As we get closer to show time, we're starting to feel the need to move here at KTB Music Theatre Chorus. The bopping and finger-clicking. The search for a bigger sound. The personal bars we continue to shift higher. These are the exciting months, as we start to experience how it's all going to take shape. But before I get into that, I simply must thank St Laurence's Church for providing us with a different sort of move, as our alternate venue for evenings when the studio space is unavailable. This was one of those nights when quite a few of us just really needed our chorus time, and we couldn't have had that without the church space.
We covered a whopping 11 songs tonight, so I'd better jump right in. "Satisfied" from Hamilton really needed two run-throughs so we could properly experience the, well, satisfaction. Explosive cheering works best when immediately following the song! Permission To Whoop definitely granted.
A quick sing through A-Z with "School Song" (Matilda), then on to cross-generational earworm "Singin' in the Rain". "It was immense... up until bar 14..." said Katy, and we all groaned because some of these rhythms are just not quite in muscle memory yet. All of it is going to sound immense by concert time. We promise.
"Somebody To Love" (We Will Rock You) is one of those moments where I just key-mashed in my notes section because it's really kept taking on new levels in the few weeks we've been working on it. Queen fans are really in for a treat with this one, and I'm not sure I can accurately describe it without sounding like I'm just sticking a bunch of big-ticket adjectives into a sentence. So, you're just going to need to buy tickets to hear us.
We all get the giggles on occasion - it's just sort of what we do around here when we're not singing. When we are singing, though... we need to work on our poker faces. "So Much Better" (from Legally Blonde's musical adaptation of the movie) is one of those moments. If we're going to have corpsing issues to work through, it's probably going to be on this one, because it's snappy, it's funny, and it's got some incredible vocal moments that our soloist just breezes through like it's NBD. Hopefully the rest of us can style it out like Elle Woods in the bunny suit. (Nobody will be wearing bunny suits. I'm pretty sure each individual element of that outfit has already been added to the list of Things That KTB Has Banned.)
The next song is a testament to what can happen when you really let yourself experiment with your sound. "Stampede" from the six-time Tony Award winning stage show of The Lion King was absolutely terrifying to look at when we first opened it. Now? "That was phenomenal," said our dear MD, and by that point we were just yelling our heads off after every song anyway, so what's one more? I have told you in the past - we're a high-energy, highly-supportive group.
Time, then, to give us all chance to relax a bit with "Tomorrow" from Annie, in an arrangement that has made many of us develop a new appreciation for this song. It's so pretty. If you've never really clicked with this song before, this version might just change your mind about it.
Another calming, soft-vibes song next, and it's a returning one: "Beauty and the Beast" is the title song that made a teapot famous. This is one of those adapted arrangements that gives the ending a dramatic lift, in classic choral style, to join our perfectly-cast soloist. The rest of the time? We're just gently and unconsciously swaying a little, and enjoying the sound and the nostalgia. We're sure the audience will be joining us.
We quickly hopped over to college in Oz to work through the backing section of "What Is This Feeling?" (Wicked), and fought - with varying degrees of success - accidentally slipping back to the main part/s, then went back to high school in America for the last two songs. "We Go Together" (Grease) is one of those songs we've brought back because we just have so much fun singing it. You just can't help it when you're all hitting those very fast lyrics all perfectly in sync. Finally, "Without Love" from Hairspray closed out the evening with a thematically-similar teenage love anthem, and it was all over far too soon.
I wouldn't be surprised if the traffic passing outside could hear the cheering tonight. We've got something special in the works here, and tickets are on sale right now, including for our first-ever matinee performance. This writer would highly recommend that you bring the whole family. You'll leave with a massive grin on your face, new ear worms, and maybe some new shows to look into for your next theatre trip!
Written by Aeryn Isherwood