Men's chorus gives pop icons a delightful twist

The conventional image of gay men as campy queens was celebrated in high style last weekend with the Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus' Pride concert, "Divas: In Praise of Gay Men's Female Icons." This was a chance for the chorus to let its hair down -- or put it up. A group of elegantly dressed drag queens and their escorts sat at cabaret tables onstage at Ted Mann Concert Hall in Minneapolis, giving the feel of a stylish club.

This theme gave the chorus the excuse to survey many decades of the best in popular music. There were the usual suspects, songs immortalized by Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand and Cher. And Connie Francis' "Where the Boys Are," Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" and Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" were given delightfully, if predictably, queer twists.

More unexpected was a set of country tunes invoking Tammy Wynette, Dolly Parton and Patsy Cline, as well as medleys featuring Motown divas Diana Ross and Patti Labelle. It was obvious from the enthusiastic performances that the chorus loved each and every number.

Artistic director Stan Hill conducted with passionate commitment and stylistic sensitivity. And the singers produced a warm, robust sound that reached right to the heart. Accompanist Timothy De Prey provided a strong musical foundation for the success of the evening.

Occasionally, the organizers got carried away, trying to cram too many songs into too little medley. The rapid succession of truncated melodies proved jarring. Why not cut much of the text that over-introduced the numbers anyway?

Additionally, some of the arrangements were overly complicated, marring the beautiful simplicity of pop songs. Ironically, that gave too many of the songs a monotonous sameness.

But the small group OutLoud! did Karen Carpenter proud with a poignant, unpretentious medley. Their homage to musical-theater divas from Ethel Merman and Liza Minnelli to Patti LuPone and "Wicked's" Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel was another highlight.

Overall, this was a great celebration of some great music -- and of the men who performed it. TCGMC proved itself to be a whole chorus of divas.

William Randall Beard is a Minneapolis writer.