Suburb-born music company ready to take it to the next level

By Jerry Fink

Monday, April 14, 2008 | 2 a.m.

The Boulder City Community Chorus started modestly in 1998, a community project determined to bring a modicum of culture to the small town southeast of Las Vegas.

The first production was Handel’s “Messiah.” It was so successful that the organization took root and has grown quietly into a musical giant whose shadow stretches across the Las Vegas Valley.

Today the chorus has evolved into the Red Mountain Music Company, which includes:

• Red Mountain Choir, a 100-member choir open to everyone.

• Red Mountain Youth Choir, a 35-member choir for youth ages 8-15, open to children from across the valley.

• Red Mountain Music Theatre, which produces an annual summer season of first-rate musical theater.

• Red Mountain Second Saturday Concert Series, a monthly cabaret-style concert series, featuring vocal soloists and musicians.

• Red Mountain Music Camp, a camp for youth, where experts teach the fundamentals of voice, dance and acting.

Last month the nonprofit organization held its sixth annual fundraising gala, which celebrated Red Mountain’s 10 years in existence and honored Myron Martin, president of the Las Vegas Performing Arts Center Foundation. “Myron has done so much for the area. He ran the UNLV performing arts center and had a huge concert series there. He’s been instrumental in developing the performing arts center that’s going to be built in Las Vegas,” says Jeffrey Skouson, artistic director of Red Mountain Music Company.

Money raised by the event will help fund programming, including Friday’s production “Too Darn Hot: The Golden Age of Broadway,” starring Brent Barrett, Reva Rice (“Starlight Express” on Broadway) and Tina Walsh (formerly of “Mamma Mia!” in Vegas and on Broadway). The three soloists will sing songs from several Broadway hits, including “Oklahoma!” and “West Side Story.” They will be backed by a 30-piece orchestra and a 90-person chorus. It will be held at the Cashman Theatre.

“Every year we have tried to up the ante a little with better performers,” Skouson says. “We’re looking to change from a small town perception to the real deal. That’s why this April’s show is so important. We’re bringing in three vocalists with Broadway credits. This gives us a lot of credibility. They are helping us to proceed to the next level. I envision us as eventually being the Boston Pops of the chorale world. With Brent and Reva and Tina, we’re certainly getting close to that goal.”

Barrett has been an eager supporter of Red Mountain since he was asked to help at a master class at its music camp in Utah last year. He became close friends with Skouson and his brother, David, the group’s musical director. When they asked him to perform for the upcoming concert in April, he jumped into action.

“I suggested that I co-produce it with them and make it a bigger event than ever before,” Barrett said.

What they came up with was a show that covers music from the Broadway hits from 1945 to about 1965.

“That covers most of the greatest names on Broadway of the 20th Century, from Lerner and Loewe to Rodgers and Hammerstein,” Barrett said.

Barrett has been with “Phantom” since it debuted at the Venetian two years ago. He will leave the production June 7.

“At that point I will have been doing it for two years and I find the two-year mark is about the time to go and do something else,” Barrett said. “It doesn’t mean I wouldn’t come back and do it, but after two years I need some new inspiration.”

He won’t be idle for long. On June 28 he will do a one-man concert at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.On July 4 he will be back in Vegas to perform a concert with the Las Vegas Philharmonic and then he will head for Cape Cod to perform in “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” for the summer.

Jeffrey Skouson is an internationally acclaimed voice coach who travels the world giving private lessons as well as teaching teachers how to teach singing. He joined Red Mountain in 2000. Three years ago his brother, David, a Broadway conductor, came to Vegas and joined the organization as musical director.

Wendy Randall is the executive director. Jeffrey Skouson credits her with the vision of expanding Red Mountain to the far reaches of the Valley. She gave it the name.

“Wendy showed a lot of wisdom in opening the local group up to the entire valley,” Skouson said.

The Red Mountain Music Company performs some productions in Boulder City, some at UNLV, some at Cashman.

When the Performing Arts Center finally is built in Las Vegas, the group probably will perform there as well.

But the real goal is to have its own theater in Boulder City.

“We’re taking it one step at time,” Skouson says. “We operate in the black, and we don’t ever want to borrow money. We stay within our budget. But our goal is in the next two to three years to start building a theater.”

He says one of the highest compliments was paid to the organization by a stage manger for one of the productions a couple of years ago.

“After the show he said, ‘Would you mind if I used your name on my resume?’ I said ‘Of course not, but how come?’ He said, ‘I guarantee you there will come a day when everybody will be honored to perform with the Red Mountain Music Company.’

“That was a very nice thing to say, and hopefully that will happen.”