New name but same great sound

The under-18 St. Albert Singers are now officially known as the St. Albert Youth Musical Association.

Along with the new name, the choir is ready to salute spring with a stroll down Broadway’s memory lane where Anything Can Happen (If You Let It).

But first, there's the matter of the name change. “The youth choirs have done a distinctive split from the adult choirs so we can apply for our own grants and casinos. We've divided everything so we can go after real dollars instead of just scrounging,” explains artistic director Criselda Mierau.

The 90-minute concert at the Arden Theatre on Sunday, April 25 showcases three of musical theatre's most beloved productions — the Academy Award-winning Sherman Brothers Mary Poppins, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Sound of Music and Stephen Schwartz's international phenomena Wicked.

The St. Albert Youth Singers (Grades 6 to 10) take on the action-packed, pop-rock rhythms of Wicked. “It has such relatable characters. The main character is an outcast that must find herself and her place in the world. She's misunderstood. She's been duped and set up. Kids see this in their own life and they relate.”

To juice it up a bit, a narrator tells the real story of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West while several singers act out the scenes in mega-fast time. “It actually injects humour and lightness into an otherwise dark show.”

And the teen singers plan to push the envelope in the attitude-packed What is This Feeling, the blatantly shallow Popular and the proselytizing three-part harmony No One Mourns the Wicked.

The slightly younger St. Albert Middle Choir (Grades 3 to 5) are equally comfortable in the beloved classic, The Sound of Music. These combustible singers head to the Tyrolean mountains with eight songs including Do Re Mi and The Lonely Goatherd.

“We've built a huge puppet theatre where the kids themselves are the puppets. It'll be a huge wow for the audiences.”

And finally the Little Singers (kindergarten to Grade 2) gather for Mary Poppins. Rhonda Jones of the St. Albert Singers Women's Choir as Mary leads the cute choristers in such tunes as The Perfect Nanny.

“We have 30 little singers. They are arranged in a two by two formation and each pair gets to sing a little bit. You hear the entire chorus like Noah's Ark. It's utterly charming.”

And in Chim Chim Cheree, the munchkins don top hats and grab mini-brooms for a dash of chimney sweep choreography.

Of course, the finale is Anything Can Happen. “The whole message is about attempting to go beyond, of going outside yourself. If you decide to do it, you can.”