Maureen McGovern Goes A Cappella in Providence
Maureen McGovern, a multi-Grammy nominee, Broadway and recording artist, will be performing an "American A Cappella" show in Providence on September 9 at McVinney Auditorium.
McGovern will share the stage with the Narragansett Bay Chorus, a premier chorus that sings popular music a cappella in four-part harmony, Coastline Show Chorus, one of more than 600 chapters of Sweet Adelines International, a worldwide organization of more than 26,000 women singers, along with senior quartet champions, Trade Secret and award-winning mixed quartet, Beantown Buds.
McGovern developed a love of singing while growing up in Ohio. McGovern's father sang in a barbershop quartet. The group would rehearse around the dining room table and McGovern would sing the various parts.
"That's where I first learned my sense of harmony in music," McGovern recalled.
McGovern's career includes more than 45 years of recordings, concerts, theater, film, and television.
In 1973, her number one Oscar-winning International Gold Record, "The Morning After" from the disaster epic "The Poseidon Adventure," garnered her first Grammy nomination for Best New Artist.
McGovern revealed songwriters Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn wrote "The Morning After" with Barbra Streisand in mind. Fortunately for McGovern, Streisand turned it down.
Initially, the song flopped. However, after "The Morning After" won the Oscar for Best Song, there was a "huge groundswell of requests" from across the country for it, McGovern explained.
McGovern also sang the Oscar-winning theme "We May Never Love Like This Again" from "The Towering Inferno." She also made a brief appearance in the film.
McGovern said she felt like "a kid in a candy store" meeting the all-star cast, which included Paul Newman, Fred Astaire, and Richard Chamberlain.
McGovern made her Broadway debut in 1981 as Mabel in "The Pirates of Penzance."
"The show was a valentine," McGovern said. "I did it for a year and two months."
She also appeared in "Nine" and in "Three Penny Opera" with Sting.
In 2005, McGovern was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for her role as Marmee in "Little Women, The Musical" on Broadway. In addition, McGovern has performed in numerous regional theater productions including "The Lion in Winter" and "Guys and Dolls."
McGovern also performed her one-woman musical memoir, "Carry It On."
She is currently writing a book about her years in the entertainment business, titled "Surviving The Morning After."
McGovern has performed in hospices, hospitals, schools, and even a women's prison.
"Music reaches inside and touches people in a very deep and profound way," McGovern said. "For me, singing is a heightened conversation I have with the audience."
McGovern is a show business survivor, having navigated through the worlds of film, theater, and the music industry.
"I went from being the disaster theme queen in the '70s, to going into theater, and exploring theater music and the great American songbook," McGovern notes. "Then I became known as the "Stradivarius voice" in the '80s and '90s. I had a nearly four-octave range in those days. I just turned 68. I still feel so blessed to be doing what I love."
"American A Cappella" featuring Maureen McGovern will be presented on Saturday, September 9 at 3 p.m. at McVinney Auditorium. The auditorium is located at 43 Dave Gavitt Way, Providence, RI. Tickets are $50 for orchestra seats, $40 for first dress circle and $25 for second dress circle and may be purchased by calling 401-437-6043.