had the menacing bass voice one would expect from a green monster.

The musical, with its subtle undercurrents of a morality play, is another feather in his cap for director Freeman.

ANOTHER STAGE FOR PROMISING TALENT

Vineville United Methodist Church's Music and the Arts hosted five students last Sunday for an afternoon of outstanding musical performances. Susan McDuffie's student Evan Hoyt, who attends the Veritas Classical School, opened the concert, delighting listeners with his interpretations of George Gershwin's Spanish Prelude and more. The level of professionalism from a high school sophomore amazed the audience, appreciative of a pianist that enjoys "layering sounds on a keyboard."

Joe Kovac III, who studied with Macon cellist Barbara Altman, is a first-year student at Florida State University, where he was principal cellist in the university's underclassmen orchestra in his first semester. After playing solo for his first selection, by Johann Sebastian Bach, he was accompanied on his second by Wesleyan College pianist Chenny Gan, for Movement One from Goltermann's Concerto in B Minor. Having heard this movement played by violin, it is better played by cello, made richer by Gan at the piano.

PASSION FOR OPERA

Margaret Bergmark graduated high school in Macon, hometown of her mother, Parker Sessions Bergmark. By her junior year, she knew she wanted to study opera, an ambitious goal for a teenager. However, her resume reflects operatic accomplishments that indicate she is on the right career path. As a sophomore at Westminster Choir College, Bergmark will tour this summer with the Westminster Kantorei in England and France.

The lyrical timbre of Bergmark's soprano was breathtaking, a voice that would command attention over a full orchestra. Accompanied by pianist Katie Yoo, she sang selections from Puccini and Bellini, in Italian, and from Brahms, in German, expressing the emotions of the composers with the ease of a singer familiar with both languages.

THE MCDUFFIE CONNECTION

Barrett Ham, another former McDuffie student, is a versatile musician who is exploring avenues with several instruments. While in high school, he studied clarinet and saxophone with Monty Cole, director of jazz studies at Mercer University. Last Sunday, he opened his segment of the program with Samuel Barber's Nocturne, Opus 33, on piano, a piece written in the 12 tone technique, which appeals to the jazz sensibility with its quirky exploration of the entire keyboard.

The program closed with Nicholas Ricks, a pianist with a droll sense of humor, who showed off his virtuosity with a little chopsticks before playing Frederic Chopin's Scherzo in B flat minor, Opus 31; an improvisation of Ray Charles' "Georgia on My Mind" and his own composition, "Melting Memories." Ricks, a former McDuffie student, is attending Berklee College of Music in Boston on a piano and composition scholarship where he has composed his first movie score for "Constantine."

Katherine Walden is a freelance writer and interior designer in Macon. Contact her at 478-742-2224 or kwaldenint@aol.com.

This story was originally published March 26, 2016 at 4:01 PM with the headline "Local incubator for the national stage ."