Spirit of America in Maui
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November 2-8, 2008 (After Pan-Pacific Convention) |
(Last modified: 2009-01-05)
Following the 2008 Pan-Pacific Barbershop Convention in Honolulu (October 30 to November 2) some of the convention participants left Honoluluto catch up with their cruise ship Spirit of America in Maui. (The ship had changed its departure date from Sunday to Saturday, but no sane barbershopper would leave a convention early just to go on a cruise!) Once on board it was a great time with 72 in the group, of which 38 were barbershop singers. To add to the fun, 24 of those singers were part of the Brisbane, Australia, chorus which had competed at the Pan-Pacific. They did their own portion of the onboard show, and 12 of them had learned the music for the cruise, so they also sang in the Cruise Chorus.
Unfortunately, the cruise ship bronchitis bug struck several voices. Chorus Director Drayton Justus could only whisper for most of the week. (Drayton is past president of the BHS, Quartet Gold Medal lead in Gentlemen's Agreement (1971), and in later years (1980-85 and 1991) the fill-in lead for the Suntones, 1960 Quartet Champs. Music Coordinator and bari Kim Orloff totally lost her voice half-way through the week. Former MHBQA members Al Drouin (bass) and Jeanne Drouin (tenor) sang up a storm in various quartets and VLQs until the day before the big Friday show, when Al ended up confined to bed!
Originally there were several mixed groups planned for the show, but Jeanne was the only gal left with a voice by showtime. With last minute juggling, the show went on and played to a standing-room-only audience; Drayton and Kim split the MC work, whispering into the mic, and various last-minute quartet subs were heroes. Besides Jeanne, the only other healthy MHBQA member in the Cruise Chorus was bass Jerry Orloff, who was also one of the tour escorts. Of the original 38 barbershop singers signed up, only 22 had both qualified (eg, learned their music) and stayed healthy by showtime, but it remained a well-balanced and strong-singing group of 22, so the audience was delighted.
Songs performed by the chorus were Hello, Everybody, Hello, Coney Island Medley, Darkness on the Delta, Home on the Range, I Don't Mind Being All Alone, Chordbuster March, and Bye Bye Blues. The River City Clippers (the Australian chorus from Brisbane) performed a 12-minute selection of their repertoire, complete with choreography. Quartets had formed diring the cruise: Chordiology 101, originally a mixed quartet, sang Heart of My Heart and demonstrated barbershop parts for the audience. Octet Eight Is Enough sang Sweet and Lovely. Y-Knot (formed from Brisbane chorus members) sang Edelweiss and the 59th Street Bridge Song. A VLQ (very-large-quartet) formed on board sang the poignant Hawaiian ballad Beyond the Reef. This song had been one of the barbershop arrangements sent out to all singers with the original learning tracks... but only 11 passed the qualifications... fortunately, just right for a VLQ!
Ports of call were Maui (until 2pm on Monday), all day Tuesday in Hilo, all day Wednesday in Kona (both on the Big Island of Hawaii), and Thursday and Friday until noon in Kauai. Shortly after leaving port on Friday, the chorus presented an hour of barbershop entertainment, as the ship's passengers reluctantly sailed back to Honolulu for Saturday disembarkation.
