Sing Hosanna musical theater group to disband by end of summer
Butler County’s musical theater community will soon lose one of its contributors as the Sing Hosanna group announced this week it will disband by the end of this summer after 47 years in operation.
In a letter released on Sing Hosanna’s Facebook page, the group’s executive director, Ralph Christy Jr., said the closure is a result of financial losses it sustained during the COVID-19 pandemic, from which it was ultimately unable to recover.
“Since the beginning of COVID, the board of directors has carefully monitored our financial situation,” Christy wrote. “Our inability to perform during the pandemic while still facing fixed expenses resulted in a loss of $30,000.”
“We still had fixed costs. We owned our building and we had utilities to pay,” said board member and assistant producer Diane Tanner. “It was extremely difficult to get going again and the shows we put on at first weren’t ticket-sellers.”
However, Tanner added the group’s most recent shows were more successful. They included “The Lion King Jr.” in June 2025, “Mary Poppins” in November 2025 and most recently “The Little Mermaid,” which was showcased last month.
“The past few shows were really successful. That’s the really hard part of this,” Tanner said. “The costs of everything went up. The cost of the materials we use to build scenery went up, and we couldn’t raise ticket prices any more because nobody would come.”
In his letter, Christy wrote Sing Hosanna was only able to sustain itself financially for its most recent season by eliminating its orchestra from productions.
“Although we explored every option ... we are no longer able to sustain our program,” Christy wrote.
“We’re at a point now where it's been 47 years and it’s just time to say goodbye,” Tanner said.
Sing Hosanna — based out of a small building on West Airport Road in Penn Township — was first established in 1979 and focused on presenting Broadway-style musical productions with large casts of children.
“We are very saddened by it,” said Amy Sutara, whose daughter, 14-year-old Ella, was cast in multiple Sing Hosanna productions — most recently, the March production of “The Little Mermaid.” “She loved performing there and met lots of great people there. She had lots of respect for Mr. Ralph and she had grown immensely through the program.”
Christy did not respond to requests for comment as of Tuesday afternoon.
“We’re all very, very sad, all the people in the group. The director is extremely sad,” Tanner said. “We’re grateful to the community and all the people who participated. This wasn’t due to a lack of support from anyone.”
