Alexandria City High School students watching Saturday Night Live this weekend might have seen a familiar face in the musical numbers: the school’s Director of Choral Activities Theodore Thorpe III.
Thorpe was part of the Jason Max Ferdinand Singers in a choral ensemble with Coldplay, performing the songs The Astronaut, Human Heart, and Fix You in the show on Saturday, Feb. 4.
Thorpe said there were two days of rehearsal before the show: one with the members of the Jason Max Ferdinand Singers and then one with the group and Coldplay.
“There was a lot of work on multiple fronts,” Thorpe said. “Not just the chorus and the musical scores, but all of the folks working to make the performance happen, from set design to stage management and costuming. I like to call it: organized chaos.”
Thorpe has known Jason Max Ferdinand for over two decades but said this new choral group took off during the pandemic.
“This group really started out of the pandemic and it has just been taking off,” Thorpe said.
Thorpe said the Saturday Night Live performance came from the friendship between Ferdinand and musician Jacob Collier.
“[Ferdinand] got a call from [Collier] who said Chris Martin from Coldplay wanted this choir to perform with him,” Thorpe said. “They brought us to New York. The members of our ensemble are from all over, so we came together for this performance and really only had one day.”
Thorpe said he was backstage for much of the show because they had to do a quick change between songs.
“It felt great,” Thorpe said. “It was a great experience, from rehearsals all the way down.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPKbuDFC1Rs
