Bisonettes to Perform Showcase

"That's Entertainment," a showcase of contemporary musical favorites, will spotlight the Oklahoma Baptist University Bisonettes, April 26 and 27, at 7:30 p.m. in the university's Potter Auditorium. 

Tickets can be purchased at the door and are $2 for children under 12 and $4 for general admission.

The showcase, which will include light musical fare combined with costumes, sets, skits and choreography, will feature popular tunes, "Here Comes the Sun," "Rainy Days and Mondays" and "9 to 5." It also will include highlights from Oliver and The Music Man and a Metro Goldywn Mayer movie medley.

The Bisonettes, the university's select women's chorus, is under the direction of Jack Pearson, associate professor of music at OBU. The group will perform in conjunction with OBU's Symphonic Band, under the direction of Dr. Jim Hansford, professor of music. Judy Lampl, long-time Shawnee dance teacher and choreographer, provided choreography for six of the numbers on the program.

Soloists for the event will include Bisonettes singers and OBU music majors. Senior soloists are John Cox of Oklahoma City, James Brandt of Okemah, and Louise Coffman of Ft. Smith, Ark.



Members of Oklahoma Baptist University's Bisonette Glee Club prepare for their spring showcase, "That's Entertainment," premiering this week. The all-female chorus will perform their repertoire of music spanning several eras Thursday and Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the university's Potter Auditorium.

Junior soloists are Lindsay Elston of Irving, Texas, Aaron Robertson of Three Rivers, Calif., Sara Woods of Early, Texas, Heather Diane Sherill of Checotah, and Amber Burrows of Poteau.

Other soloists include sophomores Sarah Rose of Edmond, Lindsey Doolin of Lawton, Sara Tate of Houston, Texas, Alison Ashley of Wray, Ga., Derek Ferguson of Dallas, Texas and Micah Stewart of Fayetteville, Ark.

Freshman featured as soloists are Andrea Dent of Oak Grove, Mo., Tiana Perez of Aurora, Colo., Meredith Humphrey of Mesquite, Texas, Rachel O'Neal of Tyler, Texas, Lindsay Bivens of Seminole, Dana Phillips of Oklahoma City, Juliann Shirley of Oklahoma City, and Alyssa Hadden of Oklahoma City.

The 42-voice chorus includes women from many regions of the United States representing several fields of study. The group performs various types of music, including sacred, classical and popular.

In addition to an annual tour of several states, the Bisonettes sing for OBU campus events and perform throughout the state for churches, schools and civic organizations. They have produced two CDs, Reason to Sing in 1998 and Bisonettes: Past and Present in 2000.

The Bisonettes were organized in 1954 under the leadership of Dr. Warren M. Angell, dean emeritus of the university's College of Fine Arts.

Pearson has been a member of the OBU faculty since 1967 and has directed the Bisonettes since 1971.

An OBU graduate, Pearson received the master of music degree from George Peabody College in Nashville, Tenn. and has served as minister of music in churches in Oklahoma, Texas, and Tennessee.

Call OBU's Fine Arts Office at 878-2305 for more information.