Main Street Four is a quartet of singers.

Three of us have sung together since high school, and we perform Broadway show music. We have been together in this configuration for years.

Now that we've been rehearsing for several weeks, they are once again seeming like members of the family.

Main Street*Broadway as originally conceived was eight singers with piano accompaniment, sometimes with bass and drums and on one occasion with cello. The group was originally formed in 1991 to perform in Keene, New Hampshire's First Night celebration (an alcohol-free bunch of performances, dinners, artistic demonstrations etc.) in several different venues around town on New Year's Eve. They drafted me the next year when the group was officially named Main Street*Broadway. "Main Street" because Keene's Main Street is a vibrant and lively setting for arts, restaurants and performers and "Broadway" because we sing show tunes in a concert setting. 

We did several First Nights, a full concert to kick off the renovations of the Colonial Theater in Keene, we were hired to sing at parties. We were featured in the local newspaper and had quite the reputation for our "wall of sound" vocal excellence and an exciting show. Eventually, First Night went away, probably because in Keene it's just too darned cold to spend any kind of time wandering around outside in the middle of the night from venue to venue on the last day of December. Members of the group moved on to other places. The married couple in the group got a divorce. These things are as inevitable as the tides.

In 1999, the four of us (left to right as you see us in the photo), Scott Clarke (tenor), myself (contralto), Tom Martin (baritone, arranger, pianist, coach) and Joanne Mead (soprano) were hired to sing, in Victorian costume, at the lighting of the community Christmas tree in the center of town. We have sung the national anthem at Swampbats (the local college league team) baseball games.

We love to sing. We love singing together. We love being together. Our families understand and support us so we love them as well.

In a little more than a week, we will set foot on the stage of Keene's Colonial Theater once more to perform a benefit for children's educational outreach programs. For us, it's another fulfillment of a dream from our childhoods.

We spent many Saturday movie matinees in the Colonial or the Latchis (since converted into apartments and stores) or the Scenic Theater (now completely gone -- no more can you shudder in those popcorn-smelling seats in fear of Cruella DeVille) wondering what it would be like to be on the stage. How did the magic happen? What was behind those heavy curtains that whisper open almost soundlessly at the first notes of the overture?

On October 10 at 7:30 we will sing in the Colonial Theater on Main Street in Keene, New Hampshire. The audience will be seated onstage with us and will experience the thrill of a live performance almost as part of the group. They will be co-conspirators in our pursuit of a musical high. We're ecstatic to be taking them with us and I fervently wish all of you could be there, too.

Tickets for this special event are available online from
The Colonial Theater
95 Main Street
Keene, New Hampshire 03431

Photo Copyright © 2009  Mark Corliss.  All Rights Reserved.