Autumn Songs...

Rehearsals continue apace for us here at Bristol Show Choir as we continue to finesse the first two new numbers of our repertoire for the term: ‘The Deadwood Stage’ and ‘Six’. 

Now we’ve worked through all of the notes and lyrics for “The Deadwood Stage”, our focus has been working on the personality of  the number and keeping control of our diction as there’s a temptation to speed up in places and at times the clarity of lyrics can potentially get lost. The more we’ve sung it (and will continue to) through, the more our confidence as a choir will grow. Next on the agenda here? Working on our American accents to give the song the appropriate colour and dynamic it needs, one of our favourite challenges as a choir to take on!

‘Six’ is shaping up nicely as well. There’s such a palpable energy and joy in the room when we sing this – lots of our cast members are fans of the show and are thrilled we carried it over from our Summer Choir Workshop. Thus far, we’ve learned most of the choruses and verses, so in coming rehearsals: the intro and key change beckons, as well as further locking down our lyrics and timings – different parts of the choir lead at different times throughout the song – tenors get to be Anne Boleyn & K Howard, the altos “Get Down” as Anna of Cleves and say “No Way” as Catherine of Aragon, for example. It’s hugely important that we really hone our listening skills and understanding of how each part of the choir reacts to and fits in with another for this song: it can be tricky, but it’s good fun.

We’ve also began learning another new (ish) song: “It’s A Privilege to Pee” from the 2001 musical Urinetown, by Mark Hollman & Greg Kotis. We began learning this one in lockdown rehearsals over Zoom, and it was quite a challenge given the tempo and changes, so it’s been massively reassuring to start learning this one in person and totally afresh.

Part political satire on everything from the legal system to corporate mismanagement and a parody of different musicals like Les Mis and The Threepenny Opera as well as the form of the Broadway musical itself, Urinetown opens with the news that a twenty year drought has caused a catastrophic water shortage, and all activities done in public toilets are controlled by the megacorporation “UrineGoodCompany”, and people have to pay to use the amenities. Hence where our number comes in: Show Choir play Penelope Pennywise, who dismisses the plea of another character to let him go for free, “just this once”. But as we quickly find out – “once they’ve onced they’ll want to once more” and it’s a Privilege to Pee. 

Not being aware of this bleak context before the choir started learning the number, I was expecting something rather more… lighthearted and comedic in the obvious sense, not the clever satire done here so it caught a little off guard, but it’s a fun one to sing! We the Sopranos in the choir into Upper and Lower (cue many a stifled giggle trying to avoid the usual numbers given the subject matter!) and have been starting the song looking at the choruses, breaks and dynamics. As always, timing is key – having an awareness of where your part is compared to everyone else, especially as it throws you some curveballs musically and doesn’t go where you expect it to! We’re excited to continue working through this one in coming weeks, watch this space…