Choral Cheer

It’s weeks since I sat in front of my laptop, defiling the chaste white document in front of me with offbeat flights of fancy and whimsical folly.

Voluntary collections for the Royal British Legion and two weeks working as an exam invigilator claiming time I ordinarily put aside for waxing lyrical. The alma mater where I practised the aforementioned invigilating an inner-city Leeds college.

Anecdotes relating to the exam invigilator role, for obvious reasons of compliance and confidentiality, cannot be discussed in these narratives. However, I can reveal the experience introduced me to the famous academia adage “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it sit a mock English GCSE.”

Yesterday I ventured to the west of Leeds, witnessing a concert performance by the Leeds Daytime Choir. A tuneful ensemble who treated their discerning audience to choral interpretations of contemporary, festive, and musical theatre tunes.

Formerly a member of a choir, I’m a big fan of music performed by these collective musical groups. Subsequently, when a friend (and member of this singing synergy) advertised the upcoming performance, I felt the very least I could do was to support this clambake.

My buddy, who for the purposes of her anonymity I’ll call Eileen Totheright, a keen singer who delivers her lines with panache, emotion, and joie de vivre. Her performance so overwhelming, at the concert’s denouement, I made a beeline to the merchandise stand to purchase an Eileen Totheright pen, tea towel and fridge magnet.

Among the anthems delivered by the Leeds Daytime Choir was ‘Evergreen’. A Barbara Streisand classic which is a favourite refrain of yours truly. A tune, which when it commenced, I felt tempted to singalong with… Well, until realised I didn’t know the words… Apparently, the lyrics “Memories; Light the corners of my mind; Misty watercolour memories; Of the way we were…” come from a different Streisand musical lament. Something I learned to my cost yesterday.

Among other songs delivered in five-part harmony during the first act were Adele’s emotive ‘When We Were Young’, Coldplay’s reflective ‘Fix You’, and The Foundation’s upbeat ‘Build Me Up Buttercup’. Offerings performed in a manner belying the choir had only been a thing since April this year.

In the second act, the choral collaborators performed the iconic and fondly held Les Miserables song ‘I Dreamed a Dream’. The aria, delivered solo by Fantine in the musical, proving just as moving when delivered by a troop. A deeply melancholy song which moved me to tears… Although, the water works maybe consequential of my decision to peel my dinnertime onions mid-refrain.

It’s got to be said, though, tens of choir singers dressed in bright Christmas attire singing of their squalor during the French Revolution painted a weird juxtaposition. Schonberg/Boublil’s song, which launched Susan Boyle to fame, portraying a time when France’s social zeitgeist was the antithesis of contemporary yuletide joy.

A splendid show concluded with the Bing Crosby festive standard ‘White Christmas’. A song in which Mr C tells of how, during slumber, he yearns for nothing more than a snowy yuletide… Do me a favour, I bet Bing really dreamt of ‘White Christmas’ co-star Rosemary Clooney’s busters while he slept… The randy old fox!!

Following the show, I congratulated Eileen Totheright for her and fellow choir members accomplished/entertaining performance. Whether they were sung in duet, quartet, or by the whole bally bunch it was an enjoyable hour and a half in west Leeds.

After I’d delivered these accolades, in her soft Scottish tones, she thanked me for my kind plaudits and support… That being said, she refused sign my autograph book… The tight get!!