It’s back! See which act will reopen Modesto’s Gallo Center after COVID shutdown
It will be with youthful exuberance when the Gallo Center for the Arts reopens this month.
After 16 months dark because of the coronavirus pandemic, the downtown Modesto arts venue will present a production by YES Company – the county’s youth performance troupe.
The company will present its 30th Anniversary Concert July 23-25, a greatest hits lineup from some of the shows it has presented over the years.
“I think it’s a real privilege for us, for YES Company, to take the stage after so long,” said Cortney Hurst, director of arts education at the Gallo Center.
“It’s a hometown treasure ... I think it’s something special for YES Company to be back on stage at the Gallo Center,” she said.
YES (Youth Entertainment Stage) Company is a partnership between the Gallo Center and the Stanislaus County Department of Education.
Hurst said when things shut down in March of 2020, the troupe had just announced casting and taken publicity photos for “Cinderella,” its planned show for that year.
While they held seven weeks of virtual workshops over the summer with the students, the company had not had contact since July of 2020, she said.
But when it looked like they might be able to present a show this year, they held auditions in May and started rehearsing at the beginning of June, Hurst said.
They weren’t sure they’d be able to perform in July until the state reopened in mid-June, so they had a backup plan to push the shows to August or September. But they wanted to get the students back together.
“We knew it was important to have a performance option for the students,” Hurst said. “We wanted to make sure we had something for them.”
‘Feels great’ to get company back on stage
The kids – in seventh through 12 grades – are excited to be back, she said, “especially for our students who are seniors.” Because YES Company performers age out, “for seniors, it’s the last chance to be on stage.”
While students must rehearse in masks, they will not wear them for the performances, Hurst said.
Retiring Gallo Center CEO Lynn Dickerson said in a June interview that patrons who are not vaccinated will be required to wear masks inside the center (they’ll be going by the honor system), while those who are vaccinated will not.
Hurst said “it feels great” to get back. “In some ways it feels like we didn’t have any time apart and in some ways it feels like we’re still learning.”
While there are returning students each year, there also is “an influx of new students,” she said. “It feels great to meet new faces and have our returning students back.”
There are 43 students currently in YES Company and all will perform in the show, which is being directed by Tiffany Davis, Gallo Center’s arts education manager.
The anniversary concert will include songs from musicals that YES Company has performed over the last 30 years.
“We picked some crowd favorites and company favorites,” Hurst said.
It’s a concert-style show so the students are not fully costumed, nor will there be full sets, she said, “but you for sure get the kind of feel for each of the musicals and each of the songs from those musicals.”
The show will feature songs from past productions including “Mary Poppins,” “Anything Goes,” “Singin’ in the Rain,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “Hairspray,” “Once on This Island,” “West Side Story,” “Honk the Musical,” “Seussical the Musical,” “Les Misérables” and more.
The shows are set for 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, July 23-24 and 2 p.m. Sunday, July 25. Tickets are $14-$45, available at www.galloarts.org.
Concert opens new season at Gallo Center
The youth concert opens the new season at the venue, which features Broadway shows, dance, comedy acts, singers and bands, Latino performances, family offerings and more.
Resident companies at the Gallo Center also are preparing to return, including Modesto Performing Arts with “West Side Story” in August. Other resident companies are Central West Ballet, Modesto Symphony Orchestra and Opera Modesto. The venue also has its Gallo Center Repertory Company.
Hurst said they’re confident patrons will turn out for the shows. “The Gallo Center has stayed in touch with our patrons (throughout) the shutdown ... overwhelmingly the response is our patrons are anxiously awaiting our doors to reopen.”
Hurst said putting together the show more quickly than normal has been a team effort, and she’s grateful to all, including the production group, Gallo Center staff and the county department of education.
“Every year it takes a lot of time, effort and energy to put together a show,” she said.
Hurst said audiences can expect the usual high quality show from YES Company – and something special.
“YES Company productions are always full of surprises,” she said. For example, they made it rain onstage for the 2019 production of “Singin’ in the Rain.”
“Audiences will be dazzled, I think, by what we have in store for this year, especially considering we weren’t sure if we’d even get to have a show just a couple of months ago.”
This story was originally published July 14, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
