Soul Singers

 
It was twenty years ago that Charlie Beale got his big break—a gig playing keyboard for a Whitney Houston single. Since then, the London-native has taken a liking to a more "choral" taste, spending five years with the London Gay Men's Chorus before landing a cushy position as resident Artistic Director for the Gay Men's Chorus here in the Big Apple. Like many performers, Beale, 45, says it's not the music itself that drew him to the vocal scene but the rush of being on stage and the opportunity to give back to the community. Recognizing the need now more than ever, Beale dishes on NYCGMC’s upcoming fundraising event, Harmony, the chorus’ 30th year and what it takes to rally a community.
 
What has been your favorite part about working with NYCGMC?
It's just an honor to be up there on the podium facilitating that amazing rich sound. It still gives me goosebumps after all these years. When I arrived, I was expecting much more drama and queeny behavior, but in reality we seem to have very little drama in the organization these days. The sense of teamwork and professionalism is palpable, we're more serious about what we do than we have been in a long while. 
 
You describe yourselves as "promoting acceptance through the power of song." What does that mean to you?
Music and singing comes straight from your emotions, and we touch thousands of people every year. Our goal is always to connect with people so that they can hear our stories, we like to go to where the problem is and sing in places where our message needs to be heard.
I often get emails that prove we are changing lives— from parents who can't look again at their gay teenagers to addicts whose lives have actually been saved by joining our group and finding a new purpose.
 
How does your mission change as New York becomes more accepting of the LGBT community?
When we first started in the early '80s, we were mostly about
"we're here, we're queer!" After that came the years of epidemic, where we were grieving alongside the rest of the city, and raising awareness of HIV/AIDS. Nowadays, the fight goes on, but the issues relevant to our community have changed. For example, our summer show, High, tells the story of a gay partnership where one of the guys is addicted to crystal meth.
 
What is in store for the rest of the 30th season?
Harmony promises to be a really glittering event for us. It's taking place in the amazing space at Christie's Auction House and will include a champagne reception, performances by our Youth Pride Chorus, and the chance to purchase some amazing items. It is also a huge honor for us to be joined by Broadway stars Liz Callaway and John Tartaglia.
We are staging another glamorous sing-a-long show this Spring, Big Gay Sing 2 (after the sell-out last year), which will be a chance to sing all the gayest songs in the world and will feature set pieces including songs from Glee, Lady Gaga and Cher. We plan on it being the gayest event ever!
The past year has been rough, but you've survived!
Why do you think that is?
We are more than a chorus— we are a family. When times get tough, people pull together. We are very dependent on our members to keep us going and there is fantastic grassroots energy in the chorus. The warm support of our audiences and donors remains undiminished and our shows are still critically acclaimed and commercially successful. The cost of maintaining our necessarily large operation is the cause of our financial issues last summer, and this remains a constant concern. Our finances remain on a knife-edge and frankly, we can still do with more help.
 
Why should people (who haven't already) check out NYCGMC?
Too many people still associate choral music with church, or that it's all going to be too classical and slightly po-faced. There is such a huge diversity of songs out there; musical theatre to pop, dance music to African music, oratorios to karaoke and flash mobs. We try and represent that huge richness in what we do.
Simply put, we put on great shows; really, highly professional, glittering events. We make people laugh, we make them cry, we make them think and we sing fabulously. So many of our guys have sung on Broadway over the years and have top-notch technical skills. Most important of all, we sing with great passion because we have something to say. We celebrate gay life in all its richness and we challenge perceptions about what it means to be gay.
 
Can anyone sing for NYCGMC? If so how can they join/audition?
Yes, sure! Go to our website and drop us an email. Our next auditions will be in late August. I really do believe anyone can sing, though of course not everyone can sing to professional standards. I wish everyone knew how easy it is to do, and how healing and satisfying it can be to come together in a community every week and literally sing your heart out!
 
Harmony makes music on February 8 at Christie’s (1230 Sixth Ave, 212-315-9862. Visit NYCGMC.org for more info.