Macon Civic Club back to “Walking on Sunshine” for charities at Grand Opera House

After having to cancel last year due to COVID, members of the Macon Civic Club are back at the Grand Opera House this year with their long-running annual revue to raise money for an extensive list of Macon and Middle Georgia charities.

The show is set Feb. 2-5 and is called “Walking on Sunshine.”

The Civic Club shows have typically hit near the $200,000 mark in past years with funds going to more than 60 charities and groups. Even last year, without a show on stage, the civic club was able to give because of the faithfulness of the production’s sponsors and donors. But without the show itself, that figure was obviously way down. Still, this year’s show chairman, Todd Mitchell, said the group has been able to give more than $1 million in the past five years.

Like other civic club members involved in “Walking on Sunshine,” Mitchell isn’t anywhere near being an entertainment professional but is simply a community member/business person. In his case, the day job is his State Farm Insurance Agency on Vineville Avenue. Still, having put on a show since 1959 and having it play the Grand Opera House since 1961, you could say the group is getting the hang of it and the results are consistently spectacular with songs, dance and all kinds of comedy.

But Mitchell has a little more practice than most in organizing it. The show chairman role rotates each year but Mitchell was 2021’s chairman and going great guns – getting the theme, the songs, who was performing what, logistics, and sponsors all in place – when they had to pull the plug due to the pandemic.

Members decided it was fair to give him this year’s show.

“Yeah, we had a show planned for 2021 and since it followed the elections we settled on a non-partisan patriotic theme,” Mitchell said. “You can’t see into the future, especially concerning COVID, but for this year our hopes were we’d be in the clear and the idea of sunshine and new beginnings came to mind and with it the song and theme ‘Walking on Sunshine.’ That idea kept ringing in our heads and verbalized our vision.”

Mitchell said the fun part is coming up with the show and songs then the hard work begins when you get in the details.

“It’s quite a time-consuming effort and everybody has their regular work, too. But it’s worth it. When the show comes together and audiences have a great time and we get to help so many charities and groups that do so much throughout the year - it’s worth it.”

While the club provides its own non-professional talent – though you might be surprised to see how well your attorney can dance or your banker can sing – it does call in a few folks with more finely tuned skills and experience to help shape the show. Sylvia Haynie and Laura Voss are both closely associated with Macon Little Theatre and handle choreography and music/the band respectively. Jim Crisp has been producing director for the civic club for more than 30 years and is well known as the now-retired founding artistic director of Theatre Macon.

Crisp said he’s impressed with what he’s seeing in this year’s show.

“There’s a real excitement from everyone about coming back and getting to do something positive for the community,” he said. “There’s a lot of energy and a lovely momentum among the members – old and new. That’s a great thing this year - we have quite a few new members who’ve never done a show and it’s great seeing that dynamic. It’s going to be a great show and thoroughly entertaining.”

Show dates start Wednesday, Feb. 2, and run through Saturday, Feb. 5.

Tickets are $12 for Feb. 2, $22 for Feb. 3, $42 for Feb. 4 and again $22 for Feb. 5’s finale.

The higher price on Friday, Feb. 3, is because that’s the gala night when the ticket includes a pre-show cocktail party in front of the Grand on Mulberry Street beginning at 6:15 p.m.

Other nights the show starts at 7:30 p.m. and the Grand’s lobby bars are open.

This year’s show will also feature what the civic club calls Community Pulse where each night a different corporate sponsor donates an extra $5,000 to be given to a charity picked by a winning audience member. The audience member is randomly selected just prior to the show and gets to announce their charity of choice during the evening.

Hint: do you have a favorite charity or group on the club’s extensive list? Show up with all your friends who also love that organization to increase the odds of it getting the added $5,000. Be entertained by community-minded business folks, help favorite charities and help the community overall. It’s win, win, win.

Some of this year’s featured charities include DePaul Daybreak, The Kolbe Center, Heart of GA DDM, Bo’s Camp, the Merrie Christmas Project, the Museum of Arts & Sciences, Macon Little Theatre and Nutcracker of Middle Georgia.

“Everybody’s putting a lot in the show and we encourage people to come out and enjoy it and help us raise money for so many worthwhile groups,” Mitchell said. “Of course, a bigger crowd kind of inspires our performers. We just want everyone to get the most out of it.”

Tickets and more information on the Macon Civic Club are at www.maconcivicclub.com.

Another not-to-miss event in the coming week features the chance to see truly world-class performers: the Fabian Concert Series’ February Fireworks concert Tuesday, Feb. 1, at 7:30 p.m. in Mercer University’s McCorkle Music Building’s intimate Fickling Hall.

Featured are Robert McDuffie, Amy Schwartz Moretti, Cho-Liang Lin, violins; Rebecca Albers, viola; Edward Arron and Leo Singer, cellos, performing works including Brahms Quintet in G major, Op 111 and Mendelssohn Octet.

Get tickets by calling 478-301-5470 or visiting mcduffie.mercer.edu.

Contact writer Michael W. Pannell at mwpannell@gmail.com.