Muskegon Community College presents a “Music Spectacular!” featuring its Wind Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble, Singers, and Collegiates on Wednesday, Feb. 27, at 7:30 p.m. at the Frauenthal Center, 425 W. Western Ave. in downtown Muskegon.
Tickets, which are $8 for adults and $2 for students, can be purchased at the door or online at https://www.startickets.com/events/item/mcc-music-spectacular. For more information, contact the MCC Arts and Humanities Office at (231) 777-0324.
Directed by Daniel M. Meyers, the Wind Ensemble will perform three selections:
- “A Symphonic Portrait” by Andrew Lloyd Webber, a highly entertaining medley of great show music that opens with the driving “Superstar” theme, segues to the emotional “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina,” changes pace with the lively “King Herod’s Song” and dramatically closes with “Memory,” the emotional ballad from his hit show “Cats.”
- “Shenandoah” by University of Michigan alumnus Frank Ticheli, who was inspired by the beauty and freedom of the American folk song of the same name.
- “Mars, the Bringer of War,” one of the seven orchestral suite movements in “Planets” written by the English composer Gustav Holst, who named each movement after a planet of the Solar System and who provided his own definition to its corresponding astrological character.
Directed by Nicholas Palmer, the College Singers will perform “A Million Dreams,” written by Ben Pasek and Justin Paul and featured in the movie musical “The Greatest Showman,” which is based upon the true story of P.T. Barnum.
The Collegiates, also under the direction of Nicholas Palmer, will perform Van Morrison’s “Moondance,” which one reviewer described as “one of those rare songs that manages to implant itself on the collective consciousness of popular music, passing into the hallowed territory of a standard, a classic.”
The Jazz Ensemble, directed by Pat Parrish, will close the show with three tunes: “Honk” by Jeff Jarvis, “There Will Never Be Another You” by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren, and “Blue Skies” by Irving Berlin.