BRACEBRIDGE ROTARY STREAMING ‘ALL TOGETHER NOW!’ MUSICAL REVUE NOV. 13
MUSKOKA — Together apart was the rallying call early in the pandemic.
And it’s “All Together Now!” in support of the South Muskoka Hospital Foundation.
The aptly named musical review is approaching fast and the Rotary Club of Bracebridge is presenting this uplifting online concert for a one-time only streaming Saturday, Nov. 13 at 8 p.m.
Tickets are only $20 and all proceeds go to the South Muskoka Hospital Foundation, which today announced Leah Walker will replace Colin Miller as the new fundraising chair.
And the ATN band and singers, under the direction of Neil Barlow, have been hard at work for weeks rehearsing their parts together and apart.
“Many people have expressed curiosity about how this virtual event will work for patrons,” Rotarian Jean Polak said this week.
Tickets are purchased online. And part of that process requires the supporter to provide an email address.
On the day of the performance, a Vimeo link will be sent to each audience member who has bought a ticket.
The link can then be used only on PCs, tablets and phones — but not with a Smart TV link as originally planned.
The virtual “lobby” will open at 7 p.m. and those with the link can join at any time thereafter by clicking on it, Polak said.
Just like a performance at a theatre, however, if the viewer comes late they will have to join the show in progress.
There is no opportunity to restart the program.
The virtual curtain goes up at 8 p.m. and viewers should log in before that, so they do not miss a moment, added Polak.
Tickets are available now and can be purchased online through the
“Events” page on the South Muskoka Hospital Foundation website
(www.healthmuskoka.ca/our-events/) or on the home page of the
Rotary Club of Bracebridge (www.bracebridgerotary.org).
Or call producer Jean Polak at [email protected] or 705-646-2855.
This concert has been made possible by the generosity of Music Theatre International, the rights holder for all the songs made available for this “delightful musical revue.”
The Muskoka version of “All Together Now!” is part of a global event celebrating local theatre.
During the weekend of Nov. 12-15 more than 5,500 performances of this musical revue will be staged in more than 2,500 schools and theatres in 40+ countries.
The song selection may differ from production to production, but the motivation behind it is the same all around the world, said Polak.
Theatres everywhere, including those here in Muskoka, have been seriously impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This shared event allows all who have been missing live theatre to celebrate the joy that community theatre has brought us — and the joy it will bring again.
For the Rotary Club of Bracebridge this concert represents a bridge between the past and future of its annual musicals, and also gives us all a chance to make a donation that is a concrete “thank you” to the hospital and its workers.
The club says it considers it important to give the community an additional chance to express its gratitude to some of the healthcare heroes who have been facing unprecedented pressure the past eighteen months for the benefit of all of us.
Looking to the future, the Rotary Club of Bracebridge has affirmed its intention to carry on the tradition of an “annual Rotary musical” each spring.
Ongoing public health restrictions meant that the club was not able to cast and rehearse a show for next spring, but it is back on track for the spring of 2023. In February and March 2023 the Rotary Club of Bracebridge will produce its 44th annual musical, which will be the perennial favourite, “The Sound of Music.”
That does mean an unprecedented thirty-six months between “annual” musicals, but the concert performance of “All Together Now!” halfway through that span serves to remind the show’s loyal audience that community theatre is only paused, and will be back.
