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On the 4th of July Stourport Choral & Operatic Society presented their ‘America’ concert at Kidderminster Town Hall, celebrating American Independence Day. Following upon their highly acclaimed ‘Night at The Movies’ experience in April the society’s recent resurgence under the guidance of musical director Alastair Elliott, accompanied by Angela Allard, was further advanced by this highly entertaining evening showcasing music from the U.S.A.
A splendid and varied program of music was on offer, including many of the greatest composers of the twentieth century. These included classics from the pens of Gershwin, Copland, Kern, Bernstein and Hammerstein.
In a very full program it was most impressive just how many individual singers the society could readily provide for this carefully themed event. The choir can boast of up to twenty soloists amongst their ranks and there was not one weak performance during the whole programme. Interestingly some new choristers were enjoying a late baptism at the Town Hall and they displayed a maturity commensurate to their age!
The climax of the first half was a most powerful rendition of ‘Bui Doi’ from the musical Miss Saigon, delivered by David Bell who has developed a most impressive tenor voice in recent times, performing with a new confidence and really ‘looking the part’. Other outstanding contributions from established members of the society included a faultless ‘Summertime’ from soprano Judith Standing and a most expressive version of ‘Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye’ from alto Mary Sinclair. We were fortunate, once again, to enjoy two delightful performances from Claire Worboys, the first a duet with Sharon Toy, ‘In His Eyes’, and then the ‘Sunset Boulevard’ classic ‘As If We Never Said Goodbye’.
Though the audience numbers were modest they were most appreciative and vocal in their support throughout the evening and hopefully they and others will be pleased to return for Stourport Choral’s next themed concert, ‘The Best of British’ on 7th November this year.
REVIEW: A Night at the Movies, Stourport Choral & Operatic Society, Kidderminster Town Hall: Tuesday 21st April 2009
This was a great idea for an evening of music, reminding us of some classic moments from the silver screen. However, I expected a blockbuster start so was disappointing to hear a song I had never heard from a film I had never heard of, though the choir sang When You Believe from The Prince of Egypt superbly. The first highlight was a terrific rendition of Suddenly Seymour from Little Shop of Horrors, sung by Louise Adams and David Bell. It was hard to envisage a choral version of Deep River, with solo by a woman (Mary Sinclair) working, when we are so used to it being sung by a bass, but to my surprise I enjoyed this immensely. Though I personally would never have related this to Gone with the Wind (Tara’s Theme is the only tune which reminds me of that film). Despite an excellent performance of Agnes Dei, I still think Barber’s Adagio sounds better played by strings. We had some real delights in the second half, such as Va Pensiero from The Color of Money, The Time of My Life from Dirty Dancing, sung by Jonathan and Claire Darby and we were back in Kansas with the one everyone loves, Over The Rainbow, a beautiful version and another highlight of the evening. There was also a glorious Abba medley, reflecting the current popularity of Mamma Mia, when dancers from the Splinters Studio joined in and indeed two of these items were encored so the entire audience could take part. The concert also included Dry Your Tears Afrika, which again I had never heard before, but please I want to hear it again. Apparently it is from a film called Amistad. Scenes from Titanic and Platoon were screened onto organ pipes during the relevant items and there was even popcorn!
As I said, a great idea for an evening and a lot of fun.
VJS
