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Spring Concert featured Broadway-coached singers

Posted on May 09, 2008

Lauralton Hall's Annual Spring Concert featuring The Lion King medley sung by Lauralton Hall Broadway-coached choirs was presented on May 8 at Parsons Center Auditorium in Milford.

Photos by Bob Harrington of Focus In Close

Here’s what the Connecticut Post had to say about members of the Broadway production of Disney’s The Lion King coming to Lauralton to coach choir members:

Choir draws sound from 'Lion King'

By Noelle Frampton, April 1, 2008

©2008CONNECTICUT POST (Used with permission)

MILFORD - The choir of singing schoolgirls in navy skirts and white stockings didn't look very African Monday afternoon, but they sure sounded it.

The students at the all-girl Academy of Our Lady of Mercy, Lauralton Hall, were belting out "Circle of Life" - complete with Zulu and Xhosa languages - with the help of two Broadway cast members of Disney's "The Lion King."

"As an audience member it makes my eye go right to you because you're telling me the story," coached Jim Ferris, a Bridgeport native who plays Pumbaa, the carefree wart hog. "Even though you're not speaking my language, I understand you because you're so invested in it."

That is fitting, said Ron Kunene, an original ensemble singer on the show for 10 years and an African dialect coach who helped to write the soundtrack for "The Lion King" movie in 1992.

"The Lion King" is one of the few mainstream exposures of young Americans to African culture, and the music is the most enduringly popular part of it, he said.

"It really brings Africa alive," said Kunene, a native of South Africa. "I see myself as also presenting the culture. I loved to see the way they were performing it - had life. It was thrilling. From one song, everybody can be so united."

The Lauralton Hall choir will sing "Circle of Life" as part of a Lion King medley in their Spring Concert May 8 at the Parsons Government Center.

Choir members said they feel more confident after their Broadway coaching, and, although their voices were tired after two hours of singing, were pleasantly surprised by their own sound.

"We are so not, like, African," said 16-year-old Molly Wheaton, laughing. "We're Connecticut Catholic school girls. It's like surreal."

"That's why it's so fun," said senior Laura Turner, 18. "It's a great experience to be able to use the Broadway music and to work with actual people from the show."

Wheaton said it helped to learn "what it would be if we were African. How to say, as well as how to feel it."

Kunene coached the girls to feel the song's energy so their audience could feel it, too. Ferris told them to approach singing with unbridled passion and find their own voice in life as well as music.

"It starts with music, but it goes into whatever they do," he said after the practice. "There's no difference in committing to a song and committing to another passion in your life."

Ferris ought to know. A graduate of St. Joseph High School in Trumbull who always wanted to perform, he auditioned for the show for years before he got his part.

"They said, 'No' for six years," he said. "I don't care - 'no' is just a ... temporary burden."

Ferris came to Lauralton and brought Kunene because he knew the school's director of fine arts, Margy Sargent, and she asked for his help.

"I think that this has made all the difference for [the choir] in understanding and connecting to the music," Sargent said.

The Lauralton Hall choir was chosen last spring to represent Connecticut at America's 400th anniversary celebration in Jamestown, Va. Last December, it was one of five high school choirs from Connecticut and New Jersey invited to sing in a holiday concert at New York City's world-famous Lincoln Center.

"All of our best thoughts and wishes will be with you," Ferris told the girls. "Keep challenging yourselves. Sing from the soles of your feet to the top of your head and enjoy the moment."



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