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Friday, Nov. 28, 2008

Gay Men's Chorus bringing home the holidays

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Make sure your holidays are merry and bright by attending the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus' Home for the Holidays concert in Modesto.

For the sixth year in a row, the popular group will present an inclusive program that honors and welcomes all faiths.

As always, the concert is a benefit for the Stanislaus Community Assistance Project, which helps people with life-threatening illnesses, including AIDS.

Teddy Witherington, the chorus' executive director, said people should bring their families to the show to find inspiration and hope.

"They should go to have an evening of first-class entertainment that will be jolly and that will also awaken that beautiful voice that we all have within us that tells us that a better world is possible," he said.

About 100 singers will perform classic carols like "Deck the Halls," the comedy numbers "The 13 Days of Christmas" and "Harried Little Christmas" (originally performed by drag quartet the Kinsey Sicks) and music for Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.

The group also will sing selections from Steve Schalchlin's "New World Waking," a song the chorus commissioned in honor of its 30th anniversary. The piece is about hope and power in the face of discrimination, Witherington said.

The program kicks off with an auction featuring such items as restaurant gift certificates, an artificial Christmas tree and vacation getaways.

In the past, 700 to 800 people have attended the event, SCAP administrators said.

The concert launches the chorus' Home for the Holidays tour, which includes stops in Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz and ends with a Christmas Eve show at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco.

"We love coming to Modesto and we particularly enjoy singing for people who haven't heard us sing before," Witherington said. "This is a fun way to have a holiday experience."