Big concert for Baptist Union

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33061, 31 October 1972, Page 10

Big concert for Baptist Union

An evening of drama, opera, choral music, and dancing, making use of a cast of more than 200, will be presented in the James Hay Theatre on November 4, as part of the annual assembly functions of the Bapist Union of New Zealand.

Called “Kaleidoscope,” the concert is the biggest produced in connection with the assembly. Mr G. E. Jansen, senior lecturer in music at the Christchurch Teachers’ College (Secondary Division) and a member of the committee organising the concert, said that the concert was called “Kaleidoscope” because it reflected the variety of ways in which the gospel could be presented today. The concert will present excerpts from the rock musical “Godspell,” to which new dialogue will be set, 25 minutes of expressive dancing from a Dunedin team of 11 dancers trained by Mrs S. McTavish,' 11 vocal items from an adult choir of 85 voices, and a youth choir of 120 voices. Members of the choirs have come from different

denominations around Christchurch.

A short play “Through the Looking Glass,” a satire on the life of the church, will also be presented. The “Godspell” selection will be performed by 40 teachers’ college students.

The musical items will include music from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, folk ballads, and traditional hymns.

Butler will back the more modern songs, and all the cast will combine for the “Godspell” finale.