Staten Island's Premiere of Once In A Lullaby: The PS22 Chorus Story

Photo credit: Irwin Seow

On August 14, Staten Island Yankee Stadium and Rooftop Films hosted the local debut of ONCE IN A LULLABY: The PS22 Chorus Story Jonathan Kalafer's critically acclaimed documentary about the PS22 Chorus's journey to Hollywood to perform at the 83rd Annual Academy Awards! With hundreds of people in attendance, the film found its most appreciative audience yet! To make the night extra special, we invited some of our legendary alumni members to sing at the event. Check out some of those amazing performances below!

Big thanks to Rooftops Films, S.I. Yankee Stadium, and of course to Jonathan Kalafer, the director of ONCE IN A LULLABY, for filming the festivities at the ballpark!! And make sure to follow all the updates about the film on his Facebook page!

Brother & Sister

Here is one of the PS22 Chorus of 2012's final performances, an amazing original song written by our very own Kiarah called "Brother & Sister!" The video also includes some behind-the-scenes footage that documents the making of the song.  Check it out below!

PS22 Chorus part of Gotye's "YouTube Orchestra!"

How cool is this??? Gotye himself did a remix out of the plethora of "Somebody That I Used To Know" covers that have surfaced on the internet, and PS22's cover was included in the fracas! Check out below what Gotye calls the "Somebodies: A YouTube Orchestra" remix!

LA TIMES says "Be Prepared To Be Enormously Moved"

We are thrilled to report that The Los Angeles Times has bestowed some fantastic praise upon Jonathan Kalafer's documentary "Once In A Lullaby: The PS22 Chorus Story," calling it a "memorable and well-observed film!" Check out the sensational review in the screencap above or on the LA Times website!  The movie just finished its one week NYC run at the IFC Center, and will now begin its Los Angeles showings from, August 10 - 16 at the Laamle NoHo 7 Theater.   For our west coast fans interested in catching the film, you can get all the info you need (address, showtimes and ticket orders) here on Laamle's site.

 

Ms. Lisa, Mr. B, & Jonathan Kalafer at August 9th screening of "Once In  A Lullaby" at IFC Center

You should also check out this feature on Indiewire that includes an exclusive new scene from the PS22 documentary with background info provided by Jonathan!  While you're at it, check out this in-depth and insightful interview with our favorite film director that appears here on OTM's website!  We are overwhelmed by the amazing reception the documentary has been receiving and completely overjoyed that audiences and critics alike are finding the film to be so inspiring!!  

Rise Up!

Here is another great performance from the PS22 Chorus of 2012 that features the extremely talented and memorably good-hearted Saleem (from the 2011 group)! This is a song he wrote with his dad that he shared with us when he visited the group at the end of May. We loved the song so much that we were compelled to 22-ify it with some great harmonies that the chorus learned and performed the day this was filmed! Saleem does an extraordinary job on the lead vocals on this wonderful and inspirational song, and we are super-proud of him!!  Check it out below!

Beliefnet.com's 10 Most Inspiring Teachers

The popular site Beliefnet.com just published a feature naming its "10 Most Inspiring Teachers," which included a very humbled Mr. B! What an amazing honor, especially considering the names and accomplishments of the other honorees! Thanks to Beliefnet.com, writer Angela Guzman, and of course the PS22 Chorus kids for their talent, enthusiasm, and commitment that transforms "the job" into a pleasure!

You can also check out this incredibly flattering write-up by Ms. Guzman that appeared early this week on Beliefnet.com's website!