Ah, January. The freezing cold bit of winter is here, when we pile into the studio wrapped in many layers of warm clothing, and then do battle with the HVAC until we (hopefully) defrost enough to stop singing from the depths of our Big Coats. It's a good thing the evening was filled with upbeat numbers that got us fired up!
Opening the rehearsal, "Without Love" (Hairspray) had us in teen movie mode - and also educating some of our younger members about Perry Como. It's one of those occasional reminders that the cultural catch-up list only ever gets longer and longer. It is actually a little bit lovely, then, that the chorus of "Singin' in the Rain" - from the classic movie of the same name - is still so well-known across generations that we instinctively default to a version in our heads. On the other hand, it means we have to re-learn important things like rhythms, and this week the sopranos were apologising to everyone else for monopolising the tune.
For an upbeat-yet-cosy vibe, we have one for all the romantics out there: Academy Award-winning song "The Way You Look Tonight" (from Swing Time), in an arrangement that will have you swaying, smiling, and thinking dreamy thoughts. Before we all got entirely too lost in our romantic notions, we jumped straight into "I'm Still Standing" and let Elton John's catchy tune carry us back into bopping along in our seats (while also trying to get all those very fast words in).
"Oh Happy Day" (Sister Act 2) really is set to be a brilliant performance, as are "Come Alive" (The Greatest Showman), and "Shake a Tail Feather" (originally by The Five Du-Tones, and covered in movies 'What's Love Got To Do With It', and 'The Blues Brothers'). We have some truly incredible soloists in our chorus, and they'll be taking centre stage in these numbers.
On the "technical music things" front, we had a lot of discussion about slides, and not the kind you'll find in the playground. They can be very fun, though. When we start them in the right places, which means we saw a fair bit of Katy's "internal sigh face" until we smoothed it all out. It's surprising how much basic sheet-music-reading knowledge I've absorbed since this chorus started - I genuinely knew next to nothing beforehand. Speaking of when this chorus started...
We recently passed "Quitters Day" - the nickname given to the second Friday of the year, when people are supposedly more likely to give up on their New Year's Resolutions. This writer would like to pass on a personally-lived lesson: there are no "extra-special days" which are the only days you can start doing life-changing things. The KTB Music Theatre Chorus celebrates its third birthday at the start of next week, so take that as a sign that amazing and life-changing things (and people) really can begin on any random day.
If you're here because you're looking for your next amazing thing, we're always accepting new members. Give it a go!
Written by Aeryn Isherwood