Music of the Night

This was an exceedingly well planned and rehearsed concert.  The content was varied and to those of us who are immersed in musical theatre many of the items were well known.  There were quite a few surprises that we had not heard before and these were greatly enjoyed but the average theatergoer tends to prefer to be entertained by old favourites, they are not too keen to hear something they do not know.  Bearing that in mind it might have been an idea for the proportion of well known to have been somewhat higher. 

To seat the audience at tables is a popular idea for a concert, it makes for a relaxed and very sociable evening.  This arrangement also makes it possible to move one's chair to a spot with a better view.  It was good to see that the Pavilion was pretty full, a reflection no doubt of the reputation EMCo has for quality productions. 

Some super choreography had been set with interesting positioning of singers.  With a concert, it is good for there to be "pictures".  There is usually not too much action and little or no dialogue so to have interesting shapes formed by the singers adds greatly to the entertainment.  It was good to see that the singers conveyed the meaning of the songs, they were more than just beautifully sung.  The costumes were attractive and colourful helping to keep the audience attention firmly with the singers. The lighting was varied and at times exciting and the star cloth added to the glamour.

Although it is usually preferable to have a band accompany the voices, using recorded music worked well and seemed to cause no real problems but it might perhaps have been responsible for the slight delay between numbers.  The standard of singing in both solo and chorus numbers was very high.  The result, no doubt, of many hours of hard work.  The sound balance was good and coupled with clarity and excellent diction meant that the audience was able to fully enjoy the various numbers.

About thirty members of the Society took part in the concert and of those, about three quarters either sang a solo or were featured in the programme. This surely demonstrates the size of the available pool of talent within this group. 

I understand "Music of the Night" was not the original choice for this evening and the change of direction had needed to be made part way through the rehearsal period.  This makes this highly polished result even more impressive

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