Singing priests entertain full house at Barrington Stage Company

[media-credit id=3 align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]PITTSFIELD –  A total of 15 diocesan priests from throughout Berkshire County and beyond sang to high heaven last weekend at Barrington Stage Company in front of a packed audience of more than 500 enthusiastic people.

Dubbing themselves “New Wine in Old Wineskins,” the priests appeared to enjoy themselves as much as the packed house delighted in the unique entertainers.

Proceeds of the $25 per person ticket sales are slated for the Catholic Charities appeal.

The more than two-hour concert had a huge variety of songs that must have entailed a lot of practice among the “fathers” of all ages, from the newly ordained to those ready to retire.

Julianne Boyd, artistic director of the Barrington Stage Company, introduced the singers as “extremely talented priests.” They got a rousing round of applause before the concert even began.

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The singing priests invited the audience to sing some of the well known favorites such as “How Great Thou Art.”

Priests sing variety of songs

Most of the songs in the concert were well-known selections such as “Dona Nobis Pacem, ” “I’ll Walk with God” from the musical The Student Prince, “They Call the Wind Mariah” from Paint Your Wagon, “Edelweiss” from The Sound of Music, “Moon River” from Breakfast at Tiffany’s and “Prayer of St. Francis” in honor of newly elected Pope Francis.

In light of the recent bombings in Boston, the priests sang “Peace on Earth.”

They introduced “Here I Am Lord” as “a song we all answer to.”

Father C.J. of Lenox

The Rev. Christopher “C.J.” Waitekus, pastor of St Ann’s Church in Lenox, relived some of his childhood memories by singing a solo in the middle of the song “Oklahoma.” He participated in that musical as a child.

The singing priests did a nice rendition of “That’s Amore” as a tribute to Rev. Geoffrey Deeker and his primarily Italian congregation, whose former church, Mount Carmel, closed.

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“When the moon hits your eye, like a big pizza pie, that’s amore,” they sang, much to the delight of all the Italians in the audience.

The Rev. Vern Decoteau, of St. Francis Church in Belchertown, told the audience he was born in Pittsfield in St. Luke’s Hospital in 1947.

Local churches represented

The Rev. James Joyce, pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Pittsfield, participated as well as Msg. Michael Shershanovich, pastor of St. Joseph’s.  St. Mark’s Church pastor, the Rev. John Salatino was on stage, too, as well as the Rev. Tomasz Parzynski, parochial vicar at St. Mark’s.

Also participating were the Rev. Daniel J. Boyle, pastor of Blessed Pope John Paul the Great/St. Stanislaus Church of Adams; Rev. Chistopher Malatesta, pastor of St. Agnes Parish in Dalton; Rev. Yerick Mendez of Sacred Heart Church in Springfield;  Msgr. David Joyce, parochial vicar at Holy Name Church in Springfield; and Rev. Francis Reilly, pastor of St. Mary’s Church in Longmeadow.

In addition, Rev. Ryan Rooney of Immaculate Conception Church in Holyoke;  Rev. Wayne Biernat, pastor of Saints Patrick and Raphael Parish in Williamstown; and Rev. Matthew Guidi of Our Lady Queen of Hope Parish in Springfield were among the performing priests.

The Rev. Matt Alcombright, a very talented pianist, accompanied the singing priests. His father, Richard, is mayor of Adams. Fr. Alcombright works as director of the Office of Ministry with the Deaf. He is also a vicar at Mary Mother of Hope Church in Springfield.

Laughter as well as song

The concert also included several light moments when some of the priests told jokes and the audience erupted in laughter.

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They were also told that attending the concert “didn’t count for their Sunday obligation.”

The priests opened the concert with the popular “Sing a Song” and closed with “God Bless America,” which they sang as a “tribute to this wonderful land, America.”

After a standing ovation, they sang “’Til We Meet Again” as a “prayer and a final song.”

Last weekend’s concert of singing priests was the first in a long time for The Berkshires but will probably not be the last.

The singing priests may return

When asked if they would like the singing priests to return, the audience responded with tumultuous applause.

The 550 or so concert-goers filed out of Barrington Stage with smiles on their faces and songs in their hearts.

Posted by Susan M. Wicker Guerrero on May 9, 2013. Filed under Arts and Entertainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry