Kim Bessey sings as Tina Turner performing "Proud Mary" in the latest CCPA production. --Nancy Malcom/Daily Mail

If you visualize a choir concert as consisting of several rows of expressionless-faced souls dressed in dark-colored robes, standing motionless on a set of increasingly steep risers as they sing from hymnals or sheet music that most often hides their eyes, then you're not visualizing the Nevada Community Choir as, sponsored by Nevada's First National Bank, they perform "Celebration of the '70's and '80's," Thursday through Saturday, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, March 9, at 2 p.m., at the Fox Playhouse.

First of all, Nevada High School senior Erica Becker has put together a striking slide show (projected against a screen on the right hand side of the stage) that tracks the news-making events of those two decades, some of which -- if you lived through them -- will make you laugh (moderator Ed Sullivan being introduced to the Beatles on the eve of their legendary appearance on his Sunday night TV show), sigh (John Lennon's wistfully gorgeous song "Imagine" sung by Tim Wilson), or weep (war in Vietnam, images of JFK's murder and its aftermath.) The effect of these photographs and Time Magazine covers is to ground all the songs in their historical perspective as well as revive all the mixed feelings you remember having at that time of your life. They are invaluable to the concert. It doesn't look to me as if the sequence of photos is synchronized with the particular songs, although I suppose it's up to the individual audience member to decide for him/herself.

The choir's new accompanist, Glenda Belt, was wonderfully flawless on the night I attended. (I'm assuming the highest compliment you can pay an accompanist is to tell her you didn't even notice her during the performance?) And Scott Theis, the new director, is not only a spirited leader, who uses his whole body as a baton, but a terrific singer and acoustic guitarist as well.

The performance's first half is devoted to songs of the 1970s, the second half to those of the '80s. Kim Bessey may take Tina Turner's "Proud Mary" (1971) a tad slower than Tina's frenetic pace, but still, Kim has a dynamite set of gams and all the Turneresque body movements, too. She's an authentic show-stopper, and it's only the second solo of the evening! David Bishop solos amusingly in "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," and Sonja Wells solos winningly in "Killing Me Softly With His Song." In the style of James Taylor, Tim Wells, with his acoustic guitar, sings Taylor's "Mexico." But it's Scott Theis who, in the style of Lionel Richie, solos so superbly and with such attention to each aural detail in Richie's signature song, "Three Times a Lady." And, so, goodbye to the 1970s, while we pass to the following decade.

And to that gorgeous, moving Lennon song, "Imagine," which sums up the yearning, hope, and sad innocence of a whole decade of young people. Tim Wilson, as usual, brings to the song a purity and clarity of diction that deserve a round of applause. "Memory," the climactic song from "Cats," was sung on Broadway by the incomparable Betty Buckley, she of the achingly pure soprano voice. And I suppose it depends on the degree of your dedication to Ms. Buckley's rendition of "Memory" how you accept Teresa Sword's rendition. Or even the range of her voice.

When Tim Wells dons an old straw hat and worn boots, I'm sorry, but I can't help getting an image of Buddy Ebson, of "Beverly Hillbillies" fame; but, more particularly, the Buddy Ebson of pre-Beverly Hillbillies vaudeville fame. Praise be to Kenny Jones and Nancy Ross for their performance of "Islands in the Stream." And then, or so it seemed to me, the identities of the personae get a bit pleasantly mixed, as Nancy Ross becomes Dolly Parton, Linda Carlton becomes Mae West, Kenny Jones becomes Kenny Rogers, and someone else becomes, I think, a flying mouse. But that's only secondary.

There's a lot going on in this show. For one thing, there's an almost unprecedentedly strong male section, and I speak as a confirmed bass when I used to sing some pretty low "Nash notes" with the same outfit a few years ago. Instead of the usual spotlights, this choir has the aid of some interesting new lighting devices, which add a new dimension to the concert. Costumes and impersonations are clever and recognizable.

There are a lot of familiar faces here: David Bishop, Dave Kilmer, John Scarborough, Tim Wilson, Al Fenske (in blazing red outfit), Tim Wells, and black-leather-jacketed Robert W. Palmer (carpenter extraordinaire).

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It looks and sounds to me as if the Nevada Community Choir has taken out a new lease on life. Long may it prosper!