Community Choir: The Musical

What a perfect and uplifting way to start my Brisbane Festival adventure this week. Community Choir: The Musical is a homegrown musical by Brisbane choir leader, Emma Dean, and her community singing group Cheep Trill. The performance started with a beautiful Acknowledgement of Country song by Michelle Roberts. Simply stunning – and setting the scene for the fun show with an important message to follow. That is, this choir comes together to banish society’s negativity (and Donald Trump!) and find a space where people can be themselves and find their community. The performance is more than just a bunch of songs: it is a musical based on a community choir, and there may be a fine line between the fictional on-stage choir and the real group. The musical has a cast of about 80 singers and a lead group to lovingly embody the quirky types of characters who commit to singing their blues away. A choir competition in Sydney for singing-circuit-renowned adjudicator, Bernard Dubois, provides the quest for this eager group of singers. Johnno (the charismatic John Catania) claims he can’t sing and only joined the choir to meet women, but he takes up the baton to find the perfect song to win the competition and all of a sudden finds himself quoting inspirational lines from the Emmy-Award-winning series Glee. He also unleashes the Spirit of the Song (the enigmatic Lucy Sweeney) and much fun and many laughs ensue, whipped along with some really toe-tapping and uplifting songs. Fortunately there was a chance to sing along at the end of the show!

There were two casts featuring Cheep Trills’ two community choirs – Northside Brisbane and Southside Brisbane. I saw the performance by Cheep Trill’s Northside cast (but some Southsiders formed a surprise part of the show too!) Most of the cast are non-professional community performers. And we were in safe hands with the core cast of characters, starting with Jaspa Woolford-Clark as Connie, the dedicated choir admin officer, who warmed up the audience with her own mini-standup routine, before introducing the band – Tony Dean (musical direction and drums), Richard Thayll (keyboard), and Tom Collins (bass). Emma Dean played herself, the energetic ‘choir nerd’ and conductor. Jen Codognotto played Judith – the stickler for rules who can’t help taking over, whose still waters may harbour a more deep-seated passion! James Casey was Pete – who had moving solo song about family loss. Laura Anderson’s Amala had a creative life inspired by the ballet. Helen Beauchamp was divorcee Harriet – her solo about living a full life and inspiring her kids was great. Comedy was provided by on-again-off-again couple, Tizzy (Freya Hillier) and Suze (Luana Peach) who had a longstanding bicker-fest about Tay-Tay Swift! Laura Purcell played the Fake Bernard in a razzamatazz number to set the scene for the Sydney Opera House, where Belinda Raisin as the VIP adjudicator, the real Bernard Dubois, was hilarious. Belinda also directed and choreographed the musical which was written, composed and arranged by Emma Dean. Funky costumes and sets were by the Cheep Trill volunteers and their glue guns, with all-important sound design and operation by Steve Thornely. For keeping more than 80 people on stage in an orderly fashion, credit must also go to Production Manager Cameron Goerg and Stage Manager Geoff Squires. This Community Choir was uplifting and inspiring and I’m sure their recruit numbers will soar after this Brisbane Festival appearance.

Beth Keehn

Find out more: www.brisbanefestival.com.au/events/community-choir-the-musical

Photographs by Barbara Lowing and Kate Davies