The 3 Redneck Tenors started as a way around a community theater not having enough money to do a benefit.
The Texas theater had reached out to Matthew Lord, a veteran opera singer, to gauge his interest in putting something together.
Lord had been bouncing around the idea for the 3 Redneck Tenors – adding some Southern flair to the 3 Tenors concept then in vogue.
But that was about it. It was an idea. He’d happened to share it with folks at the theater, then got a phone call telling him that the show had been given the go-ahead.
“I said, That was just an idea, man. I don’t have a show. So I had to hurry up and write this show called the 3 Redneck Tenors,’ said Lord, who has been traveling the world with the 3 Redneck Tenors – along with Blake Davidson and Jonathan Frugé – for the past nine years
An agent at that first 3 Redneck Tenors show told Lord that if he wanted to go on the road with the concept, “I can get you in 35 cities next year.”
And so an idea that spawned a one-off show became a new sensation.
A typical 3 Redneck Tenors performance will include everything from classic opera to a seven-minute TV theme song medley and classical pieces picked from Bugs Bunny cartoons.
“It’s very accessible,” Lord said. “There’s no bad language in it. I like to call it an adult show without adult language. You can bring your kids, your mom, and you don’t have to worry.”
Lord thinks the 3 Redneck Tenors shows help in their own way to keep opera as an art form alive and kicking in a modern America that might otherwise look at the music as a thing of the past.
“I have said for years, we’re going to have to make opera more entertaining and to the point in America to keep the art form going. Because the times are changing, and the demographic is changing, and people are expecting immediate gratification. We’re in a soundbite society,” Lord said.
The key is that the music is quality.
“People laugh until they cry themselves, but if the music wasn’t first-rate, it would just be a really bad comedy show. It’s the mixture of the two that makes it unusual and funny,” Lord said.
Details: 3 Redneck Tenors coming to the Wayne Theatre
The 3 Redneck Tenors are coming to the Wayne Theatre on Sunday, April 30.
Tickets for the 7 p.m. show are $25 and $35.
The Wayne Theatre is located at 521 W. Main St. in Waynesboro.
Info: (540) 943-9999 or waynetheatre.org.
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Chris Graham
