Broadway Methodist performances

We have three Broadway Methodist recordings from the 60’s through the 90’s. Each performance has very clear audio, and the selections and performances themselves are top-notch, studio quality. As I understand it, Broadway Methodist performances were annual, recurring features on the Glee Club schedule, similar to the Indy Scottish Rite or Indiana Society of Chicago shows. Other than that, I don’t know a lot about them. According to DeDe,

“The Glee Club performed at Broadway Methodist through connections with the Organist there. Can’t remember his name unfortunately, John Ruby comes to mind. He passed several years ago.

My last recollection was Bill Allen asking me to do some special arrangements for a few soloists…Jon Murray, Brian Lane, The Poison Oaks, The Gospel Quartet”.

According to his obit, John Ruby was “… a member of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity and the Purdue Varsity Glee Club, where he found so much joy in singing and performing with this talented group. In 1956 he was honored to appear with the Glee Club on the Ed Sullivan Show and later that year in Alaska on the Bob Hope Christmas Special” so the Glee Club connection makes sense.

Jeff Boice rescued two Broadway Methodist performances, 1980 and 1982, as his audio archives were far better than what I had. Luckily I have all of the emceeing by Luhman from the reels/cassette archives from PMO, but the audio is a little garbled. I did some audio processing on Bill’s spoken audio to improve the quality.

Brief video demonstrating the audio restoration process:

More info from Jeff Boice

“A lot of guys worked up specialty sacred songs specifically for the BM shows, sung them once, and they were never heard again. … It was 20 years ago that I digitized those audio files, so I don’t remember too much about doing it. I do remember though that the cassette tapes were already 20 years old at that time, and that I played them in a Sony boom box that was jacked into my MacBook Pro.”

List of Broadway performances and some highlights:

• Broadway Methodist, 1960
  • I haven’t split this these tracks because I’m not sure what this is. All I know about this is the title and date of the original reel. It seems very similar to the 2nd half of 1961, below.
• Broadway Methodist, 1961
  • This collection is interesting in that it starts with familiar PVGC numbers, but then includes a performance of The Crucifixion by John Stainer. I’m not sure if this is PVGC + Purduettes, the University Choir, or another group. Doesn’t quite seem like a selection that Al Stewart would choose, but maybe it by request, or performed by another group entirely (perhaps the Broadway Methodist choir at the time?)
• Broadway Methodist, 1980
  • Luhman recounts 1942 Glee Club competition, Ringwald’s “Were You There”
  • Luhman describes Purdusirs, history of the medallion, and introduces five freshman soloists
  • Details about United Airlines strike that delayed Hawaii tour by a year; invitation to Punch Bowl National Cemetery with Jack Lord (of TV’s Hawaii Five-O) narrating “I Am The Nation”
• Broadway Methodist, 1982
  • Bruckner’s Ave Maria
  • “Sunshine In My Soul” (Luhman arrangement)
  • Two Bryan Lane solos
  • “Jordan River” performed by 3 hall-of-famers (Raucous Trio)
• Broadway Methodist, 1993
  • Transferred from tape, split, and uploaded by Chris Rininger
  • Brian’s Crystal Cathedral summary; mentions forthcoming tour to South Pacific/Fiji
  • Three Chris Clarke solos
  • Bruce Barker sings “Rock Steady”

I hope you’ve enjoyed these tracks. Please chime in with any memories or corrections about these Broadway performances!