When I tell you that so many people at the rehearsal tonight had said they were desperately in need of our signature Musical Theatre Chorus energy... it would have been a shame to have to miss out due to a lack of venue. St Laurence's Church came through for us again, and we all send our sincerest thanks - and our excitement for the re-opening of the main church following the extensive building repair work that's been going on. Six months of chaos (of a non-musical-theatre-chorus kind) are nearly over for one of the oldest buildings in Chorley!
Outside, it was bucketing down, so it made perfect sense to start the evening with a party. "Haus of Holbein" from Six has become one of our go-to opening pieces, and it felt like it really hit the right tone there. We're all definitely leaning into the character accents, too, partly because our soloist does such an amazing job that we can't help but get taken along with her, and also because it's only right to give our concert audience a real taste of the intended sound of it all.
Suitably energised, we worked through "Without Love" (Hairspray), with a focus on the overlapping sections and unexpected note shifts that keep tripping us up. I talked about the character accents a minute ago, and I have to say that it always makes me smile that we all switch into teen American accents with this one (and also when we've done "We Go Together" from Grease in the past). We really are just big kids, aren't we?
I mentioned helium balloons last week, but apparently we're not allowed those (there seems to be a running list for every concert of Things That KTB Has Banned, and I feel it should be unveiled in a dramatic scroll-across-the-floor fashion, or at least included in the programme). "The Bells of Notre Dame" from The Hunchback of Notre Dame is... A Lot for the soprano 1 section. We survived our first proper run at it. We think. I may be unknowingly typing this from beyond the grave.
Our soloist for "Let It Go" (Frozen, the stage musical version) blasting us all with an incredible sound was extremely deserving of the resounding applause and cheering. The rest of the chorus only jumps in at the end of this one, so after a couple of reminders of where all the ah-s and oh-s and ha-s are supposed to go, we did it in one take. The notes never bothered us, anyway - after TBoND, everything felt a lot more accessible, for some reason.
Time to chill out a little, then, with "Singin' in the Rain", starting in the section that we don't know quite as well as that iconic chorus. As we get more comfortable with it, the volume and 'freedom' level is starting to even out across the whole song. It's a classic that's survived in the public consciousness for a reason!
"Somebody to Love" from We Will Rock You was next, and we were eager to get past those first two pages. It's going to keep us all on our toes for a while, that's for sure. Even with a few moments of confusion and unexpected notes here and there, it was clear that the sound is going to be brilliant.
"Stampede" from The Lion King's stage musical, has progressed quite substantially in the few short weeks we've been working on it. This dramatic multi-layered piece really does sound more awesome every single week. A few little timing shocks remain, here and there, but it's sounding much more confident. The overall panic level has definitely reduced on this one!
We finished up the session with the complete atmospheric opposite to our starting point. "Tomorrow" from Annie is a slow and soothing number that is just so very pretty. That's understating it, really - you're just going to need to listen to it when our show hits the Chorley Theatre stage in June.
Yes, this is me taking an extremely cliched segue into telling you that tickets are on sale right now, so don't miss out! We've had truly wonderful audiences at our previous shows, and we're looking forward to seeing everyone getting to hear these great songs that we're absolutely loving.
Until next week, dear reader, I must bid you adieu!
Written by Aeryn Isherwood