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Locals get sendup in new musical

Hamiltonians Dick Davis, Robert McFadden and Ted May join Dave Traut during a rehearsal for the Delta Kings Barbershop Chorus musical comedy "WBBS-TV Live in Cincinnati." Contributed photo

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By Richard O Jones, Staff Writer 3:11 AM Thursday, June 18, 2009

The Delta Kings Barbershop Chorus, under the direction of Hamilton resident Robert McFadden, performs its annual musical comedy this weekend at Deer Park High School.

“WBBS-TV Live in Cincinnati” is an original musical comedy by Delta Kings member Don Gaffney about a fictional television station on the verge of bankruptcy that tries returning to the live variety programming of the early television days.

The plot involves a number of comic characters, and since the Delta Kings is an all-male group, some of them play women as they make fun of real Cincinnati newsmakers and communities.

Because the station is so bad, the audience is there as offenders serving their sentences. “We identify the audience as ‘sinners,’ and a lot of the jokes are played to them,” Gaffney said.

The “studio band” is the Delta Kings Chorus members who “hocked their instruments in Las Vegas” to come home. So the first number is “Jazz Song,” sung a cappella without words as the singers imitate instruments, Gaffney said.

All music is sung in the distinct barbershop four-part harmony. The songs range from traditional barbershop tunes such as “Alexander’s Rag Time Band” and novelty songs like “You’ll Never Find Sin in Cincinnati” to swing tunes like “I’ve Got a Crush On You” not normally associated with the barbershop style.

The program also includes a performance by the quartet Berzerk from Sycamore High School.

The Delta Kings Chorus is the singing unit of the nonprofit Cincinnati Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society, the nation’s largest men’s singing organization with affiliated barbershop harmony groups throughout the world. Founded in 1944, it is one of the oldest chapters in the national society.

It supports local community activities such as the Flying Pig Marathon and the March of Dimes Walkathon, is an organizer and sponsor of the annual Harmony Festival for high schoolers at Northern Kentucky University in June and competes with other barbershop choruses from three states.

How to go

What: Delta Kings present “WBBS-TV Live in Cincinnati”

When: 8 p.m. Friday; 2, 8 p.m. Saturday

Where: Crawford Auditorium, Deer Park High School, 8351 Plainfield Road, Cincinnati

Tickets: $15, available at the door

Info: (888) 796-855

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