Alumnus Joins Gay Men’s Chorus

By Myles Goldman
Staff Writer

Danny Schrafel (‘08) is a member of the Long Island Gay Men’s Chorus. He joined in September and performs as a tenor, the second to lowest vocal range in the chorus. The Long Island Gay Men’s Chorus is a not-for-profit organization that delivers musical performances to inspire and to provide everyone with greatness from the LGBT community.

Having studied journalism and history, Schrafel did not have much experience in theatre; his last performance before joining the chorus was back in the fifth grade. It wasn’t until he started singing at karaoke nights when others continually told him he had a natural talent for vocal performance.

Despite lacking the same amount of chorus experience as his peers, Schrafel wasn’t nervous to sing in front of a crowd. “Once the first couple of words come out of my mouth, the blinders go on and I’m good,” he said. Schrafel was encouraged to join the chorus during a game of bowling with the Monday Night Fourplay League. “There were a couple of guys in the league that I’m very friendly with who are very active with the chorus, passing flyers out,” Schrafel said, “They planted the seed in my head.”

The Long Island Gay Men’s Chorus recently performed their movie-themed cabaret event “Hooray for Hollywood” which featured songs from “The Wizard of Oz” and “Dreamgirls”. Schrafel sang David Bowie’s “Starman” and described it as, “singing 5,000 words,” due to the copious amount of lyrics.

Their next event, “Treasured Memories”, is a holiday concert on Dec. 15 at Cathedral Incarnation in Garden City. There will be another performance on Dec. 16 at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship at Stony Brook University. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at www. ligmc.org.