The Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade has entertained audiences for nearly a century. And this year’s festivity was a lot more historic.
The Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus was among the dozens of entertainers that graced the stage in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art Thanksgiving morning for the 6ABC/Dunkin’ Donuts Thanksgiving Day Parade.
This was the first time that an LGBT group participated in the 95-year-old tradition.
About 60 PGMC members performed a rendition of “Jingle Bells” about halfway through the parade at Eakins Oval. The group did not march in the parade, which was broadcast live on 6ABC, although artistic director Joseph Buches did not rule that out in the future.
This inaugural opportunity arose earlier this year, suggested by parade producer Todd Marcocci.
“He emailed us asking if we’d be interested in performing so, of course, I said, ‘Yeah, sure!’” Buches said. “I thought it would be great exposure for us and for the city, and it was really cool to be asked.”
The chorus spent the last few weeks rehearsing. Fourteen members pre-recorded the music — which Buches likened to the Barbra Streisand version of the Christmas classic — and the PGMC dance subset was brought in to choreograph the number.
“We have a group of dancers who do all the dancing for our concerts so they’re a part of this. And we had a group of guys in the studio to record, which was a really fun night.”
Buches said PGMC had not previously requested to participate in the parade. They are now in talks to perform in the Fourth of July parade next summer, he added.
“It’s definitely an honor and I’m hopeful this will open new doors for us and for other groups in the city too,” Buches said. “We do things all over the city, with various organizations, and it’s really nice to be recognized for our musical performances in such a well-exposed manner.”
The parade, which ended with the ceremonial arrival of Santa Claus, kicks off the holiday season, and PGMC will celebrate its own holiday festivity with “Down Home Holiday,” Dec. 4-6 at Lutheran Church of the Holy Communion, 2110 Chestnut St.
The concerts will be staged at PGMC’s “home base,” Buches said, after the closure of former host Prince Music Theatre.
“We found out they were closing in mid-July and the executive director called and offered for us to do the holiday concert before Thanksgiving, but we thought that was too early. We’re glad to come home to the church, which is where we rehearse and where we’ve done concerts in the past,” Buches said. “We’re going to be doing a lot of work building the staging. We really try to transform it into a theater. It’s going to be a great concert.”
The first half of the show will be traditional American holiday classics — like “Go Tell It on the Mountain” and an “Oh, Little Town of Bethlehem” sing-along — followed by “a holiday ho-down.”
“For the second half the chorus will don their country-western garb. It’ll have a country-western feel, complete with fiddles and a banjo. It’ll be fun, good music and a good hootenanny time,” Buches laughed.
For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.pgmc.org.
