After 38 years as traveling bards without a home of its own, Arts Express last October opened its own theater in Park Place mall.
This weekend, it will christen the 12,500-square-foot space with its annual “Let Freedom Sing” concert and patriotic sing-along. Arts Express’s cast will perform the concert twice daily on Saturday, July 3, and Sunday, July 4.
Last year’s event went virtual because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and this year’s, in addition to having a live audience, will have a virtual element to it; the 2 p.m. concert on Sunday will be live-streamed.
And like all those Fourth of July concerts in years past, this one will include the usual patriotic fare of “America the Beautiful” and “Amazing Grace,” with some Broadway tunes sprinkled in.
“Things have changed through the years, but there is so much that still unites us,” said Arts Express Executive Director Karen Wiese. “That’s really what we seek to explore with this event, to celebrate diversity, celebrating the differences but also the uniting forces that bring us together as a country.”
The star-studded lineup includes Erin Anderson, Katherine Byrnes, Jodi Darling, Daniel Gilmore, Tiff Jensen, Chach Snook, Dennis Tamblyn, Amy Williams, Regina Wills and Tyler Wright.
They will celebrate the community’s diversity and the simple joy of travel. Organizers said they are shooting to re-create a road trip along the historic Route 66, with songs including “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “Singing in the Rain.”
If you are wondering why “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” is included in the program, production director Matthew Holter explained that the original Route 66 crossed the Rainbow Bridge over Brush Creek in Kansas. That stretch of highway is now a county road, according to Kansas Travel.
The song also fits Holter’s plan of giving the audience music they are familiar with to sing in a venue that is new to them.
“For those people who have seen Arts Express ‘Let Freedom Sing’ over some of the past 38 years, it’s going to be a new experience in a new place, but we wanted to give them some sense of familiarity,” Holter said.
Wiese said that by including songs that are not necessarily purely about patriotism, the performance can bring something new to the stage and help keep the production going another 38 years.
“I think when you start thinking about the patriotic songs, they start blending together in some ways. So we want it to be something that evokes a lot of emotion, and evokes a lot of reminiscing and memory and connections for people of different ages,” she said.
Merry Lewis, who has performed in at least 20 iterations of the show, still gets choked up when thinking back to past performances including scenes of service members singing along.
“You always go away with a little lighter heart and a smile on your face and a little skip to your walk,” she said of the shows.
