Weardale Community Choir- At the Musicals
Review: David heatherington
ONE of the things I miss most in life is our trips to the theatre to see a good musical so I was really
pleased when the Weardale Community Choir announced their concert on Saturday night at St
John’s Chapel Town Hall.
They are what they say on the tin, a small choir of friendly and welcoming people from our
community who get together once a week to enjoy singing and then performing in public.
The show aptly kicked off with the song “Its a Musical” probably the only song in the concert that
I didn’t know to be followed by “Any Dream will do” from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour
Dreamcoat.
I was really looking forward to see what the choir would make of “The Ballad of Sweeny Todd “ the
demon barber of Fleet Street – Stephen Sondheim is a master wordsmith who in Sweeny uses
complex and dissonant chords to create a dramatic atmosphere of fear and horror. The choir’s
performance was the nightmare that Sondheim intended, well done.
Having been put in mortal fear of a gruesome death In the next song we were invited to live life as
though it was a “Cabaret” and not worry about what was round the corner and then calmed with a
beautifully gentle rendition of “Love Changes Everything” from Aspects of Love. The first half closed
with a medley of well known songs from “Les Miserables.”
No Community Choir Concert is quite the same without the repartee of Pat (the Jack Dee of the
company ) with her familiar dead pan face and world weary jokes as she takes it in turn with
conductor Liz to introduce the next piece.
And so to the second half.
I was sure that when it was announced that there was to be a solo in My Fair Lady’s “Ascot
Gavotte” Pat would get to sing the words “Come on, Dover !Move your bloomin’ arse”. But no.
Nothing so vulgar in this show. The instrumental solo was reserved for a gentleman in the choir, Neil,
who with such precise timing struck the starting bell. The choir delivered the words of the speeding
up of the horses in a beautifully controlled staccato fashion. Pity though that Dover didn’t get a
mention.
“Tomorrow” from Annie promoted an optimistic theme only for us to be brought down to the
reality that the world is all about dazzling us with tricks and lies to win us over through Chicago’s
“Razzle Dazzle”. No Night at rhe Musicals would be complete without a Phantom of the Opera song
and Music of the Night did not disappoint
The programme ended with New York, New York a song about VJ Day. celebrations in The Big
Apple and a reminder that the next Community Choir Concert on July 12th will be in celebration of
our own VE Day anniversary.
A lovely evening, thanks to the choir, to Liz who expertly conducted the them in Duncan’s absence
and Damien for his beautiful accompaniments.
