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RB Chorale concert tickets selling out fast

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Fans of Broadway musicals who want to catch this year’s RB Chorale concert, that is dedicated to show tunes, need to buy their tickets fast.

The only tickets remaining are for the 7 p.m. Friday, June 12 show since the Saturday, June 13 performance has sold out, according to RB Chorale Director and Founder Pat Bean. She said the Poway Center for the Performing Arts can accommodate close to 800 for each concert and even the Friday night tickets are almost gone.

Tickets are $22 for general admission; $20 for seniors, students and military; $20 for children (infants to age 12) and $32 for preferred seating. Purchase from any RB Chorale member, at www.RBChorale.org or by calling 858-458-SONG (7664). The PCPA is at 15498 Espola Road in Poway.

“It’s a dynamite show,” Bean said. “I’ve never seen the Chorale members so excited.”

She attributed their enthusiasm to the theme “RBC Goes to Broadway,” in which tunes from at least 19 new and decades-old musicals will be featured. Those with songs selected for inclusion include “Sunset Boulevard,” “The Music Man,” “Gypsy,” “My Fair Lady,” “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” “Paint Your Wagon,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Into the Woods,” “Annie,” “South Pacific,” “The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd,” “The Sound of Music,” “42nd Street,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Man of La Mancha,” “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” “The Fantasticks” and “Yankee Doodle Dandy.”

Bean said the 2 1/2 hour concert (including a 20-minute intermission) is full of all-member group numbers plus some specialty acts for which the 138 singers had to audition in order to perform with the concert’s instrumentalists. Those selected include a small group of women singing and dancing to “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” and a trio singing one of the nuns’ numbers from “The Sound of Music.”

Then there is the nod to “Annie,” which earlier this year had five local girls auditioning to sing the title character’s well-known song, “Tomorrow.” Cayde Ristine, an 11-year-old Escondido resident, “stole the show,” during her audition, Bean said.

The June concerts — one of two shows the all-volunteer community singing group puts on annually — are also the time when the group awards music scholarships to high school seniors. The scholarships have been a tradition for the group’s entire 41 years and the main purpose for the concerts, Bean said. All proceeds from the December holiday show plus the spring concert go to the scholarship fund.

This year, six students from throughout San Diego County were selected among the 22 applicants. Three will perform for five minutes each on either night and the first-, second- and third-place scholarships will be determined by audience vote. This year, $11,000 will be divvied up each night, with the audience favorite of the Friday and Saturday shows each walking away with $3,000 to further their musical studies in college.

The Friday, June 12 scholarship finalists are vocalist Denise Neumerkel, a Rancho Bernardo High senior planning to study musical theater at the University of Southern Colorado; vocalist Jonathan Norwood, a Classical Academy High School senior who plans to attend Carnegie Mellon University; and flutist Jonathan Sussman, a Scripps Ranch High School senior who will attend the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music.

The Saturday, June 13 scholarship finalists are saxophonist Jake Boring, a Mira Mesa High School senior planning to continue his musical education at the University of California Los Angeles; flutist Omar Gaidarov, a Torrey Pines High School senior headed to Northwestern University; and vocalist John Michel, a West Hills High School senior who plans to attend Grossmont College’s new honors program called The Freshman Academy before transferring to a university.

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