News Release
THE DAILY HOME
January 9, 2003
Ritz hits: Antique Talladega kicks off another season with the Vienna Choir Boys
By Laura Tutor
Singing sweetly for five centuries, the Vienna Choir Boys ensemble will perform at the Ritz Jan. 20th and 21st.
“Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl …”
And the 1940s nightclub scene is set in a young songwriter’s mind.
Of all the offerings coming to The Ritz Theatre for this winter’s season, the big, splashy musical inspired by the Latin ballad of the 1970s comes out in Barry Manilow’s Copacabana is perhaps the feistiest.
In it, the song about the showgirl with the yellow feathers in her hair is broadened into a full-length show set in exotic Havana, compliments of the dream a young songwriter has while he’s working on his next big project.
Making the nearly 25-year-old song (which you will not be able to get out of your head) into a musical production captures some of the retro mania theatre groups have employed the past few years.
It’s a tone that plays through The Ritz’s winter-spring season, which opens Jan. 20-21 with the Vienna Choir Boys ensemble and its five-century tradition.
Follow that up with Manilow’s national-touring splash (Feb. 5-6), then a new musical drama about Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald, Jammin’ with Pops (April 12-13). The season ends with An Evening with Brenda Lee May 3.
Retro, indeed.
“We’re always kind of eclectic,” said George Culver, artistic director at The Ritz. The season’s name – Legends All – reflects what The Ritz’s patrons will receive, he said.
Brenda Lee promises a fun show as part of the Ritz winter-spring season.
“You’ve that incredible sound of the Vienna Choir boys, the big musical, and a musical revue, then just a fun show with Brenda Lee.”
The Ritz started its current production run six years ago with a February performance of the National Symphony String Quintet. Support has been strong, especially outside Talladega, Culver said. The intimate Ritz venue has become a regional drawing card.
The choir boys continue a performance tradition that dates back to 1498 when Hapsburg Emperor Maximillian I moved his royal court and musicians to Vienna from Innsbruck. The musically gifted children are between the ages of 10-14 and live, study and rehearse in one of the city’s many Baroque palaces.
They perform throughout the world, making frequent stops in the United States, which the choir first visited in 1932. The choir will present a collection of sacred and secular works – and tour the Talladega Superspeedway.
The jazz performance, Jammin’ with Pops, will be on the show’s world premiere tour and spotlights the lives of legends Armstrong and Fitzgerald. The show’s premise is a surprise meeting after an Armstrong performance in the mid-60s. The late-night visit develops into a jam session laced with incredible stories played out through two lifetimes. The two-act revue has all the Armstrong and Fitzgerald favorites and includes a medley from the Porgy and Bess album the duo recorded.
Brenda Lee, the only woman to be in the halls of fame for both rock-and-roll and country music, caps the season with a two-show date May 3. The Lithonia, Ga., native is celebrating her 47th anniversary as a recording artist, which began as a child prodigy at age 6. Before she was 20, The Beatles were her opening act.
Tickets for a season subscription (all shows) are $75 for adults and $60 for students. Individual show tickets for adults and students are: Vienna Choir Boys, $22, $18; Copacabana, $20 adults, $16 students; Jammin’ with Pops, $18, $14; Brenda Lee, $22, $18.
Tickets are available by mail at Antique Talladega, P.O. Box 228, Talladega AL, 3516; by phone at 256-315-0000; by fax at 256-315-0084; by Internet at www.talladega.com/ritz.
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