Lied performance enhances McCook's stature in the arts

Local fans of Broadway music were treated to memorable performances Monday night, but the folks who made it possible were impressed as well.

Students packed the Fox Theatre that afternoon, and their parents and grandparents did the same for the evening performance.

“The Lied people were impressed,” one local patron observed.

It was actually a return performance of a sort, as accompanist Jim Koudelka is the son of a 1937 graduate of McCook High School.

Master of ceremonies Alisa Belflower also took her turn on the ivories in “The Lady on the 88s,” a tribute to the all-important pianists who can make or break a budding singer’s career when it comes to auditions.

Other selections were from “Bandstand,” a Lied Center production later this year, standards such as “Someone to Watch Over Me,” “The Impossible Dream” and songs from “The Bridges of Madison County,” “The Secret Garden,” “Waitress,” “Violet” and “The Phantom of the Opera.”

Judging from the response of the students, local high school and community theater productions should have no trouble filling roles for years to come.

And, don’t be surprised if you don’t see a singer or actor who got a start on a local stage someday making his or her mark in the movies or on Broadway itself.