Arranged chronologically, the program provided a musical survey of American history. First up were the White Oak Singers of Mt. Orab, OH in an evocative demonstration of Native American drumming. Colonial and revolutionary times were represented by a spirited performance of “Yankee Doodle” by Russell and the Pops and a soulful “Shenandoah” with the 120-voice May Festival Chorus, both accompanied by projected images (fife and drum corps, pioneer scenes, etc.). The Comet Bluegrass All-Stars, a popular Cincinnati band, represented heartland Americana with the folk/traditional “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow” and “Back Up and Push,” an energetic fiddle song, where they were joined by Russell and the Pops. Russell delighted the crowd here by stepping off the podium to join the band briefly on spoons. “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” with the Pops and the May Festival Chorus, provided a solemn recollection of the American Civil War.
Three guest artists from Cincinnati Opera’s contemporaneous production of “Porgy and Bess” carried the American perspective into the 20th century. Soprano Jacqueline Echols floated a sweet, high-lying “Summertime,” followed by tenor Steven Cole in a strutting, high-kicking “It Ain’t Necessarily So.” Later in the show, tenor Luther Lewis joined Echols and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Classical Roots Spiritual Choir (50 voices) in “Maybe God is Trying to Tell You Something”, from the film “The Color Purple.” Arranged by Pops pianist Julie Spangler, it was one of the most energized numbers of the evening.
Six khaki-clad members of the May Festival Chorus, aka the Boogie-Woogie Sisters, strode on for another highlight, “Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy”, bringing the music into the World War II era. It was on to Broadway with “Seventy-Six Trombones,” from Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man,” where the crowd clapped along, and images of the Pops trombonists were projected onto the video screens (as were the trumpets in “Bugle Boy” and piccolos in the encore, ”Stars and Stripes Forever”).
Echols, Lewis and the Classical Roots Choir cranked up the excitement even higher level with Barry Manilow’s “Let Freedom Ring.” “Ode to This Land,” a collage of Tchaikovsky’s “1812” Overture, Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” and Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land” by Pops guitarist/arranger Timothy Berens, brought the entire company onstage for a flag-waving finale. The encore, “Stars and Stripes Forever” (another Kunzel nod), was capped by a red-white-and-blue confetti drop and three cannon shots.