Christmas with the Phoenix Theatre Singers

After a good opening number ‘Santa Claus Coming to Town’ with the full chorus, M.C. Michelle Cooper provided a bright and warm welcome to an evening made possible in the first instance by M.D. and conductor Mary Brigg and M.D. and accompanist Richard Watson.

With 24 items in total it is difficult to mention them all, but this was followed by a gentle and melodic ‘Christmas Lullaby’ by John Rutter, and then the well-timed dry humour of Sue Nicholson with ‘The Broken Woman’ in the style of Pam Ayres. Later ‘One Starry Night was performed, written by Phoenix member Jayne Lunt and ‘White Christmas’ sung by the chorus had some nice harmonies.

The gentlemen sang a very funny alternative to the Twelve Days of Christmas, or rather …after Christmas and ‘Grandma got Run Over by a Reindeer’ sung by Suzanne Hill, Lyn Smith, Jenny Spencer and Sue Nicholson was very funny.

We also had some laughs, or should I say groans at some corny seasonal jokes from Emma Lewis and also Michelle. But hey what the heck, it’s that time of year so must be excused! Part 1 concluded with a couple more chorus numbers and feeling nicely relaxed, we were invited to take mince-pies for a worthy donation to Ross Lions, raising funds to provide Christmas dinner to those who would otherwise be on their own.

Part 2 opened with ‘Santa Claus Boogie’ with some excellent accompaniment from Richard and this was followed by ‘A Rhapsody of Christmas’ with harmony, light and shade. Mary sang ‘Santa Baby’ , full of personality and Suzanne gave us a very amusing ‘Nursery School Nativity’, Joyce Grenfell style, including 4 wise men because they didn’t want to waste a crown!

‘The Good Shepherd’ (Peter Cook and Dudley Moore was cleverly presented by John Spencer and Richard Watson, John acting as Matthew a journalist from The Bethlehem Star, whilst Richard was Arthur a Shepherd. The Ladies sang a very nice rendition of ‘Christmas Lullaby’, this one by Jason R Brown, followed by Boublil and Schonberg’s ‘Bethlehem’, Jacky Bedford with a good version of ‘Chocolate Christmas’ and to conclude the concert the audience were invited to join in with ‘Merry Christmas Everybody’.

The sound and lighting were well prepared by Alan Smith and Maurice Thompson, whilst Natalie Smith, Rita Bingham, Roy Cooke, Maurice, Peter Gratton, Steve Bedford, and Derek Lunt provided musical support throughout, in providing another wide choice of numbers to put us all in the right mood in the lead up to the big day not too far away.

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