PHOTO: The 3 Redneck Tenors (as the rocking tenors at the Club Viper) will present their musical comedy at 8 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 17, in Herod Hall Auditorium at Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva. The show encompasses music from country to opera.
A rollicking, good time, down home operatic production is the next presentation of the Northwest Oklahoma Concert Series.
Featuring classically trained, veteran artists from Broadway and world opera stages, "3 Redneck Tenors" is both a take-off on the famous Three Tenors and a comedy about the adventures of three "good ol' boys" trying to find the perfect venue for their musical talents.
The show will be at 8 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 17, in Herod Hall Auditorium at Northwestern Oklahoma State University.
Billy Bob, Billy Joe and Billy Billee are country cousins in Paris, Texas, discovered by a city slicker agent, the Colonel, who then promotes his "find," guiding them eventually to Carnegie Hall. The journey from Texas to New York features music ranging from Elvis to Puccini and country to opera.
Locales for some of the scenes include the 3 Rustlin' Tenors at the Livestock Auction Rodeo and Picnic, the 3 Wrestling Tenors at WARF Wrestling Arena and the 3 Rock 'n' Roll Tenors at Club Viper.
The cousins are portrayed by Keith Buterbaugh, Matthew Lord and Steven Sanders. Dinny McGuire plays the Colonel.
Buterbaugh is a crossover artist of musical theater, opera and straight drama. He has starred in the Broadway production and national tour of The Phantom of the Opera as both the Phantom and Raoul and sang the Phantom in a special performance at the White House. He also has starred in the national tours of Showboat and The King and I. Buterbaugh's other roles include the Tulsa Opera's The Sound of Music, Camelot, The Secret Garden and The Merry Widow.
Lord is a versatile performing artist with a voice capable of encompassing repertoire from the 18th century to current composers. He has performed with the San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington Opera, Houston Opera and Dallas Opera. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 2004 in Boris Godunov.
Sanders has performed with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Chautauqua Opera, Austin Lyric Opera, Opera Boston and Des Moines Metro Opera. He also has been heard as a soloist in the Carmina Burana and the Mozart Requiem. He has a degree in music education from the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma and in vocal performance from Oklahoma City University.
McGuire has been a choir director, music teacher, TV talk show host, sitcom warm-up guy and vaudeville director. He has spent the last 25 years as ringmaster for circuses around the world, including Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and the Big Apple Circus.
Kelly Anderson, a veteran operatic performer, and Lindsay Hilliard also will appear in the production.
The Northwest Oklahoma Concert Series is made possible with the assistance of the Oklahoma Arts Council, the Charles Morton Share Trust, National Endowment for the Arts and Mid-America Arts Alliance.
