I'm going to level with you, dear reader. If I went into detail for every single song we rehearsed tonight, this blog post would be a multi-page essay.
So, let's tackle this 12-piece(!!) evening at KTB Music Theatre Chorus with some highlights, and some groupings that I will admit might only be vaguely related, musically-speaking. Here goes.
The Complex One: "Stampede" (The Lion King). The layers of harmony in this piece are starting to come together as we get more confident in each section. It's only our second week with it, after all. Having more people this week to properly fill out those extra harmonies really helped us to feel - and hear - how it's all going to sound: spectacular.
The One Where My Notes Just Say 'WOOOOOWWWW!!1!!!!11!!1!!!': "Oh Happy Day" (Sister Act 2) was one of those incredible sing-throughs where we have a moment of slightly stunned silence at the end, and then bounce around cheering. It will be a show-stopper. With cherries on.
The Ones With "Energy!": "Haus of Holbein" (Six), "Come Alive" (The Greatest Showman), "I'm Still Standing" (Elton John), "Shake a Tail Feather" (The Five Du-Tones, covered in musicals What's Love Got To Do With It and The Blues Brothers), and "Happy" (Pharrell Williams for Despicable Me 2). A really feel-good set of songs that are just written for dancing in the seats.
The Dreamy Ones: "Singin' in the Rain", and "Tomorrow" (Annie) for those harmonies and classic vibes, although the energies are definitely different. "Singin' in the Rain" is a bopping-from-side-to-side number (finger clicks included in sections!), and this arrangement of "Tomorrow" really is like a sunrise written into song in how it builds - close your eyes and just soak it in.
The Ones That Took Us Back To School: "Any Dream Will Do" (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat) - complete with soft, angelic echoes - vintage anthem to teenage love "Without Love" (Hairspray), and "School Song" (Matilda), which is a tongue-twisting run through the alphabet with a chance to really bring out our inner children... as if anyone in that studio needs any encouragement there!
When I think about the fact that we know there are amazing songs still to come... the 2026 concerts really are going to be incredible, with something familiar for everyone, and most likely a few brand new earworms for everyone, too.
This year, as we have a family-friendly theme, we will be doing a matinee performance for the first time ever (Sat 27 June, at 14:30), in addition to two evening shows (Fri 26 June, and Sat 27 June, both at 19:30). Tickets are now available on the Chorley Theatre website, so don't miss out!
Written by Aeryn Isherwood