A Seasonal Concert and the G&S Nativity

At the third of four venues to be held in the Worcester area, our G&S Society sprang into action to present a seasonal concert and a different twist to the Nativity, which created a special evening of entertainment with a difference.  The gents were suitably dressed in black with smart red waistcoats and ties while the ladies were also smart in black with red accessories. Credit goes to Director Berny Murray with David Arthur as Musical Director and accompanist. The evening was introduced by Master of Ceremonies  Colin Wilks who did an excellent job, with no apology for some Christmas cracker jokes – What do you call an old snowman? – Water, set the standard!

The first number ‘In Dulci Jubilo’, a traditional carol in German and Latin dating from the middle ages  with instrumentalists Berny, Charlotte Pingriff and Catherine Watton, got proceedings off to a good start with the full backing of all the singers including a trio of Christine Davies, Paul Ellis and Rachael Hall. There was some great harmony in several numbers not least in ‘Myn Lyking’. ‘Jesus Christ the Apple Tree’ from the 18th century was led by a strong Samuel Taunton and supported by the quartet of Tim Goodall, Fi Pugh, Zero Butler and Mark Tooby.

The packed audience then had the opportunity for some Christmas carolling with three standards and these were followed by a very nice ‘Mistletoe and Wine’ with soloists Paull Allsop and Lisa Adams. Samuel Taunton then led ‘Mary’s Boy Child’ backed by some lovely harmony. We then had an amusing sketch depicting a potentially typical ‘planning meeting’ for a festive entertainment,  when the normal differences of opinion were expressed – I’m sure we’ve all been to one!

We then all enjoyed three more opportunities to sing carols together, to be followed by the final number of the first half ‘O Holy Night’ (originally based on a French language poem, surprisingly as far back as 1846) sung by six cantors; Zero Butler, Lisa Adams, Christine Davies, Samuel Taunton, George Squires and Mike Pugh with the entire ensemble joining in with a resounding conclusion to the half. We were all then served with seasonal refreshments and punch, which was very welcome on a cold night.

The second half of the evening consisted of ‘The Nativity’ – The Christmas story cleverly told by singing lightly adapted songs from the works of Gilbert and Sullivan, with words by Alan Soper. This commenced with the rich and articulated tones of Paul Ellis as Narrator. Some well known favourites had been amusingly re-written, not least ‘A Chippy’s lot can be a happy one’ sung by carpenter Megan Russell. Mark Tooby as Herod in uniform proved he was ‘such a disagreeable man’ which was very good , equalled by ‘Tarantarbaarr’ sung by head sheep Paul Allsop and his followers, all suitably dressed in woollen coats. We met ‘three wise men from the east’ (Zero Butler, Mark Tooby and  Catherine Watton) and Tim Goodall’s Jesus, singing ‘I am the Monarch of all I see’ was equally impressive.

This was a great entertaining evening and I look forward to a New Year and ‘Patience’ to be staged in May at the Norbury Theatre.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.