Season Program | Big Top Chautauqua 2018 | Page 30

INSIDE
the
tent
Big Top Original Productions Debuts
All Aboard: Songs of the Railroad
Article contributions by Terry Matier and Tom Mitchell
Audiences will ride the rails of time this summer with the Blue Canvas Orchestra’s new show All Aboard: Songs of the Railroad, compiled by Severin
Behnen and Tom Mitchell with special guest Warren Nelson.
The show is inspired by the original Nelson Ferris Concert Co. production On the Velvet
that debuted at the Big Top in 1992. That original show, created by Warren Nelson and Betty
Ferris, was about the golden age of the U.S. railroads
and featured original music illuminated by classic big
screen visuals.
This new show features songs from On the Velvet
plus songs and stories of trains, train travel, and rail
men from other artists such as Johnny Cash and
Boxcar Willie. Severin Behnen and Tom Mitchell, the bandleader and drummer respectively for the Blue
Canvas Orchestra, were inspired to compile the show because railroading has not only a historical importance
to the region and worldwide, but also because of its romantic appeal.
That romantic appeal may be why there is such a wealth of musical material about trains from a range
of artists, says Tom Mitchell. “We chose favorites out of thousands of trains songs, plus a coal-shovel full of
Warren Nelson’s classics. Ride the rails with us – all aboard!”
(Article continued on page 40)
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