Showtime at The Redgrave!
Though we are all involved in Bristol Show Choir for our love of musicals and singing in our groups just for the pure joy it brings, we also love any opportunity to perform in front of a crowd! A couple of weeks ago, we were lucky enough to stage our Summer concert at Clifton’s Redgrave Theatre.
Originally built in 1966 as Clifton College Theatre, the Redgrave’s design was based on The Mermaid Theatre in London and was the first purpose-built school theatre in the country. It was renamed the Redgrave in honour of the actor Sir Michael Redgrave, an ex student of the college after his death. The Theatre initially was used exclusively for college events, but in the seventies the decision was made to hire out the space to local am dram groups in the holidays.
Some of these groups are still hosted by the Redgrave today, along with hosting a variety of professional touring theatre companies, comedians, concerts, dance pieces and film societies, to name a few! We at Bristol Show Choir were and are incredibly proud and happy to be a part of its continuing history supporting local talent, and the Redgrave is a lovely intimate space to sing in.
One of things we love most about concert day is seeing both our casts come together – we rehearse separately and of course sound brilliant, but the sound we get together is so much more rich and powerful! Friendships also cross over between casts, so it’s lovely seeing people spend time together who don’t necessarily see each other very often. The energy and feel good factor is immense and gives our soundcheck an extra special something! And luckily this atmosphere radiates right through to showtime…
As always, this term was jam packed for us – with new songs and choreography to learn; our summer set included numbers from Book of Mormon, Spring Awakening, Company and La La Land, and as ever the audience was incredibly warm, generous and enthusiastic! We are always so grateful that our growing audiences get as much joy from our craft as we do, and it gives us such a confidence boost! We were also joined by the wonderful Posset Singers, as our support act who even joined us for a rendition of a Les Misérables classic.
Speaking of growing, we’re so proud of our choir and amazed by what we’ve achieved in the 18 months since we first opened our doors. We continue to grow in confidence each time we perform and our consistently bowled over by our member’s professionalism, work ethic and passion – it felt across the board to be our best gig yet and it set the excitement for our future and what could be in store to another level… the perfect way to end a term!
For some photos of the event, head over to our gallery page and videos will soon follow!