Dear reader, we came so close to losing our rehearsal tonight. Everyone at KTB Music Theatre Chorus would like to say a huge thank you to St Peter's Church, Chorley, for hosting us in their meeting space at very, very short notice. We had a fantastic time - in case you weren't all aware, the acoustics in there are amazing!
What to do, then, with a room that makes a chorus sound twice the size? Get right into the music, that's what. This was surprisingly sedate for one of our rehearsals. Perhaps we were on our very best behaviour in a completely new space, with the energy of kids in a new school not being quite sure where is OK to explore, or where the toilets are.
Our first piece out of the traps was "Jeepers Creepers" (Going Places), to revisit those harmonies from last week that were obstacles on the musical race course. (Oh, come on... it's a song about a horse. If you think I'm not going to make as many awkward equine references as possible by the end of this block, you haven't been paying attention.) Already it's starting to gather a nice sort of style, which is always encouraging at this early stage.
Our next piece is a returning one - "Light", from Next To Normal, has an incredible tune that was ringing off the walls of our host venue like we were in a much bigger space, with a much bigger chorus. "It's like having a full bass section!" exclaimed our Katy, and we agreed. Major props to our lower sections for those notes, and to our (many!) returning newbies for handling the jumping-around-the-page that comes with this one so very well. It already feels like you've all been with us forever.
Brand new this week: "How Does a Moment Last Forever?" (Beauty and the Beast, 2017) is a gorgeously sweet little number that will probably raise a few tears, and for all the right reasons. Honestly, a ripple of "Awwwwww!" went round the room at the end of the first sing-through. Hopefully we'll get the same reactions when we get to performance time!
We finished up with chorus favourite "One Day More" (Les Misérables), switching up parts and letting our theatrical sides run riot as we bounced that wave of sound off every available hard surface for the last time before we had to leave.
We do very much hope that St Peter's Church would be willing to have us back if we need another venue in future! Thank you again to everyone at the church for taking such a last-minute booking, and for coming out to unlock and lock up for us. It's hard to explain how much we value our MTC time, and how much we would have missed it if we'd had to cancel.
Our last rehearsal for July will be back in the usual Chorley Theatre Studio venue next week, so if you were planning to come along tonight and were very confused to find a play going on instead, please do try again! (And if you ended up watching the play since you were out anyway, we hope you enjoyed it!)
Written by Aeryn Isherwood