First woman hits all the right notes in gay chorus

Volume Number 1 Issue Number 11 / December 6 - 12, 2006

Chelsea Now photo by Jefferson Siegel

Joan Garry rehearsing with the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus on Wednesday evening.

By Lawrence Lerner

The day was Sept. 7, 2005. Joan Garry remembers the audition well. In a nondescript rehearsal room at Chelsea Studios on W. 26th St., she situated herself next to the pianist and faced the two male musical directors sitting behind a long table. They asked her to sing a piece she had prepared — “Corner of the Sky,” from the play “Pippin” — then listened as she worked her way through scales. Ten minutes later, it was all over.

“I guess I felt like I was shaky on the song. They didn’t have me sing very much of it,” said Garry. “But singing scales gives people a sense of the range and power of my voice, so I thought those went well and that maybe I had a shot.”

Then came the question: “Why do want to join the chorus?”

“I want to sing with the best,” Garry said matter of factly.

With that, Garry proceeded to make history, becoming the first female member of the venerable New York City Gay Men’s Chorus, which celebrated its 25th anniversary last year and is set to perform its annual Carnegie Hall holiday concert on Monday.

Garry is no stranger to making history, nor is she an unknown figure in the L.G.B.T. community, having been executive director at The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, or GLAAD, from June 1997 to June 2005, where she tripled the organization’s size to a 2005 budget of $7.5 million and a staff of more than 40, while exponentially increasing its influence in journalism, entertainment and film.

She also has a passion for show tunes and did musical theater in high school and college. But auditioning for the Gay Men’s Chorus was nevertheless a daunting challenge.

“I was nervous — of course,” Garry said, glancing briefly down at her lap while sipping tea last week at Cafe Bruxelles in the West Village. “I mean, I’d debated Jerry Falwell on national television but was very much in my element then. But this tested a skill that — well, it was not exactly new for me — but I was really stretching a new muscle here.”

Now in her second full season with the Gay Men’s Chorus, Garry has managed to blend in nicely with the 260-member group, learning the ropes while singing tenor in two shows thus far, with a memorable third approaching next week.

She got the idea for joining a chorus after leaving GLAAD, as she began looking for activities to help fill her time.

“Having been an advocate for so many years, after I left GLAAD, I wanted to do something just for me,” said Garry. “I love to sing, and really love harmony. I thought it would be fun to sing in a chorus.”

A staff member at GLAAD was an officer for the Gay Men’s Chorus, and Garry was inspired to see if she could join.

“I thought to myself, ‘That chorus makes really beautiful music. They sing at Carnegie Hall. There’s only one glitch: I’m female. Let’s find out if it’s a glitch,’” she said.

She approached David Edelman, executive director of Big Apple Performing Arts, which manages Gay Men’s Chorus, and asked, “Have you ever had a woman audition for the chorus, and would you consider it?”

Edelman wasn’t sure, so he returned to the group and tested the waters, then remembered that the chorus had a nondiscrimination policy based on gender.

“So I thought, ‘Well, I guess that answers that,’ and got back to Joan and told her, ‘Absolutely. Audition,’” said Edelman.

“I then gave a heads-up to our music directors that she’ll be trying out and said, ‘Use the same criteria you would for everyone else. If she makes the cut, great,’ ” said Edelman. “It turns out Joan has a lovely voice, so they accepted her, and there really was no big deal afterward. It’s not like we celebrated and had fireworks. She just slipped into the group and did her thing.”

Fellow tenor Mark McManus, who as Garry’s assigned “buddy” was responsible for helping her transition into the chorus, was immediately impressed by her acumen.

“Her transition was smooth. She’s such an incredible person that I think she’s able to find her way anywhere,” said McManus.

For Garry, the chorus is a much-needed respite from the pressures of her formal civil rights work, allowing her to pursue a lifelong passion for which she has had precious little time during the past decade. Nevertheless, it would require a leap for Garry not to see it as an extension of her life’s work.

“I believe choruses play a very important role in the L.G.B.T. community.

The New York City Gay Men’s Chorus is 26 years, out and proud. They sing to both the ‘choir’ and to those outside of the choir, and with a joy that’s hard to match,” said Garry. “People forget the joy involved in civil rights movements. Then there’s the message of inclusion when people go to the Carnegie Hall Web site and see N.Y.C.G.M.C. highlighted as one of the main holiday events. That’s also crucial.”

At the same time, Garry is careful not to take herself too seriously.

“I’ve long joked that I’m a gay man trapped in a lesbian’s body,” she said. “And I naturally have a big mouth and a good ear. So, it feels like I belong here.”

Her chorus partner McManus is equally adept at extracting humor from the possible gender confusion that comes with Garry’s presence in the chorus.

“I think Joan gets a kick out of how all the guys act — as with the dress code for performances,” he said. “Do we wear cummerbunds? Vests? Black ties or silver ties? I have all the clothes, so it’s easy for me not to have to go out and buy everything new.”

While Garry has certainly made history with her acceptance into the chorus, it is not the first time the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus has exercised inclusion. The group has also had straight members in the past. But according to Edelman, Garry was the first female ever to audition for the chorus.

“And none have come forward since Joan tried out. So, it’s not like it opened some floodgate — she was unique,” said Edelman. “But if other women do want to join, they’ll be treated similarly.”

Meanwhile, Garry revels in being able to perform at some of the most famous venues in the world with some of New York City’s finest choral singers, and she is ever grateful for the opportunity to fulfill her musical goals.

“I’ve spoken to thousands of people at places like the Kodak Theater while with GLAAD, but stepping out onto the Carnegie Hall stage and seeing the poinsettias and the crowd gives me goose bumps,” Garry said. “It’s an absolute privilege to sing with such a talented group of men. The chorus has been so welcoming. It’s been everything that I wanted it to be.”