In March 2009, Jeff Lettiere, a chorus member, and I, put together the first ‘Big Gay Sing’. A sing-along show, it was an unashamed attempt to attract back to the chorus our core audience - the many NYC gay men and their friends and families in New York who sing in piano bars, got to bars and clubs and know musical theater and pop music well.

It’s hard to describe exactly what a Big Gay Sing is. It is a high quality evening full of amazing singing, but it should also be funny, warm, unpretentious, high energy and above all, imbued with the joy of singing, for audience members and those on stage - a bit like karaoke with 200 gay men singing at once!

Little did I know that we had created a sell-out monster. In March 2012 we will be presenting Big Gay Sing 4(!), and in July 2012, I will be musical director of 2 more Big Gay Sings, one in London’s Trafalgar Square as part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad, and one at the Denver, Colorado Center for the Performing Arts, as part of GALA (Gay and Lesbian Choral Association)’s massive Festival that happens once very four years.

The picture above is taken from NYCGMC’s 2011 Big Gay Sing 3.