From All Angles

[Dolly Llama]

Speaking of progress, back in the 60s when the chorus was still a part-time job, they hired a Russian coach to work with the chorus on its pronunciation for the big Russian opera they were doing that year. The coach was a Russian himself, and he worked with the chorus for a few months during early rehearsals. But when the show was getting close to opening and the principal singers arrived, one of them, a Russian himself, noticed something wrong with the chorus. "Chorus not sound like manly" he said with a frown. Turns out the Russian coach had a lisp, and that's how the chorus learned their words.