By Chip Chandler — Digital Content Producer
A pair of local favorites will perform at Amarillo Little Theatre’s annual summer fundraiser.
Chuck Alexander, singer for Insufficient Funds and The Martinis, and Devlon Jones, a popular Amarillo gospel and R&B performer, will give two concerts on June 9 and 10.
The Two Worlds — One Passion concerts begin at 8 p.m. each night in the ALT Mainstage, 2019 Civic Circle. Tickets are $25 for June 9 and $50 for June 10. Sponsorship packages are $150 and $250 for the June 10 concert.
“Both of them are very popular performers at ALT,” artistic director Allen Shankles said. “They come from different backgrounds … but they share a common passion and come together through music. They’re a good combination.”
Both men have performed in several musicals at the theater, including Smokey Joe’s Café and Jesus Christ Superstar together; Les Miserables (Alexander); and Big River and Hairspray (Jones).
“It’s an honor,” Jones said. “I’m very, very grateful that they even thought of me.”
Alexander echoed those sentiments.
“I’m telling you, I was blown away,” Alexander said. “I didn’t know what to say at first. … That they think enough of us to make a show around us is an honor and a dream come true.”
Previous performers for ALT’s special event have included Broadway stars Betty Buckley, Kristin Chenoweth, Kelli O’Hara and Megan Hilty; pop legend J.D. Souther; pianists Jim Brickman and Michael Feinstein; and local performer Jeff Jarnagin.
The June concerts will include segments featuring Broadway favorites, pop hits and gospel songs, backed by a six-piece band and 10 backup singers, including Annika Spalding and Chana Smith, led by Jennifer Akins.
“The hardest thing about this show was picking out what music to do,” Alexander said.
The men will sing solo and come together on selected duets, including “Worlds Apart” from Big River.
Each had effusive praise for the other.
“He’s awesome,” Jones said of Alexander. “He is a sweet spirit … a loving guy and a heck of a performer.”
“He’s a towering figure anyway with a big heart,” Alexander said of Jones, “and then that voice comes out of him and you think, ‘I get to sing with this guy?’ He brings out the good in you.”
Call 806-355-9991.
Chip Chandler is a digital content producer for Panhandle PBS. He can be contacted at Chip.Chandler@actx.edu, at @chipchandler1 on Twitter and on Facebook.
