Pilgrim Festival Singers, a small vocal ensemble of the Pilgrim Festival Chorus (PFC), the region’s principal community choral group, present their South Shore summer concert series, Broadway East. Performances are held at 7:30 pm on Saturday, June 25 at First Congregational Church, One Church Street, Rockland; on Sunday, June 26 at Spire Center for Performing Arts, 25 ½ Court Street, Plymouth; on Friday, July 1 at First Trinitarian Congregational Church, 381 Country Way, Scituate; and on Saturday, July 2 at Central Congregational Church, 2 Webster Street, Middleborough. The ensemble is conducted by Music Director William B. Richter and accompanied by Assistant Director Elizabeth Chapman Reilly on piano.
Broadway East explores some of the longest running musicals in Broadway history, including the most memorable and famous songs from each show. Each is set in a specific historic period and has a setting “east” of America. Les Miserables takes place between 1815 and 1833, Phantom of the Opera in 1881, Fiddler on the Roof in 1905, and My Fair Lady around 1910. Settings vary from 19th century Paris in two eras to tsarist Russia and Edwardian England in the early 20th century. My Fair Lady, produced in 1956, is based on George Bernard Shaw‘s play, Pygmalion. Long a favorite with audiences, it includes numbers such as “I Could Have Danced All Night”, “On the Street Where You Live”, and “I’m Getting Married in the Morning”. Fiddler on the Roof, from 1964, tells the story of a poor Jewish milkman and his five daughters. Les Miserables, a world-renowned musical based on the classic 19th century novel by Victor Hugo, opened in Paris in 1980. Phantom of the Opera, from 1986, is considered by many to be Andrew Lloyd Webber‘s greatest success.
