Richmond Hill Players “Of Mice and Men” Was Faubulous!

By Elizabeth Hulsbrink
Geneseo Current

If you have ever read John Steinbeck’s 1937 classic, “Of Mice and Men” you might remember the story- George and Lennie find themselves working on a ranch, where they encounter various characters, including Candy, Slim, Curley (the boss's aggressive son), and Crooks, the isolated black stable hand. The story explores themes of friendship, dreams, loneliness, and the harsh realities of life during the Great Depression. But what you might not remember is how those characters interacted, how they fed into each other, how each one couldn’t exist without the other. THAT is exactly what director Justin Raver brought to life on the stage of Richmond Hill Players! 

When you enter the only theater in the round within 150 miles, you will find yourself drawn back to the 1930s in the agricultural valley of Northern California, along the Salinas River in the small town of Soledad. Birds and insects singing, the gentle wind whispering through the brush, bluegrass music quietly playing in the distance, and two travelers (migrant field workers), George and Lennie, find themselves stopping for the night. The two share a deep bond and dream of one day owning their own piece of heaven where they can “live off the fat of the land.”

Nothing is simple about this story. And time and time again we have seen theater troupes try to tackle this particular play, but oftentimes they fall flat. However, the vision of Justin Raver, with the help of Megan McConville and Jennifer Kingry, not only brought the story to life, they told it in such a way that we as the audience were completely drawn in! The stage connection between actors Kevin Maynard (George) and Matthew McConville (Lennie) proved to display incredible chemistry, complementing each other's performances seamlessly. Then add the dynamic energy of Patrick Kelley (Candy), elevating the entire production. Their interplay was so natural and  engaging adding richness and depth to the play, making it a truly captivating experience. 

A few new faces to Richmond Hill Players (Lily Blouin, Zack Sullivan, and Anthony Mitchell) as well as some seasoned veterans (Mike Skiles, Kevin Keck, Glenn Kluge, and Julian Totton), filled in the rest of the story. Their contributions added layers to the performance, enriching the production and creating a balanced ensemble. Of course, the special guest appearance by “Kane”, a 9-year-old German Shepherd dog owned by Matt Escoto, was the final element needed to make “Of Mice and Men” truly powerful. 

Do not hesitate to see this show- buy your tickets before it sells out. “Tell me about the rabbits, George.”

Give My Regards to Broadway - The 2024 Harvest Fest Finale

By Elizabeth Hulsbrink
Geneseo Current

Dim the lights…Cue the music… and Curtain! This year’s Geneseo Performing Arts Council presented Harvest Fest 2024, “Give My Regards to Broadway”. Featuring choral students from Millikin, Northside, and Southwest Elementary Schools, Geneseo Middle School and Geneseo High School, this year’s program highlighted Broadway favorites from “The Wizard of Oz” (1942) to “Hamilton” (2015).

Photo by Elizabeth Hulsbrink

The 4:30 concert, due to weather, was held at the Geneseo High School Performing Arts Center. The show opener, “There’s No Business Like Show Business” (Annie Get Your Gun, 1994) featured vocal students from 4th grade through 12th grade! This massive combined choir filled the concert hall and rang through the school halls. Such a beautiful sound.

Song selections included pieces from The Music Man, West Side Story, South Pacific, The Sound of Music, Annie, A Chorus Line, Grease, Into the Woods, Les Misérables, Fiddler on the Roof, Aladdin, Matilda, Rent and George M! Each group of kids got at least two feature songs, and since some singers were on the stage and others were in the balcony, the sound was always moving throughout the auditorium. Larry Lord, manager of the Performing Arts Center, did a fantastic job keeping the lights and microphones moving with each group, making sure everyone was seen and heard.

Photo by Elizabeth Hulsbrink

The 900-seat state-of-the-art concert hall was completely packed, with extra seating brought in to the side isles. Recognition goes to Haley Tromblee (Millikin), Michael Eckwall (Southwest), Laurel Filzen Etzel (Northside), Amy Croft (GMS) and Stephen LaCroix (GHS) for directing this massive undertaking. And extra special recognition goes to Pam Edwards and Kim Schwarzkopf for their amazing talents, especially in regards to accompanying all songs. Truly, an hour of music from the Geneseo music program is an hour well spent!

Photo by Elizabeth Hulsbrink

Blue Stars DCI Come to Geneseo

By Elizabeth Hulsbrink
Geneseo Current

Strolling down Ogden Street on a clear Thursday morning, the sound of the loudest metronome could be heard blaring over the Geneseo High School football stadium speakers, while the hum of five charter busses, four semi-trucks, and about 120 marching band members took to the field for practice. But these were no ordinary marching band members… these were the Blue Stars Drum & Bugle Corps from La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Celebrating their 60th anniversary, the 2024 Blue Stars presented Universal, a program which beautifully contrasts the universal language of love with a depiction of the cosmos. Brass, percussion, color guard, and visual elements all take the audience out of the stands and into space. Musical selections in this program include excerpts from Steven Wilson (The Harmony Codex), Yoko Kanno (Inner Universe), Juris Karlsons (Oremus and Adoratio), Tomas Kaco (Nocturne), Hoagy Carmichael (Stardust), Sza (Saturn), Kendrick Lamar (All the Stars), Ultravox (I Remember), and Coldplay (Yellow).

This year’s corps is made up of students aged 16-21 from all around the United States. The audition- based group relies on donations and scholarships in order to travel the country for rehearsals, shows, and competitions, from Wisconsin to Texas and everything in between. They are currently in the top 12 in DCI and are award-winning World Class Champions.

On Friday, July 12 from 12:30-3:30 Blue Stars held clinics with the Geneseo High School marching band, The Sound of Geneseo (TSOG). Then after a quick competition elsewhere, the full group returned to GHS for a 9:30pm final run-through of their entire show. It was out of this world!

For more information about the Blue Stars, visit their website at bluestars.org.

Summer Concert Series

By Elizabeth Hulsbrink
Geneseo Current

Take a stroll through downtown Geneseo on a summer Saturday night and you will hear the sweet sounds of music everywhere! The Central Bank Pavilion 2024 Summer Concert Series is well under way and this past Saturday, June 29, Mo’s Garage took center stage. The band’s motto, “…. assaulting your ears and heart one butchered song at a time!” was beyond fabulous! With three guitars, one bass, drums and mixed vocals, this band rocked the night away. Their covers included songs from Bay City Rollers to The Cranberries, and Mötley Crüe to Lady Gaga. There was definitely a song for everyone. Huge applause to the female lead for tackling some seriously tough songs; she nailed them with her stylistic perfection.

Since the city of Geneseo blocked off a portion of State Street from north of Orange Street to Exchange Street, people were able to dance in the streets or bring lawn chairs to just sit and enjoy. Also, La Roma’s Pizza, Leman’s, and Raelyn’s were all serving up specials of one kind or another.

But if dancing in the streets wasn’t your thing, just around the corner at Geneseo Brewing Company (GBC) Frankie Joe & Kinfolk played outside. As per their website, Kinfolk “is a little string band with big roots, honest American roots.” The majority of their lineup for the evening were original songs, written primarily by Frankie Joe Willderman. Their sound was a mixture of country-meets-rock-meets-bluegrass folk, which they proudly call “a Midwest blend with Ozark Mountain accent.” This easy-listening band kept the audience entertained with it’s acoustic guitar, mandolin, modified upright bass, drums, and a slew of percussion instruments, including a rubber chicken. Yes, you read that right! “We feel a kinship to create music together and a sense of duty to keep it alive for out clan,” (from website).

If you would like to check out either of these two great bands, Mo’s Garage will be playing at Orion Fireworks Festival on Wednesday, July 3, starting at 5:30, while Frankie Joe & Kinfolk will be at Geneseo’s Central Bank Pavilion, Wednesday, July 3 from 7-9pm. For more details, both bands have their own Facebook pages.

Geneseo Community Choir Concert - By Elizabeth Hulsbrink

By Elizabeth Hulsbrink
Geneseo Current

Close your eyes for a moment. Take a deep breath, and as you exhale, listen to all the sounds around you… sounds of birds singing, the breeze in the trees, a gentle wind chime playing a tune. Perhaps you hear the sounds of a busy street, cars buzzing by, people talking. Or maybe, you are sitting in an office, 90s soft rock playing on the speaker, computers humming, phones ringing. Does it matter?

Does any of it matter?

On Wednesday, June 26, 2024, the Geneseo Community Choir performed it’s 16th annual concert at the Geneseo High School Concert Hall, featuring local vocalists and instrumentalists, under the direction of Pam Edwards with accompaniment by Lynne Haars. This year’s theme, “Does It Matter” was selected in “hopes to open the audience’s minds to a renewed level of awareness of the many aspects of “Does it Matter”” replied Pam Edwards. She also shared that the theme selected would encompass “Gray Matter, mental health matters, care for the earth matters, music matters, YOU matter, justice, healing, peace, and democracy matters.”

The song selections were dedicated to bringing all these “matters” to attention. From Beethoven’s “Hymn to Joy”, Shaw’s “With a Voice of Singing”,Webber’s “Memory” from Cats, to Lojeski’s “Do You Hear the People Sing” from Les Miserables and even Michael Jackson’s “Earth Song”, the combined voices and instruments lifted the audience and roused a sense of awareness of what we can do with all this “matter”. The children’s choir sang, danced, and giggled their way through Schubert’s “To Music”, Berlin’s “Play for Me a Simple Melody”, and Huff’s “Mary Poppins Medley”, all of which were under the direction of Amy Croft, accompanied by Miss Edwards, and assisted by Denise Eiker and HannaWiyrick.

Two very special soloists were Isabella Haney and Addison Dykstra. Both are 2024 graduates of Geneseo High School. Haney’s clarinet solo, “Excerpt from Clarinet Concerto No. 2 Mvt. 3- Alla Polacca” by VonWeber, and Dykstra’s “Never Enough” from the musical The Greatest Showman by Pasek and Paul, left the audience reaching for more. Both were performed with absolute perfection.

For a grand finale, all the combined voices of the adult choir, children’s choir, brass section, percussion, string bass, guitar, and even dancers wowed the crowd with the jazz/swing classic, “Sing, Sing, Sing” by Prima (arranged by Kern), “Bridge Over Troubled Water” by Simon (arranged by Shaw), and “God Bless the USA” by Greenwood (arranged by Brymer). Some audience members found themselves humming along and dancing in their seats. Not a dry eye in the house! Standing ovations and cheers filled the hall.

Spectacular work in just 4 short rehearsals with the adults, and 5 rehearsals with the children. The 114 members of this year’s Community Choir range from incoming 8th graders to great grandparents, and come from all walks of life. The 25 members of the Children’s Choir are incoming 4th – 7th graders. All these musicians participate simply for the love of music.

This year’s performance also included the First Lutheran Church Handbell Choir lead by Melinda Wildermuth, with audio provided by Larry Lord, and videographers Lucas Kaiser and Carter Eastburn. The concert will be played on Geneseo’s Channel 50 at a future date.