Everybody Get Footloose! with The Abu Dhabi Choral Group

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I was a young girl in a Midwestern Baptist town in Illinois. A town filled with old blue haired ladies, dogs that nap in the street and a local preacher who relied upon the generosity of the parishioners for cookies and meatloaf dinners. It was a town not too dissimilar from Bomont. It was a stereotypical farm town upbringing with Levis, boots and beer, and all the crazy shenanigans that bored country kids get themselves into.

My high school crowd could easily be identified as those that would leave our community and those that would stay. In October 1984, just as the corn was harvested from the fields, Footloose came to our uniplex theater and provided those that would leave the hope that even small town rebels with a big city itch could have a future out there somewhere beyond the wheat and the soybean fields.

Fast forward 35 years and I am half way around the world, in the Middle East, at the New York University Arts Center watching a cast of 30-40 expats with a Russell Stovers box of accents, perform Footloose. A movie so Americana that I can smell the hay.

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The Abu Dhabi Choral Group’s “Anything Goes”

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Abu Dhabi Choral Group did it again with this year’s performance of the 1934 musical Anything Goes. Packed full of Cole Porter classics, the Anything Goes cast of 35 performing members not only belted out the old showtunes but they also busted out the tap shoes too. In the 6 years I have attended, I must say, ADCG definitely upped the entertainment factor this year with their incredible dance choreography and their flashy new focus on costume design. You really never know what you’re in for because ADCG has undeniably been the best little community theater group in the UAE for 41 years — and that is certainly something for Abu Dhabi to be proud of.

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ADCG presents “Legally Blonde”

11074319_10153209782937866_4551556499759237639_nI will admit that I have never seen the movie Legally Blonde. Shame on me – I know.

I will also admit that I usually prefer the musicals to the movies or the books from which they were adapted. I guess I am just a musical kind of girl.  What I like is the energy that comes from a group of citizens coming together to produce, perform and attend a community musical – and, well, there’s just something magical that happens. Continue reading “ADCG presents “Legally Blonde””