June 7, 2009

Bernard LaChance at The Chicago Theatre

Bill and I went to see Bernard LaChance last night at the Chicago Theatre. He's a French Canadian who used his life savings to rent the theatre for one night and then stood outside selling tickets one by one. Here's his story.
It's heartwarming, not only because of his ambition and creativity but because he's adorable, charming and hugely talented. Despite the technical problems the show was fabulous. The orchestra overpowered his singing at various times which was unfortunate because he has an amazing voice, but they seemed to resolve that for the second act. Also in the second act he had a choir of some 250-300 people (all volunteers) who sounded fantastic. It was a great show and I found myself just smiling through the whole thing.
This second video is where Gayle King surprises him in front of the Chicago Theatre and invites him to be on Oprah's show. It'll bring tears to your eyes.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I was one of the choir members, alto section. It was fun to sing with Bernard; he's such a regular, down-to-earth guy with incredible talent. It truly was an amazing and exhilarating night! Thanks for the good review.

Samantha Hoffman said...

Dyann, it was awesome when the curtain opened and you all were standing there and then, the first time that huge choir sang was thrilling, to hear all those voices sounding so great together. We wished he'd used you a bit more, it added even more dimension to the whole experience. Great job!

Giggy said...

Samantha,

I saw this story on Oprah. I am very pleased to hear that he really is talented.

He is totally adorable. I wish I could have seen his show.