My Experience as Show Chair

What’s in a Show Title?

In November of 2022, after emerging from the long and dark tunnel known as Covid, the South Shore Saints held their first show in more than two years.  The show, titled “Together Again / À nouveau ensemble”, focused on appreciating the joy of relaxing with friends and family again.

Not surprisingly, when the music team got to work on the show concept for 2023, it decided to highlight two songs we were familiar with—“the railroad package”—to inspire hope that the pace of life would soon return to normal.  The idea was to take our audience with us on an emotional train ride filled with thrills, chills, and spills.

The show, which was titled “All aboard! / Tous le monde à bord !”, turned out one of biggest audiences in recent memory.  Thanks to an enthusiastic audience, the boundless energy of guest quartet Daily Special—a fast-rising comedic group, and other intangible factors, we found ourselves basking in a lengthy standing ovation at the end of the show.

Despite the hopes of people around the world, the post-pandemic era has been a bumpy ride at best, with seemingly endless news of catastrophes both natural and man-made.  In the face of such circumstances, it is hard not to prioritize our activities to those dearest to our hearts—our necessities, passions, and loved ones.  

In early 2024, soon after I began to serve as VP of Music and Show Chairman, the music team (of which I was a member) decided on “Love” as the show theme.  It would be some time, however, before we would finalize our show title. 

Commemorating Don Gillespie

In mid-February, Alan Briand, our director, informed us that the last of our original surviving charter members, Don Gillespie, had passed away.  At the time, I wrote to our members the following:

“It is with a twinge of sadness that I pass along to you news of the passing of Donald William (Don) Gillespie on February 13, 2024 (born February 21, 1932). Don was one of the founding (charter) members of the South Shore Saints, and the last to pass away. He was from Ontario and a tenor in a church choir (and supposedly in the chorus as well).  Given that he passed on my birthday, and knowing that he was a tenor, I could not help but feel a natural kinship with him; his name will be etched in my memory…”

On June 5, at our annual barbeque to commemorate Don’s contributions to our organization and the Barbershop Harmony Society, Cathy Gillespie (Don’s wife) was our guest of honour (Annual Barbecue: In Memory of Don Gillespie, Founding Member).  In her speech, she vividly recounted many memories of Don, including how he discovered Barbershop singing, became involved in many Canadian choruses as director and quartet man, had a thrilling adventure singing at Internationals, and loved to see songs that he had arranged come to life.  

I realized then how important he had been in the history of the chorus.  Later, the Show Committee decided to include excerpts of Cathy’s speech in the show program to ensure that Don’s presence would be felt in the backdrop of our annual show.  Eventually, we also included comments by President Luc Larose on Don’s role in helping to establish the chorus. 

Summer was now upon us, but we had yet to decide on a show title.  I was getting anxious.  During a break at one rehearsal in July, Alan handed me an old script originally developed for a Harmony College show in the late 1970s.  Notably, the script, titled “Barbershop is Love”, included songs about the many different kinds of love.  I breathed a sigh of relief, for I now had a title; subsequently, I started designing the program for “Barbershop est amour / Barbershop is Love”.  I then went on a 3-week trip to Japan in August and forgot about the script.

Could I Write a Script?

When I returned, I was anxious to rework the original "Barbershop Is Love" script.  Alan had provided me a draft with our songs substituted for those in the original and with irrelevant text removed.  To avoid stifling the dynamic voice of our MC, Sean Henry, I revised the style of the remaining text, which was quite formal, to a more casual style.  After a number of iterations, we sent the draft to Sean.  But I had a nagging feeling that something was still missing.  

I went back to the original 1970's script and looked through the list of songs.  Of the 20, I recognized all but one ... although that one song caught me by surprise.  Why?  Because it just happened to be one of the two new songs that our directors had chosen anew for the 2024 show: If I Could Write A Song.  Something clicked in my mind.  I re-read the excerpts of Cathy Gillespie’s speech that I had included in the show program, and realized that the song embodied exactly what her husband had loved doing most as a barbershopper: of arranging songs and bringing them to life. 

I hurriedly added text to Sean's script for him to highlight Don’s contributions to our chorus. I was convinced that this, combined with the excerpts of Cathy’s speech and the President’s comments in the show program, would strengthen the chances that Don’s influence on our chorus would be felt by those in attendance.

Postscript

If I Could Write A Song had already been selected by our directors as a song for the 2024 show, before we had learned of Don Gillespie's passing in February of 2024.  Thus, it is unlikely that the song was intended to commemorate Don's passing.  Nonetheless, I wonder if Alan had associated the song with Don’s passion of seeing his arrangements come to life when he discovered the “Barbershop Is Love” Harmony College show script during the summer.  Whether it was serendipity or a wild concoction of my mind, the “a-ha” moment I experienced was nonetheless magical in retrospect.

By Tatsuya Oyama