Commissioned Work at "Light Your World"

The Sacramento Gay Men's Chorus will be giving the first performance of a new work titled, "A Social Network Christmas" by Eric Lane Barns, which was jointly commissioned by SGMC and the Seattle Men's Chorus.  Barnes was in Sacramento recently, rehearsing the chorus in his piece, which he describes as follows:

"The basic premise is, the main narrator of the song decides to stay inside during the month of December, participating in Christmas only through posting on his Facebook page. As the piece unfolds we see various YouTube videos, jpegs and other holiday tidbits he shares as he ‘posts’ on his page.” The piece is performed by the chorus and a small group with choreography and "staging and casting of special characters such as the YouTube phenomenon 'Jingle Cats.'"

Barns is author of the critically acclaimed Fairy Tales, which received numerous awards in Chicago, New York and London. His scores and scripts for Chicago’s Lifeline Theatre include Tuck Everlasting, The Amazing Bone, Simple Jim and His Four Fabulous Friends, and Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, the latter of which has enjoyed a successful U.S. tour. His musical The Stops, about three lady organists, was awarded Best Musical at the 2006 National Gay and Lesbian Theatre Festival. Barns’ show Rapture of the Deep received a City of Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs grant and was co-presented with Seattle’s Balagan Theatre. His most recent show, 2011’s The Holiday Stops, broke all box office records in the history of Richmond’s Triangle Players. He has written songs and underscoring for several independent films, including the upcoming Fallen Jewel, and has been commissioned to write and produce shows and songs for numerous choruses throughout the United States.

Other features of the concert will be traditional holiday numbers such as “The Little Drummer Boy” and “Whisper (Tiny Baby in a Manger Lay),” and “How Could Anyone,” a round that will be performed in American Sign Language by the entire 60-member chorus.

For more details on the November 30-December 8 performances of "Light Your World" by the Sacramento Gay Men's Chorus, see their listing in the Sacramento Choral Calendar at this link.