March Marvelousness

Members of the Pine State Pitches rehearse for the upcoming PortFringe Po(e)p-Up event on April 5th.

Hello and happy (almost) spring! We’ve made it through our first fake spring and every day, the sun is rising earlier and setting later. Fred has more squirrels to chase and I need a mop to clean off his paws when he comes inside from running around the backyard. Mud season is fully upon us, and in Maine, that means summer is only one to four months away. Whenever it finally comes, we’ll be ready for it!

March has been a busy month for the Pine State Pitches. A few members scored dream roles in upcoming community theater productions - be sure to see Peter and the Starcatcher at Royal River Community Players in May, and in June you can’t miss Fun Home at Portland Players and Something Rotten at Lyric Music Theater. Another member is choreographing and dancing in Hustle and Flow Presents: Dancestravaganza on May 17th. Other highlights include getting married, buying a house, moving, welcoming a new nephew, and traveling. There’s never a dull moment with these Pitches!

Amidst all these exciting life events, we are hard at work preparing for several big events in the months to come. Above you can see a picture of several members preparing for the PortFringe Edgar Allen Poe themed Pop-Up on April 5th at Oxbow Brewing. We are having a blast finding creative ways to share the story, and we cannot wait to see what other performers have been working on as well.

As you know, our spring concert is coming up on May 29th (do you have your tickets yet??) and we have so many new songs to share with you! Over the last few weeks of March, we have held solo auditions for these songs, which is a lot of work for everyone involved, but especially our Director, Rachel. Any time we begin a new song, Rachel starts by learning each part, deciding who will sing what, and figuring out the solo lines. Not all of our songs have a solo, but if it does, Rachel consults with the group to figure out how many soloists we should have and where the solos will fall in the song. In some songs we sing, like Mercy and Ain’t it Fun, the solos are obvious. In other songs, like You Will Be Found, it’s not as cut and dry, and we have to decide if one person will sing the solo line for the whole song, or it will be split between two or three singers.

Once solo parts are decided, Rachel sets an audition time. If a lot of members are auditioning, we sometimes arrive early or stay late at rehearsal to make sure everyone who wants to audition has the opportunity. Then, Rachel has the very difficult task of deciding who will sing the solo(s). After solos are assigned, Rachel then goes back to each part to make sure there are enough singers. Sometimes, she has to move a member to a different part to ensure it has enough support. It’s not easy to learn multiple parts for one song, but our members are always up for the challenge.

The talent in our group is overwhelming - each member brings their own unique sound to these songs, and I am always in awe of the beautiful music we make together. This year’s mix of tunes is both fun and challenging, and we’re already eager to show you the new harmonies and moves we’ve been working on!