Between April 23 and May 3, 1980, the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus gave four concerts: two at the Herbst Theatre, one in Palo Alto for Stanford’s Gay Awareness Week and one at First Unitarian Church. It was the chorus’s first series in a major San Francisco hall.
Opening night
The Bay Area Reporter’s Paul-Francis Hartmann reviewed opening night at the Herbst. Following what was already the chorus’s tradition, the first half was classical: director Dick Kramer led 130 voices through music from Schubert to Aaron Copland, with a turn by the 23-member Chamber Singers. After intermission came lighter fare, opening with Men About Town, the 16-member swing group, complete with choreography.
Hartmann praised the chorus’s discipline, polish, staging and costumes, admitted he wept at the opening number, “Let There Be Music,” and reported that the audience rose from its seats.
“It sings to a theater full of groupies.”
— Paul-Francis Hartmann, Bay Area Reporter
Next stop, Hollywood
The chorus was raising money to travel to Hollywood High School for a combined concert with gay music groups from across California. Studio West donated $500, and the chorus agreed to sing at Studio West’s first anniversary on June 1.
That fall the chorus returned with “Ain’t It a Grand and Glorious Noise!” at Mission High School and Old First Church, with general admission at $5.
From the archives: this post retells reporting by the Bay Area Reporter and the San Francisco Sunday Examiner & Chronicle. The original articles survive only in newspaper archives, so we have told the story here in our own words. Details attributed to those outlets are their reporting; see the sources below.
Sources
- Bay Area Reporter, “Gay Men’s Chorus Baptizes the Herbst Theatre” by Paul-Francis Hartmann, May 8, 1980. ebar.com
- San Francisco Sunday Examiner & Chronicle, “Ain’t It a Grand and Glorious Noise! (advertisement)”, October 19, 1980. sfchronicle.com
