The Gay and Lesbian Singers of Western Australia celebrated their 25th anniversary with an emotional concert at the Dolphin Theatre.
The group’s two sell-out shows of Twenty Five Years: Not Just a Phase were rewarded with standing ovations as they performing songs from musicals, the pop charts, and a healthy dose of queer classics.
Opening up with Over the Rainbow, the group worked through impressive renditions of Eric Clapton’s Change the World, Heather Small’s Proud, Cyndi Lauper’s True Colours, Sia’s Titanium and Lady Gaga’s Born This Way.
Throughout the show choir members shared their own journeys with the audience. They spoke about growing up gay in country towns, getting married forty years after they met their partners, and how to choir has helped them gain confidence and find new friends.
Last year’s marriage postal survey also brought on a medley of songs from the musical My Fair Lady.
The selection of I Could Have Danced All Night, On the Street Where You Live and a gender-swapped I’ve grown Accustomed to His Face, reached a crescendo with I’m Getting Married in the Morning.
Disco classic also got a look in, a drag rendition of I Will Survive was teamed up with Destiny’s Child’s Survivor and the show closed with an energetic version of Kool and the Gang’s Celebration.
The show closed with a repeat of the energetic Born This Way dedicated to long term choir member Ben Croker who recently passed away.
The choir’s longest serving member Jackie Weinman spoke to OUTinPerth about the organisation’s long history.
“I’ve been in it since 1996 and the choir’s been going since 1993.” Weinman shared, saying that in the early 1990’s there was a movement of forming gay choirs around Australia.
“When I joined in 1996 there were only about eight members, it was very small. There are other choirs celebrating their 25th anniversaries this year so there was definitely a movement back then.”
Community choirs are found in many different types of communities and Weinman said she particularly enjoyed the signing festivals GALSWA have participated in over the years.
“Every couple of year’s choirs get together and the last one was in Auckland and they were just blown away by us. We sang lots of jazz swing songs which was our theme a couple of years ago.
“The real secret of our success though is having a fabulous conductor and a fantastic piano player, they are such a great team and we’re so lucky to have them.” Weinman said of Musical Director Claire Williamson and accompanist Sammy McSweeney.
When it comes to deciding which songs to perform the choir takes a democratic approach.
“We have a democratic process, so we pick a theme for each year and we get input from the members. People send in submissions of songs they really want to sing and then the committee sits down with the conductor and works out which ones we’ll do.”
“We have some core songs like Born This Way that we’ve always got in our repertoire but each year we learn some new songs which keeps it interesting for longterm members like me.” Weinman said.
Wienman said there were two incredibly memorable moments from her time with the choir.
“Performing at the Opera House for the Gay Games in 2002 was very memorable, and we sang backup for KD Lang at the Gay Games too, as part of the international choir.”
The choir gets to perform at a wide variety of locations, some of them quite unexpected.
“We’ve performed at a Buddhist conference in Perth, that was pretty unusual and we’ve done lots of Pride Fairdays and some corporate events. Recently we performed at a Uniting Church as they celebrated marriage equality, and we performed in Hobart in front of The Greens leader Bob Brown.” Weinman said.
Making it to 25 years is quite an achievement for a group that is run by volunteers.
“For a group to be continually going year after year for 25 years is quite an achievement for something that’s done on a volunteer basis with a small budget.” Weinman said.
“The great thing about us is that we all have something in common, beyond just singing. We sing for a reason, which is to raise awareness and provide a safe supportive space for people in our community.
“We also have a large following of ex-members and friends of members, it’s amazing how many people have been through the choir at some stage, There’s a big ripple effect through the community in Perth and I feel really proud that we’ve impacted on so many people’s lives.
Find out more about GALSWA.
Graeme Watson
