Friday marks the culmination of the holiday season for the Fun City Chorus as its members hold their annual holiday concert at the Pocket Community Theatre, 170 Ravine St.
The annual "Christmas with Friends" concert is set for 7 p.m. Friday with Ken Goodman, Tami Kendall, Doug Lackey and a special appearance from Robert Raines joining the fun.
"It's a lot of fun for us," Steve Spakes, director of the chorus, said. "We love people coming to the show and getting a kick, getting entertained, having enjoyment, having some 'ooh and aah' moments, hopefully during our show. That's what we really live for is to sing in front of people, to share our craft of singing a cappella harmony in four-part style."
This year marks the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic that the chorus will be hosting its annual concert.
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"This is really the first Christmas show we've done in three or four years, where we actually have a place we're charging admission and inviting people to come to this Christmas show," Spakes said.
While each Christmas show is similar, there are always a few twists that freshen the show up each year.
"We call them all 'Christmas with Friends,' because that's what it is," Spakes said. "These are friends of our chorus, like Tami Kendall, who's singing in the show. Ken Goodman is a great friend of ours. Robert Raines is a friend of ours; he's singing in the show."
One new thing for this year's concert is the inclusion of the Spa City Tappers.
"Our chorus did something we've never done ... earlier in the summer," Spakes said. "We all were a part of 'The Music Man' at the Pocket Theatre, and we met the Spa City Tappers and made a lot of connections. So the Spa City Tappers are now on our Christmas show doing a couple of numbers. So I guess you could say it's a variety-type show. There's not a lot of acting and not a lot of talking; it's mainly singing."
The choir will be joining with Kendall for several songs, but Spakes said there was a fun combination with "Sleigh Ride" and "Santa Baby," where members of the chorus will pretend to be horses pulling a sleigh.
"We've got the little part where we make the sleigh," he said. "She falls out of the sleigh when they hit the snowbank and storms off mad, and then she comes back singing 'Santa Baby' in a really cute red dress. Of course, all the guys in the chorus are loving that when she comes out singing to them."
While the Fun City Chorus is known for it's a cappella singing, there will be some accompanied songs as well with some members playing guitars as well as Doug Lackey joining in on piano.
"We'll do a cappella numbers," Spakes said. "We do a number with Ken Goodman -- 'Oh, Holy Night' -- with Doug playing the piano, and it is outstanding. We rehearsed it (recently), and when we got done, Ken and Doug on the piano and everybody in our chorus are like, 'Wow, that is really powerful,' and it is. So there's gonna be some great moments on that Christmas show."
Tickets for the event are $15 for adults, $10 for students and free for children younger than 6 years old. To purchase tickets, visit https://bit.ly/3j5fswU.
Bill Stiebing blows a pitchpipe while Andre Jackson, right, Ted DeWeese, lower left, and Doug Calloway prepare to sing with the Fun City Chorus during The Salvation Army Red Kettle Kickoff last month. - Photo by Lance Porter of The Sentinel-Record