If you're thinking that a small group night here at KTB Music Theatre Chorus means we throw all notions of rehearsal out of the fire escape doors and spend two hours drinking tea and chatting, you would be wrong. Not that we don't do that at all - tea and chat is a vital part of our setup - but there's far, far less of it than you'd expect on a week like this, because we are all prone to getting carried away with the music.
Tonight's rehearsal really showcased how wonderfully supportive this group is, as the emphasis shifted to working in-depth on pieces, pages, and even individual notes that keep catching people out, or that members needed to catch up on. There is no such thing as being "too needy" in this chorus, so put your hand up and make your request! We will do that page again, if you need it. And if you need us all to Definitely Not Look At You when you're singing something solo... we have you covered. Or the music you're hiding behind has you covered. To-may-toes, to-mah-toes.
We had a short song list, but my goodness, we worked hard. Starting with "Tomorrow" (Annie), to tighten up those harmonies and figure out where we're taking our sneaky breaths, and then moving on to "Without Love" (Hairspray) for catch-up and note-bashing.
Oh! Or is it, "Oh?" Or "OH!!!" We all have to be on the same page with the proper emphasis of the "Oh!" in "Stampede" (The Lion King), and that's on our actor-y sides to get right. (This is a skill-set which also comes in handy when we need to switch from crying with laughter to singing in the same five seconds.) We're now at the "make your custom directional notes on the music" stage with this one. Whatever shocking thing we're imagining to get the emphasis right... it's probably going on there. Pro tip: clear sticky notes are perfect for this. Saves all the pencil-erasing, and there's no need to scare the next person to get the music with a faint ghostly echo of a giant spider. Although that could definitely result in the correct emphasis on the OH.
Ring the New Song Alarm! "Satisfied", from Hamilton (I know you're all humming That line right now) has landed at Musical Theatre Chorus, and you're going to want to be in the room where it happens when it comes to concert time. Our incredible soloist has a lot of very fast words to fit in here, and the rest of the chorus has some very tricky timings to contend with. It all went rather brilliantly. If tonight was just the starting point... this is going to blow everyone away.
Getting to 9pm and realising we hadn't had a tea break had us all in a flap - where does that time go? We were still sipping as we locked in for our last song of the evening, "Somebody To Love" (We Will Rock You), and it looked like a study session as we concentrated on getting those notes in the ending section firmly into our slightly frazzled brains before it was (sadly) time to head home.
We have flyers to distribute, social media posts to share, and helper tracks to listen to. Who says chorus is only two hours a week?
(And we love every minute of it!)
Written by Aeryn Isherwood