Latest / philly has heART / Philadelphia Gay Men's Chorus feat. Owen Sacco and Michael Semancik
Transcript
- 0:15This is Robert Marsh, and you're listening to
- 0:16Philly Has Heart podcast. In this podcast, we
- 0:19sit down with the artists, gallers, educators,
- 0:22curators, and other creatives who comprise the
- 0:24Philadelphia art world to discuss upcoming performances,
- 0:28exhibits, and other events and initiatives that
- 0:30are not to be missed. The art scene in Philadelphia
- 0:33is so rich that it can seem daunting. Consider
- 0:36this your weekend cultural recommendation. With
- 0:39me always is my producer, Lucinda Degertland.
- 0:41Hello. And today we have Owen and Michael of
- 0:45the Philadelphia Gay Men's Chorus. Hello. Hello.
- 0:48Welcome. Thank you for having us. Thank you for
- 0:51coming in today. Can you each tell us about your
- 0:55origin story, your e -true Hollywood story, if
- 0:58you will? I started off singing in sixth grade.
- 1:02I think that's kind of my start to the chorus
- 1:05world. And it kind of just further developed
- 1:08there. When I joined in high school, I did theater,
- 1:10acapella, chorus, and all that kind of stuff.
- 1:13And then college, I continued on. And then after
- 1:17college, I kind of wasn't sure what to do singing
- 1:20-wise. And I stumbled along the Philly Gibbons
- 1:24Chorus and joined in 2023, and here we are. Excellent.
- 1:29And how about yourself? That's great. So being
- 1:31the director, my experience is a little bit more
- 1:34in depth than Owen's, but I knew from a young
- 1:37age that music is what I was supposed to be doing.
- 1:39And I started playing trumpet in fourth grade,
- 1:41and I started playing piano in high school, actually,
- 1:44after I lost my father and things. And music
- 1:45just became a part of my existence. It got me
- 1:49through things and all that. So I went to college
- 1:50for music education, and I was playing trumpet
- 1:53and singing and playing piano and doing all the
- 1:55things. And then I started the men's choir, actually.
- 1:58And there were 14 of us, and we made some fantastic
- 2:02music. And such a pivotal point in my music life
- 2:06was that maybe choral music is what I'm supposed
- 2:07to be doing. And if you'd have told me at 18
- 2:11years old that I would be doing what I'm doing
- 2:12now, I would have laughed. I taught high school
- 2:15for a little while. I got my master's in choral
- 2:17conducting. I taught high school up in northern
- 2:19New Jersey for 11 years. lovely group of people
- 2:22up there. And we traveled the world and sang
- 2:23at the White House and did crazy, awesome things.
- 2:25And I was looking for something new. I went back
- 2:27and worked at my doctorate for a little while
- 2:29and taught college for a bit and just really
- 2:31wasn't my thing. And then the Philadelphia Gay
- 2:34Men's Chorus position opened and I applied. And
- 2:38I say this a lot. I feel like, you know, a broken
- 2:41record, but it's a family I didn't even know
- 2:43I needed. And it's a job that is the most meaningful.
- 2:48position I've ever had in my life. And it is
- 2:50just such a cool thing to kind of marry my love
- 2:53of music and my passion and all of that with
- 2:55my love of people and creating a space that's
- 2:58welcoming and fun and exciting and, you know,
- 3:01getting to do all the great things. And it's
- 3:03not really what I kind of expected I thought
- 3:05I was going to go to at 18, but I could not be
- 3:07happier to find where I've been. The Philadelphia
- 3:10Gay Men's Chorus is one of the oldest gay men
- 3:12choruses in the United States. Chorus gave its...
- 3:16The chorus gave its first official concert performance
- 3:19on April 25th, 1982 at what is now Voyeur in
- 3:24Philadelphia. That's incredible. Can you give
- 3:29us a little bit more depth of that origin story
- 3:32and kind of what Philadelphia Gay Men's Chorus
- 3:35is doing today? So the movement really came out
- 3:39of not just necessarily the AIDS epidemic, but
- 3:41it really started around that time where, you
- 3:44know, gay men and women and everything in between
- 3:48were trying to find a place, a safe place, which
- 3:51is kind of funny that we're still doing that
- 3:52today in 2026 in a very different manner in a
- 3:55different way, but it's still, their origins
- 3:57are the same. And, you know, Philadelphia Gay
- 3:59Men's Chorus, much like D .C. or San Francisco,
- 4:01you know, they started with being at the bars
- 4:04and singing together. I think, you know, I know
- 4:07that PGMC's history started with, you know, Christmas
- 4:09caroling and, you know, finding people to join
- 4:11them, you know, and then it kind of started to
- 4:13acquire and turn into that. And then these people
- 4:15were there for each other through the AIDS epidemic
- 4:17and watched their friends die and helped them
- 4:19and all of that. And I mean, it's such a hard
- 4:21story. I mean, I was born in the 80s. You know,
- 4:24I don't really remember much of that. But, you
- 4:26know, to hear people. that are in the chorus
- 4:28now that lived through that. And, you know, and
- 4:30what this chorus provided those members that
- 4:33were lost, as well as the people that were caring
- 4:35for them and doing things. And a beautiful story
- 4:38that has been, that has kind of brought a younger
- 4:41generation of people together by just the love
- 4:44and compassion that the chorus shows and has
- 4:47shown back in the 80s and 90s. I first saw PGMC
- 4:50back in like 2008. I was getting my master's
- 4:52and my friend Steve Dexter, who was a former
- 4:54president of PGMC, we came to the concert and
- 4:56I'm like, I didn't even know this was a thing.
- 4:58Like, this is awesome. And it was the first time
- 5:01in my life that I had really been around a bunch
- 5:04of gay people that, inclusively gay people, that,
- 5:07you know, are doing something they love. And
- 5:09it was fun. It just blew me away. And so I think
- 5:13that from those, you know, early years of thousands
- 5:15to today, I mean, really, it's kind of been just
- 5:18a way of people coming to a city, wanting to
- 5:21meet new people, wanting to just perform. They
- 5:24love to sing. I have kind of stepped into and
- 5:27where, you know, I've been is watching the past
- 5:29five years, three or four or five years, and
- 5:31where we've been for the past year and a half
- 5:32is we have gained a lot of new members. I mean,
- 5:35almost 80 or 90 new members. Most of them are
- 5:36under 35. And they are doing it because they
- 5:39love to sing. And their friends are from that.
- 5:41And they have found partners. And last Sunday
- 5:44we had two people that just got married that
- 5:46met in the chorus. It's got to be a lot of weddings.
- 5:48It's got to be a lot of weddings. You're keeping
- 5:52those tuxes pressed. I mean, I mean. From where
- 5:56it was and where it is today, I mean, we were
- 5:58joking that we're still kind of finding our safe
- 6:00space, but we are. And I think that our weekly
- 6:03rehearsals are a special place for not only just
- 6:06for music making, but for socializing and checking
- 6:09in on each other and kind of where we're heading
- 6:11forward. We love to entertain. Our concerts are
- 6:14a lot of fun. They're a mix of everything. I
- 6:16always tell people, you're going to walk out
- 6:18loving something, I promise. choirs have emerged
- 6:22from, I think is really just keeping true the
- 6:25spirit of those people that have lost. And I
- 6:26think that it's just an amazing thing. I don't
- 6:28know any other organization that has kind of
- 6:30evolved from something that really just kept
- 6:32people together that is still doing the same
- 6:33thing, but just in a very, very different way
- 6:35now. It's a beautiful community. It is. Each
- 6:38season includes four seasonal productions. December
- 6:41is the holiday concert. January is the Together
- 6:45concert in combination with other Philadelphia
- 6:48Gate Choruses. March, April is the Spring concert.
- 6:51And May is the Pride concert. Can you talk about
- 6:55what the audience can see out of those productions
- 6:58throughout the year? So it's a little different.
- 7:00We're set up a little differently now. We do
- 7:02two main concerts a year. Oh, excellent. We do
- 7:04our holiday concert in December, which is always
- 7:06a crowd favorite. Sell out easily. Everyone loves
- 7:10it. Where do you do that at? We do that currently
- 7:12at the Independence Seaboard Museum. Oh, excellent.
- 7:14It's where we just performed. A sold -out crowd,
- 7:17all three shows. Nice. It was a lot of fun. And
- 7:20we do anything from classical Christmas tunes
- 7:23to we did a rendition of Texas Hold 'em by Beyonce.
- 7:27Yes. It's called Get Them Lights Up, which was
- 7:29just crazy. Yeah. We could not imagine to a version
- 7:34of Padum Padum. Mary's giving birth on stage
- 7:37while singing, you know. Yeah. It's fun for everyone.
- 7:42Everyone loves to come to that. I always invite
- 7:44my family, my friends. My co -workers were begging
- 7:46to come. It's just for everyone. And then we
- 7:49have our Together concert, which is with all
- 7:51the queer choirs in Philadelphia. We get together
- 7:53and we share an afternoon. We kind of all each
- 7:55sing a one or two pieces, and then we do some
- 7:57things together and just kind of celebrate that
- 8:00there are multiple queer choirs in a city, which
- 8:03is just... I mean, I don't really know. I mean,
- 8:06New York, I don't think, has that many. I mean,
- 8:07I think that's such a unique thing to... you
- 8:11know, what we have here in Philadelphia. And
- 8:12there's something for everybody. If you're really
- 8:14into classical music and all that, you know,
- 8:15Philadelphia Voices of Pride is that, you know,
- 8:17there's a trans chorus that just began a year
- 8:19ago and a feminist chorus, which, I mean, they're
- 8:22the oldest gala chorus, actually, in the world.
- 8:25So I just think that's a really cool thing that
- 8:26we get to be a part of. And then we have our
- 8:28spring show, which we have Dancing Divas last
- 8:30year. This year we're doing the British Invasion,
- 8:32which I'm sure we'll talk about in a little bit.
- 8:34Follow some central theme. Music people can get
- 8:37up and dance to and things like that. Previous
- 8:39years, there's been other concerts, such as the
- 8:42Broadway sing -along concert. That's a favorite.
- 8:44Everybody loves that. I loved attending that
- 8:46when I was just a member. It's great. It's great.
- 8:49In previous years, they've had a Pride concert.
- 8:52We're not doing one this year, but it is on our
- 8:54dock for our next season, season 45 next year.
- 8:57Excellent. Let's talk a little bit more about
- 8:59British Invasion, preaching work from many Anglo
- 9:02artists. Can you talk a little bit about British
- 9:05Invasion and how that came together and was executed?
- 9:08So we, with the artistic committee who helps
- 9:11me choose music and pick concerts and things
- 9:14like that, I mean, it's America's 250th celebration
- 9:17and anniversary. We were in the city. We're in
- 9:20the city where it happened, to quote Hamilton.
- 9:23But with all the things that are happening, with
- 9:25our administration, with our rights getting taken
- 9:29away and things, we really struggled to come
- 9:31up with something. that was celebratory and,
- 9:34you know, and kind of felt appropriate. So one
- 9:36of my members said, what if we just did a concert
- 9:40with British artists? And I thought about that.
- 9:43I'm like, we can't, wait a minute. With some
- 9:45sassy American flair, which is what we are, what
- 9:48we do, breaking our independence and things.
- 9:50So it kind of like started with some really interesting
- 9:52conversations from that. And then, you know,
- 9:54we just walked through some great artists from
- 9:56the Beatles to Amy Winehouse to the Queen to
- 9:59a piece by Cynthia, that's Cynthia Erivo, you
- 10:02know, made. famous two years ago and a very eclectic
- 10:05group of music and you know we were kind of like
- 10:07how can we celebrate america and i think that
- 10:09you know we're We are doing, I think, America
- 10:12a really good service. And we love British music.
- 10:14I mean, who doesn't? I mean, you know, it's everywhere.
- 10:17And I think that, you know. Just welcome the
- 10:18king and queen, you know. Exactly, exactly. You
- 10:21know, the king and the queen are making an appearance
- 10:23at this concert. I heard that's happening too.
- 10:25Oh, nice. So I think, you know, you never know
- 10:27who else may show up. So I think, you know, there's
- 10:29some really interesting things I think that people
- 10:31will. You might just picture Ginger Spice in
- 10:33her Union Jack getup. Well, that's actually what
- 10:38I'm wearing to conduct the concert. There's competition.
- 10:42And there's a lot of queens in the room. Just
- 10:45watch out. And I'm stressing about what to wear.
- 10:51The expectation is high. Your back has to look
- 10:56perfect every time. That's the thing. Most people
- 10:58see my back. My back's to the audience. I'm prepared.
- 11:05That's giving back to it. Have you already planned
- 11:07for season 45? And can you share anything about
- 11:11what we should expect? So it's our 45th anniversary
- 11:13next year, which is huge. There's three other
- 11:16queer choirs, gay men's chorus, I should say,
- 11:19in the country that are all celebrating at the
- 11:21same time. So we've all been kind of chatting
- 11:22about what we're doing. Nothing is official yet,
- 11:25for sure. But I will say that we are going to
- 11:28do a big Pride concert here in Center City in
- 11:30Philly, which has not happened, I think, since
- 11:31pre -pandemic, I do believe. Not during Pride
- 11:33weekend, because that weekend is crazy. But likely
- 11:36after that weekend, we were at a theater over
- 11:38abroad, and we just got too big for the space.
- 11:42It's a good problem. It's a great problem. We
- 11:44had 180 singers for the holiday concert. It's
- 11:47great. We had 208 active members right now, people
- 11:50that have sang. sang one concert and couldn't
- 11:52do the other and things like that. So you're
- 11:55at the Seaport Museum now? We are. What is the
- 11:57capacity for that? It seats a little less than
- 12:00500 people. Oh, okay. So we did three shows for
- 12:03the holiday concert, and we're doing four for
- 12:05the British Innovation Concert. Nice. So Thursday,
- 12:07Friday, and two on Saturday. Oh, excellent. So
- 12:09we're looking to celebrate something large. There
- 12:12is likely going to be a named artist that will
- 12:15be with us, probably, working on that, finishing
- 12:18that up. Ginger Spice. We weren't going to give
- 12:22it away, but here we are. You know, just to kind
- 12:25of celebrate where the chorus has been, and not
- 12:28necessarily to keep looking back in the past
- 12:30and things, but just to be excited about where
- 12:33we've been and what we're doing and where we're
- 12:34going to go 45 years from now. And I think that's
- 12:36been a lot of the excitement for me and that
- 12:39I'm getting from a lot of the members that are...
- 12:41What's next? What are we doing next? And, you
- 12:44know, the Seabourn Museum is a great home, and
- 12:45we're happy there, and we love it there, and
- 12:47lots of things in the works. But, yeah, so we've
- 12:51got some board approval, and we have a board
- 12:52member here, so, you know, these things. So nothing
- 12:55big yet, but tune in July 1 when everything's
- 13:00announced. It's going to be very exciting. Excellent.
- 13:03All right. Excellent. PGMC promotes diversity,
- 13:06equity, inclusion, and LGBTQ plus awareness through
- 13:10exceptional musical performances while fostering
- 13:14support, advocacy, and acceptance in the greater
- 13:17Philadelphia area and beyond. Auditions are coming
- 13:20up later this summer. Can you share what would
- 13:23-be members can expect at those auditions? Currently,
- 13:26our new home is at the Philadelphia Boys Chorus
- 13:28Building, which is up on Spring Garden. And they
- 13:31have a lovely space there with seated choral
- 13:32risers. Auditioneer will come in, and there's
- 13:35usually 20 to 25 current members there. There's
- 13:38food, and there's laughter, and there's chat,
- 13:40and it's a very, very low -key situation. And,
- 13:43you know, we were like, all right, let's come
- 13:45in and audition, simple audition, come in, sing
- 13:47a few warm -ups, maybe a little happy birthday.
- 13:50Yeah. Happy birthday's hard. It's not easy. It's
- 13:55always what Katie started. Exactly. Too low,
- 13:58too high. And you have to commit. You have to
- 14:02commit. Whatever you start. You can't change.
- 14:05I like to keep the auditions very... low stress
- 14:08situation and you know that way you know anybody
- 14:10that maybe I haven't sang since high school or
- 14:13maybe I've never sung before but I love to sing
- 14:15in the shower or I sang with my church choir
- 14:17and this seems cool and I love that part of the
- 14:20audition process and you know and we I mean if
- 14:23you can sing and all that there's a spot for
- 14:24you for sure. That's excellent. What does membership
- 14:28look like throughout the year? Is it weekly?
- 14:30What's the commitment for those members? So we
- 14:33show up every Wednesday. We rehearse for two
- 14:36and a half hours, and we're present. We're all
- 14:38there. We're singing together, making music,
- 14:41just being around a community that you feel safe
- 14:45and accepted in, which is really important nowadays.
- 14:49So that's the main commitment of members. If
- 14:51you want to get involved, we'll always accept
- 14:53more involvement. We're always planning a million
- 14:55different things, whether it's events, concerts.
- 14:58promoting the concert through promotional marketing
- 15:01material. I couldn't help myself but get involved,
- 15:04so I very quickly joined the marketing team and
- 15:06then the board. We're always looking for people
- 15:08to nurture donor relations. You know, once you're
- 15:11interested and you want to help, we will take
- 15:14all the help we can get. And members not only,
- 15:17you know, will sing together, but we have social
- 15:19events typically once a month where people hang
- 15:22out. You know, we always go to the bars Wednesday
- 15:25night after rehearsal, and we all hang out and
- 15:27just chat. de -stress from the week and talk
- 15:31about what our favorite song was or what annoying
- 15:34song Mike is making us sing now. All the gossip.
- 15:38There are groups of choir members that have made
- 15:43kickball teams with City Sports and all of this.
- 15:47And I think that as the director seeing that,
- 15:50being like proud dad, I'm like, this is awesome.
- 15:53And I think that's something that is... really
- 15:56unique about what we do is that yes we sing and
- 15:59we love to and you come to our concerts and you're
- 16:00going to leave having a blast right but it is
- 16:03because of the relationships that the members
- 16:05have with each other that's what makes that even
- 16:06more meaningful yeah i mean that's why we stay
- 16:08you know you join to sing but i think a lot of
- 16:11people stay for the community i joined Not only
- 16:15to sing, but also I was just looking for a gay
- 16:17community within the city. Graduating college,
- 16:20I didn't have a lot of gay friends, and I've
- 16:22met some of my best friends in the chorus, and
- 16:24we go on weekend trips together, and they're
- 16:26some of the best people I've met. In addition
- 16:29to opportunities in the chorus, there are also
- 16:32spots in the dance troupe. Can you share any
- 16:35information about auditioning for that component?
- 16:38I mean, are you coming up with a combination,
- 16:40bringing it in, hit the tape deck? Yeah, you
- 16:48need to be wearing your sweatpants and small
- 16:51chorus line. Five, six, seven, eight. Yes, exactly.
- 16:56No, I think the dancing's low stakes. Not that
- 17:00you don't have to be super experienced, but our
- 17:02dancers are some of the funnest people we have
- 17:04in the chorus. You know, they come for the singing,
- 17:06but they stay because they love watching the
- 17:09dancers. Everyone wants the dancers to be up
- 17:11on those shows. The crowd goes crazy. The crowd
- 17:14goes crazy every time they walk on stage. No
- 17:17matter what song we're singing, they love the
- 17:19dancers, from their crazy outfits to whatever
- 17:23they are doing up there. that around the same
- 17:26time we have singing auditions. Just stay tuned
- 17:28from our social media. How many voices are in
- 17:31the chorus, and is there a slot limit to would
- 17:34-be members? That's a great question, and that's
- 17:37something that we're working through right now.
- 17:38You know, in August of last year, some of the
- 17:41membership said, do you know how many auditionees
- 17:43we have? And I'm like, no, they're like 80. And
- 17:45I'm like, I'm sorry, oh my gosh. How many members
- 17:49do you have in right now? Singing members, we
- 17:52have 150 singing in this concert. And we had
- 17:53a little over 180 singing in the holiday concert.
- 17:55Okay. I want them to sing the whole time, right?
- 17:57But sometimes schedules, you know, just don't
- 17:59allow and there's a wedding weekend and you just
- 18:01can't do it. So members will just sing the whole
- 18:03concert. Of members. Right, of members. Absolutely,
- 18:06right? They better not be scheduling a tournament
- 18:08concert. Yeah, they have those dates a year in
- 18:14advance. They have those dates in advance. Yes,
- 18:15for sure. I totally forgot the question you asked.
- 18:21I'm sorry. My question was just, is there a slot
- 18:24limit to would -be members? Thank you. So, yeah,
- 18:28so we kind of ran into this, and we found a new
- 18:30home for both performance and rehearsal space,
- 18:32which has been great. But we're... We're already
- 18:35full again. We're full again already. So we're
- 18:38working through it. Yeah. And I'm the type of
- 18:40guy, like, that's a problem we can fix. Even
- 18:42when members come in and they don't really sing
- 18:44and they can't really sing, I feel so terrible
- 18:47because they're looking for a community. And
- 18:50like, well, listen, our dancers are awesome.
- 18:52And that's happened. I mean, I think like that.
- 18:55So no, there's no limit for where we are now.
- 18:58But I think that there are some bigger conversations
- 19:02that probably need to happen as we expand. I
- 19:04mean, if we have another 80 people, like I know
- 19:05there's already 15 people on the list already
- 19:07that we have interested. And it's only May. We'll
- 19:10see. We'll see what happens. I loosened a sidebar.
- 19:14Will and Grace is one of my comfort shows. Have
- 19:17you ever watched the episode of Will and Grace,
- 19:19A Chorus Lie? 2002. I have. I have not. I have
- 19:26not seen it. My parents love that show, but I
- 19:28did not see that specific one. Robert? Yes. You
- 19:31have seen it? Yeah. I've seen it. Whenever I
- 19:34mentioned that we were excited to record with
- 19:39y 'all, My husband, who has inadvertently watched
- 19:43Will and Grace along with me just year after
- 19:46year after year, he was like, are they going
- 19:49to Europe? Are they going to get per diem? I'm
- 19:53like, I don't know. They're probably going to
- 19:55drink bottled water. It's a little too fine.
- 20:00Let me sign him up for auditions. That's how
- 20:03that goes. Listen, we take everybody. I mean,
- 20:06we have members in the chorus that. have wives
- 20:08and kids and all that. And I mean, it's really,
- 20:10it's a very open, so we'd love to have him. That'd
- 20:12be great. What is a little known fact or piece
- 20:16of intel about the Philadelphia Gay Men's Chorus
- 20:19that you wish people knew? Question for both
- 20:21of you. I think there's just like some really
- 20:25exciting opportunities that we get, such as singing
- 20:27for the Phillies. They've sang with Hugh Jackman
- 20:31before, with Rufus Wainwright, all those types
- 20:34of things that you wouldn't think. that a Gay
- 20:36Men's Chorus necessarily would be involved with.
- 20:38We get invited to some cool stuff. We sang at
- 20:41a Stephen Schwartz memorial with him two years
- 20:44ago. Wow. So there's a lot of exciting things
- 20:46to do. That's awesome. you know, the name, the
- 20:49Philadelphia Gay Men's Chorus has a certain connotation
- 20:51to it in any way, right? If you're in the gay
- 20:53community, it's, oh, we love them or I've never
- 20:55heard of them or whatever. But I think that one
- 20:58thing I would love to, and I've said this before,
- 21:00is like, I really want us to become a household
- 21:02name in Philadelphia and that people know us
- 21:04and know what we do and we're out in the community
- 21:06and we are, you know, performing concerts, not
- 21:08only just for our own concerts, but we're here
- 21:10for pride and we're up in the burbs doing concerts.
- 21:12I was visiting a church that wants to have us,
- 21:15you know, out in Doylestown on Friday. And I
- 21:16think that... And for people to get to see what
- 21:21these members are, not only just to the organization
- 21:24but to each other, I think it's just such a breath
- 21:27of fresh air for myself to be standing in front
- 21:29of once a week. But I think that if we could
- 21:31just bookmark this and use this as a guide for
- 21:35most things in life, we would be living much
- 21:38happier lives that way because what they are
- 21:40and what they do for each other really is just
- 21:42something very special. And for myself, too.
- 21:43I mean, they're lovely to me. Yes. Maybe not
- 21:46no one, but everybody else. I'm just kidding.
- 21:47I'm just kidding. What is next for the Philadelphia
- 21:52Gay Men's Chorus? Yeah, so we're singing the
- 21:55national anthem at the Phillies game again. I've
- 21:57personally done it the past three or four years.
- 21:59I know they've been doing it for years now. June
- 22:0218th. So it'll be great, fun Pride night. Hopefully
- 22:05no rain. And then we'll be singing Philadelphia
- 22:08Orchestra for their free Pride concert along
- 22:10with the other queer choruses in Philly. It's
- 22:13a free concert hosted by Trixie Mattel this year.
- 22:15So that's a big name to have. And it's just a
- 22:18fun experience to hear us sing like... a Lady
- 22:22Gaga born this way with the orchestra accompanying
- 22:25us. Yes, that's incredible. Where else are you
- 22:28going to hear that? And then a little bit of
- 22:31rest in the summer before we take off on our
- 22:33big celebratory season 45. Excellent, excellent.
- 22:37Where can our audience find you both online and
- 22:40in real life? We're found online at www .pgmc
- 22:44.org or on social platforms, Philadelphia GMC
- 22:49or Philadelphia Gay Men's Chorus. We're on TikTok,
- 22:53Instagram, Facebook. Follow us on TikTok for
- 22:56lots of fun little behind the scenes and sneak
- 23:00peeks for our concerts. And dancers. And dancers.
- 23:04I'll link those in the show notes. And we'll
- 23:08be right back with rapid fire questions. And
- 23:13we're back with Owen and Michael from the Philadelphia
- 23:16Gay Men's Chorus. We're here for some rapid fire
- 23:19questions for both of you. Favorite restaurant
- 23:22or bar in the Gaverhood? Favorite restaurant
- 23:25would have to be Darling Jack's on 13th. I love
- 23:28their pizza. I'm going to say George and Martha's.
- 23:30Nice. The fried chicken is so good. That's right.
- 23:34Favorite number from a Broadway musical? I would
- 23:38say probably Stars from Les Mis. It's just one
- 23:41of those epic moments. Standing on the bridge
- 23:43singing and just... It's fantastic. I like it.
- 23:46It immediately goes to musicals I've done in
- 23:48school. The Producers was my senior show, and
- 23:51that was just a blast. So any of the music from
- 23:55that, it was a blast to do. Amazing, amazing.
- 23:58What are you most excited for for this Pride?
- 24:00I'm excited to... stand amongst the thousands
- 24:04and tens of thousands of people, the hundreds
- 24:06of thousands of people that are coming in our
- 24:07new place and get to show what we do and get
- 24:12people to get a chance to hear us that maybe
- 24:14not have the opportunity to get to hear us at
- 24:15our concerts and things, just to celebrate who
- 24:17we are in the open. It's just a lovely thing
- 24:20we get to do. I'm the most excited for not only
- 24:24singing with all my fellow chorus members, but
- 24:27just hanging out with them in the streets in
- 24:28the sun. Wear your SPF. Yes. Daily. Owen and
- 24:37Michael, thank you so much for your time today.
- 24:38And everyone, check out Philadelphia Gay Men's
- 24:41Chorus. You might have just missed them in the
- 24:43British Invasion, but check them out. It's pride.
- 24:46See you at the auditions. Thanks for tuning in
- 25:16to Philly Has Heart, your weekly cultural update.
- 25:19Until next time, keep creating, keep connecting,
- 25:22and remember, Philly has heart. And art!