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UNI Varsity Men's Glee Club invades London
The UNI Varsity Men's Glee Club arrived in London on Thursday, March 16, 2006. The group went on a bus tour of the city, and visited the Tower of London in the afternoon. Dinner was at the original Hard Rock Cafe, London. Dr. Barrett was able to secure tickets to "Les Miserables" and "Blood Brothers", and many of the guys took advantage of the opportunity to take in a play or musical in London. The following day was a free day, and the guys took the time to sight-see and shop. In the evening, the Glee Club donned their tuxedos for the last time on the tour for a concert at St. Paul's Covent Garden. Before the 7:30 pm concert began, the guys did a little 'advertising' by gathering in the plaza in front of the 'Actor's Church' to sing a couple of songs. A crowd gathered to hear the impromptu singing. The guys then handed out flyers touting the concert. By concert time, the church was nearly filled with people ready to hear more. Two women in the audience who had heard the Glee Club sing in Dublin the previous weekend, made the trip to London to hear the group again. On Saturday, March 18, the guys started the long journey back to Iowa. Half the group departed from Heathrow International Airport, the other half from Gatwick Airport. Some tense moments occurred along the way, as the second group flew from London, to Newark, New Jersey. Their flight took off late from London, and the guys had only 45 minutes to get off their plane, go through Passport Control, U.S. Customs, retrieve their checked luggage and 23 stage boxes, re-check the same luggage and boxes for their Newark to Chicago flight, make the train from Terminal C to Terminal A, go through a security check yet again, and hustle to their waiting plane. They made it with no time to spare, and would not have made it in time, were it not for the teamwork of the Men of the Glee Club. Later that evening, the Glee Club stayed over in Freeport, Illinois, and performed at the Sunday Mass at St. Thomas Catholic Church in Freeport. The audience in Freeport applauded at the end of "Ave Maria", before the Mass was over, just as the audience at St. Peter's Basilica had done two years earlier in Rome. The green Northwest Tour buses rolled onto the UNI campus around 4:00 pm, and the guys who didn't have to wrestle with the stage boxes from London to Chicago were employed to bring them into the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center. It was an exhausting but memorable European tour for the Glee Club, and many members of the group voiced their desire to return to Ireland, Wales and England in the future. |