'Bach to bebop'
Amherst Male Glee Club marks 60th season
by ELIZABETH TAUFA Reporter

Walter Reitz

Sixty years ago, Amherst Central High School teacher Walter Reitz started male singing group with about a dozen members.

Today that group is known as the Amherst Male Glee Club.

"The name is kind of misleading," the Snyder resident admits. "We actually have members from all over the area. Some people hear Amherst and think it's only for people in Amherst.'

Reitz is not only the founder and director of the group, but also the only member who has been there from the beginning.

The group now boasts more than 50 members ranging in age from men in their 20s to Reitz, who will turn 86 this month.

"We do all kinds of music from Bach to bebop," he said, noting that the pieces the group performs are on the lighter side of the musical palette. "Our goal was never to educate but to entertain."

Though the group performs consistently in the area during the year, its primary showcase being "The Red Blazer Varieties," a Broadway-style musical revue.

"We play to about 3,000 people over three nights," Reitz said.

The event is more than a choral concert, though. The Amherst Male Glee Club hires professional musicians for a live pit orchestra and professional scene and light designers. The performance is also peppered with blackout sketches and choreographed numbers.

"There's always something going on on stage," Reitz said of the Red Blazer Varieties. "The blackout sketches aren't scheduled in the program so the audience doesn't know what to expect."

Though The Red Blazer Varieties is usually held in March, this year's performance will be April 3-5. All performances will be at 7:30 p.m. at Amherst Central High School, 4301 Main St., Amherst.

Looking back on 60 years, Reitz remembers the first days of the club to be much like it is today.

"It takes a certain individual that likes the camaraderie to stay with the group," he said. "Our main business is singing and performing. I don't think the people have changed, just the things around them have changed."

e-mail: etaufa@beenews.com