Choirs raises voices for Japan relief

Following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, all eyes in the world focused on the island nation’s nuclear power crisis.

However, as the countdown for the royal wedding of the century began, Japan’s crisis quickly slid under the media’s radar and disappeared from the news.

Some singer/actors in the area did not lose sight of the emergency, and they are staging a benefit concert of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Mikado tonight at First Presbyterian Church to raise money for the Japanese earthquake relief effort.

All donations collected from this fluffy comic opera will go to the Presbyterian World Service and Development Fund.

“One-hundred per cent of the money goes to the Japanese Relief Effort,” says First Presbyterian pastor Harry Currie. The St. Albert resident also sings the role of the Mikado, the all-powerful ruler.

For close to 28 years, Currie has been ministering to a wide audience, first in Summerside, Prince Edward Island and now here. “Whenever there is a major tragedy, our church has asked for support. This was a major catastrophe with major suffering. As human beings who care, we reached out.”

But it was Edmonton tenor Ron Long who is the driving force behind this project. The McDougall United Church chorister had originally partnered with other city singers to stage Mikado as a full-costumed comic operetta.

However, due to conflicting schedules the show fell apart. But when Japan was hit with the earthquake and tsunami, Long had a light-bulb moment to restage Mikado for a one-night concert version of the comic operetta.

“We knew the music, so why not get involved?” says Long, who stickhandles the lead role of Nanki-Poo.

He pulled together a 20-member choir from Edmonton Opera Chorus, First Presbyterian Church Choir, McDougall United Choir and Schola Cantorum Women’s Choir. There’s a mix of professionals and amateurs such as local constellations Tim Anderson, Nicole English and Natasha Guindon.

In Mikado’s back story, Nanki-Poo, son of the Mikado of Japan, runs away from his father’s Imperial Court to escape a forced marriage with an elderly “battle-axe.” He disguises himself as a travelling musician, meets and falls in love with Yum-Yum, a ward of an older man who is appointed Lord High Executioner.

Through a series of disguises and chicanery, Nanki-Poo outwits his adversaries and wins his ladylove. Currie’s shining moment comes when he sings A More Humane Mikado, a tongue-in-cheek spoof of a ruler that enjoys all the gory details of executions.

Envelopes will be provided to anyone who would like a tax receipt.