Harmony. The word conjures the idea of something serene. People holding hands and swaying gently. Peace between nations. A general air of softness and calm.
However. This is KTB Music Theatre Chorus. A place where it's perfectly normal to walk in and hear strange sounds echoing from the acoustically-fun studio restroom. Our version of harmony generally involves a lot of in-between shrieking with laughter, and also with annoyance as we try to hold the notes in our heads. But when we manage it? "Ooooooooh!" That's a direct quote from our Katy, that is.
We kicked off with a song that is extremely ooh-worthy: "Oh Happy Day" from Sister Act 2. This has absolutely become a chorus favourite, and really put us all in the right frame of mind for the rehearsal. It definitely shows in the energy and the unstoppable grins on everyone's faces as we sing it, and no doubt we'll be bringing that to the audience at show time.
This was also a New Music Week! We started things off on the fresh numbers with "Let it Go" - this is from the stage show version of Frozen, not the one you've heard approximately three million times since 2013. This version ups the stakes a little. We've certainly got the soloist lined up for it, with the chorus joining in at the end to bring it to an even more dramatic ending than you might be expecting... once we get a handle on those ha-s and other vocal noises. Snow and ice effects will have to remain in your mind, although by the end of June we might all be wanting the real thing under the stage lights! Remember: Frozen is actually set in summer (hum the appropriate tune on those last two words there).
Our second new piece this week: "Somebody to Love" from We Will Rock You. I sound like a broken record here (or a worn-out cassette, a skipping CD, or a corrupted MP3 - pick your era-appropriate simile), but my goodness, our soloists are going to knock these songs out of the park! This is going to be brilliant; we can just feel it. We tried, honestly, we tried so hard, but no amount of begging would convince Katy to let us go past the first two pages. Sulky faces all round. Absolutely no contrition from behind the keyboard.
Speaking of contrition... here's a little hint for future members of this chorus: if you're a soprano and KTB hands over a stack of music while actually apologising in the process, flip immediately to the last page or so (usually of the one that's most unfamiliar) and make your displeasure about what you're looking at known there and then. There's probably a reason I don't have access to the dashboard for posting these blogs, and it's probably partly down to the fact that I would do something like... embedding a video of that choirboy comedy sketch with the helium balloon.
Welcome to Notre Dame! "The Bells of Notre Dame" is from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. It has plenty of narrative elements for our soloists to show off a little bit of the actor-y side of our chorus skill set alongside their great vocals, while the remainder of the chorus provides the highly atmospheric backing. It's also looking as though "The Bells of Notre Dame" will likely be the thematic 'saddest/darkest' point of the family-friendly set, with everything else being brighter in theme.
With the seals broken on the new songs, it was time for a slight break for our brains with two pieces that are really coming together nicely: "I'm Still Standing" (by Elton John) and "Singin' in the Rain". Both of these songs feel far more comfortable now than they did at the start of the year. Finishing tiny touches and polishing is now in progress!
"Stampede" from The Lion King's smash hit stage musical was up next. We are definitely getting more confident with it, and we managed much larger sections without getting lost in the yona-s. An incredible wall of sound is under construction. We apologise to our neighbours for the inconvenience.
We finished up this rehearsal by working through some of the stickier sections of "Without Love" (Hairspray) and "Tomorrow" (Annie). It was an absolutely packed session, with a lot of very tired faces by the end of it. Time now to let things soak into our memory, check out the helper tracks for anything we're blanking on, and look forward to doing it all again next week. We (genuinely) can't wait!
Written by Aeryn Isherwood