Dance troupe alumni will return for anniversary concert

By GUY D’’ASTOLFO

YOUNGSTOWN CONNECTION

Saturday’s concert will include a 30-minute performance by international opera star Lawrence Brownlee.

Carol Baird’s children are coming home.

The Youngstown Connection’s 20th anniversary reunion concert will include dozens of alumni of the song-and-dance troupe for city high school students that Baird founded and continues to lead.

About 80 of the roughly 140 Connection alumni will attend Saturday’s event at Stambaugh Auditorium. Many have gone on to success in the entertainment business.

“They are all my children,” said Baird. “We spend so much time together, traveling, rehearsing and performing.”

Saturday’s concert will include a 30-minute performance by international opera star Lawrence Brownlee, who is easily the most famous Connection alumnus. It will be Brownlee’s first performance in Youngstown since he became a professional about seven years ago. Since then, he has performed at New York’s Metropolitan Opera and Milan’s La Scala, to critical acclaim.

In a 2006 interview with The Vindicator, the tenor gave credit to Baird.

“She played a big role in what I am today,” said Brownlee. “She was my mentor, director, thorn in my side ... she kicked my butt!”

Brownlee recalled some advice Baird gave him. “She said ‘You will be limited by the way you speak.’ She cleaned up my speech.”

Baird said Brownlee had to rearrange his busy schedule to take part in the Connection’s reunion concert — something he didn’t hesitate to do.

She is amazed by Brownlee’s success. “It’s phenomenal,” said Baird. “Usually in his field, you don’t get famous until you are older.”

Baird went to New York last year to see Brownlee in “The Barber of Seville” at the Met. “Actually, he paid my way,” she said. “After the show, there was a gathering with the cast, and they all praised him. Many said, ‘He is the finest gentleman we ever worked with. He does whatever he can to make others on the stage look as good as they can be, and he is very humble about his talent.’”

Baird recalled how she started The Youngstown Connection. “I was a music curriculum specialist at South High School, and I had it in my head what I wanted it to be — what they would wear, what they would sing.

“I thought, ‘Oh, this is going to take over my life,’ but it was a dream of mine,” she continued. “I went to the superintendent and he said, ‘Go for it’.”

That was the fall of 1988, a time when Youngstown had five high schools and the district had 26,000 students. Today it has just two high schools and just over 6,000 students.

Baird has been in charge of the troupe — which never exceeds 12 members — since its inception. Students are selected by audition.

Before becoming a teacher, Baird was a singer who performed in a string of ensembles.

Members of the Youngstown Connection, she said, learn more than just performance skills.

“It’s more than a troupe,” she said. “ I give them life skills ... like how to eat in a fancy restaurant. We are in the public all the time and we mingle with people after shows. They must know how to talk and answer in an adult, mature fashion. I insist that they be professional at all times.”

The Connection, she stressed, is not a typical high school show choir. “We do shows for adult audiences — big band and older Broadway stuff,” she said. Saturday’s concert will be a very professional event, she said.

It will begin with reflections by some of the alumni. A video by Shawn Tucker (who was on the NBC competition show “Clash of the Choirs” two years ago) will follow. Next the alumni ensemble will sing, followed by performances by soloists and the current Connection troupe. After an intermission, Brownlee will perform, accompanied by a pianist. The show will close with a performance by all alumni, and a reception will follow.

Other Connection alumni working full-time in the entertainment business who will perform Saturday include Karlton Turner, an Indianapolis-based actor active in musical theater; Timothy Gordon, a dancer-choreographer who has worked with Alicia Keys and Beyonc ; Brayshawna Thomas, a performer-choreographer at Disney World; Shawn Tucker, who is working in film and television in Los Angeles; Ashley Schmidt, who has a professional theater company in Los Angeles; and Josh Triplett, a singer-actor in New York.

Tracking down alumni hasn’t been easy, and Baird could not reach many of them. “We’ve been looking since last fall,” she said. “Someone will give me an address or a number, but when we call, they’ve moved. And some of the girls have gotten married and their names have changed.”

Youngstown Connection: Highlights over the years

NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS

Performed with America Sings at Lincoln Center, New York

12 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parades

Press conference with New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani at Ground Zero

Kennedy Center’s 25th anniversary celebration at the invitation of Sen. John Glenn

INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCES

Music conservatories in Beijing and Xian, China

Austria’s Millennial Celebration of Music in Vienna, Innsbruck and Salzburg

World War II D-Day Commemoration in Normandy, Paris and London

U.S. Pavilion for World Exposition in Seville, Spain, and in Madrid for the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ discovery of America

Berlin Wall Freedom Celebration