Review: The Heartland Men's Chorus Brings SLEIGH! DASHING THROUGH THE HOLIDAYS WITH HMC! To Yardley Hall for one night only

Don't miss the final performance of "SLEIGH!, DASHING THROUGH THE HOLIDAYS WITH HMC!" at Yardley Hall, on the Johnson County Community College campus, Sunday December 9th. Conducted by Dustin S. Cates, Artistic Director of the Heartland Men's Chorus, and accompanied on piano by Robert Lamar Sims the chorus puts on a must-see musical tribute to the holidays.

The program opens with "Sisi Ni Moja" with a solo by Michael Shatner, followed by "Ring Out, Wild Bells" and "If You Love Me". After a powerful rendition of the Christmas classic "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" and "Bashana Haba'ah" Dustin Cates tells how he and his partner traveled to El Paso, Texas to help with the 14,000 immigrant children, who had been separated from their parents by the government. The chorus then sings "A La Nanita Nana", dedicating it to the misplaced children.

The chorus performs "The Sleigh", "Glow" and "Joy" with solos by Jacob Nienhueser, Charley Sullivan and Randy Hite. As one of Britain's greatest comics and magicians Tommy Cooper once said, "Always leave them laughing." That is just what the Heartland Men's Chorus did with the final song of the first act, "Hallelujah". with the accompaniment of the Sisters of Perpetual Silence. The performance will leave you smiling throughout intermission.

The second act opens on a lighter note with two Christmas classics "Jingle Bells" and a magnificent rendition of "Christmas in Kansas City". Kelly Mars performs a solo in "Dear Santa (Bring Me a Man This Christmas)", while accompanied by dancers from That's Entertainment KC. Lindsey Personette, Katherine Schneller and Stephanie Stevens, who are featured as the Weather Girls, perform a beautifully choreographed and executed dance routine to the song.

Robert Bradbury is phenomenal as he performs a solo of "I'll Be Home for Christmas". Following Bradbury is the talented HMC ensemble, Burnt Ends performing "Go, Rudy Go" and "Mr. Santa". The chorus entertains with "Be a Santa" and "Carol of the Bells" before performing "There's Still My Joy". Cates explains that each year a song is dedicated to their members of Ad Astra (Latin for "to the stars"} who have succumbed to the Aids and HIV virus. The second act concludes with "Closer to Fine".

The Heartland Men's Chorus originated in 1986 and is now entering its 33rd season of Singing Out in Kansas City. Besides the Burnt Ends Ensemble, the chorus has the Chamber Ensemble and does an annual fundraiser, Dinner of Note, which this year brought together nearly 300 guests at the Arvest Bank Theatre at the Midland. This year the chorus performed the closing concert for Kansas City's newly developed Open Spaces Festival.

The final performance of SLEIGH! is December 9th in Yardley Hall at the Johnson County Community College. For ticket information visit the Heartland Men's Chorus website at www.hmckc.org.

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