Concert Review—

Little House That Roared, With 2012 Under Its Belt, Is Already Looking Forward

By Janis Gibson

The auditorium at Newtown High School was filled with the sounds of music on Sunday afternoon, March 31, as The Little House That Roared sponsored its third annual concert. A program of Congregation Beth Israel, the concert was headlined by Grammy Award-winning singer songwriter Tom Chapin and featured the Fairfield County Children’s Choir and a number of local youth showcasing their talent.

The children’s choir opened the event with Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies,” and was followed by 17-year-old Yossi Kohrman-Glaser on the classical guitar. The audience sat in hushed appreciation as his fingers flew over the guitar strings, filling the air with stirring melodies.

Next came The XY Chromatones, a male a capella group, which got the audience clapping along with one of its numbers.

Middle school students Julia Bagdanoff and Gillian Chanko delighted the audience with their expressive rendition of “Bosom Buddies” from Mame.

And while many in the audience were aware that 18-year-old Sam Weiser is an accomplished classical and jazz violinist, he exhibited additional talents, playing an original composition and a Beatles tune that each contained segments of impressive whistling while plucking the violin like a guitar.

The Fairfield County Children’s Choir, under the direction of Maestro Jon Noyes, returned to the stage to do several more numbers, including a touching a capella number from the repertoire of Sweet Honey in the Rock and a spirited “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” which segued nicely into Tom Chapin’s opening number, “Let Me Back Into Your Life.”

Mr Chapin played several solo numbers, playing guitar, banjo and autoharp, before being joined by the children, who accompanied him on several more numbers, including “Family Tree,” which was also signed by the choir. Mr Chapin then taught the American sign language “words” to the audience and everyone joined in, singing and signing the song again.

All of the participants came on stage for the last few numbers, which included a wonderful John Forster song titled “Every Body,” which is on Mr Chapin’s most recent family CD, Give Peas A Chance, and the Chapin family anthem, “Circle.”

After the event, Rabbi Shaul Praver of Congregation Beth Israel said: “It was a successful event and it’s fun to do. The audience really loved the children’s choir with Tom; it was definitely the highlight of the show; they filled the room with beautiful music.

“The XY Chromatones were delightful and Yossi and Sam were better than ever,” he continued. “Julia and Gilliam really rose to the occasion; they’re only 12 years old and they looked and sounded great.

“We look forward to presenting the concert again next year.”