DON'T PANIC! DON'T PANIC! WE'RE NOT PANICKING AT ALL! NO PANIC HERE! So what if we only have two rehearsals left before our September concert dates, and one of those is the night before the first performance? We can do this... here at KTB Music Theatre Chorus, we're practically professionals. Minus that whole 'payment' thing.
As you might imagine, tonight's rehearsal was focused on note-bashing our way through the songs, and trying not to panic.
Our run-through of "Jeepers Creepers" (Going Places) was brought to a sudden halt by the return of that 'do bah doo wah' section. You know that moment when a horse reaches a fence it absolutely does not want to jump and the rider sails over the obstacle to land in the ditch? This was the musical equivalent, with our Katy being unceremoniously chucked out of the saddle. Sorry about that, KTB. We've got two more rehearsals to work on it.
Next up, the return of an a capella piece that brings us all a lot of glee when we get going. I won't expound on the why - if you've seen us perform "What Shall We Do With The Drunken Sailor?" (Fisherman's Friend) live, then you might know what we're all grinning at. Still, it's been quite some time since we ran through this one, and we needed to rediscover our sea legs. Lots of slightly drunken rhythms going on, and some notes that definitely sounded like we'd all found the rum. We'll be shipshape in no time. We've got two more rehearsals to work on it.
Let's start at the end of the singing. That's Katy's fave place to start... "Do-Re-Mi", from The Sound of Music, is a cultural classic that really needs no other introduction. We won't be hopping up and down on the risers (too much of a Health and Safety risk), and I'm pretty sure that jam butties are already on the list of Things That KTB Has Banned. This one went a lot more smoothly than the other two, after some wrangling of the aforementioned jam and bread, and we all breathed a sigh of relief. We've got two more rehearsals to work on it.
"The Human Heart" from Once on This Island, is musically very calming and lyrically very touching - taken out of its context in the bittersweet and tragic musical that it comes from, it is actually one that I find myself thinking about in relation to this chorus... if I can be allowed a moment of overt and excessive sentimentality. This was another one that went pretty smoothly. Two more, etcetera, etcetera.
"Light" (Next To Normal) has some deceptively tricky harmonies, and requires a certain singing style to really keep the momentum of that amazing tune going. We're polishing it up nicely, and it's always encouraging when Katy agrees with us. Two. More. Rehearsals.
Finally, we rounded things off with "Suddenly Seymour" (Little Shop of Horrors), and this is one we've basically got down. Always nice to finish the rehearsal with a massive round of applause for our soloists!
This writer suspects that there will be a lot of home rehearsal going on over the next few weeks. As always, apologies to our neighbours, etc.
Written by Aeryn Isherwood