With a Song in my Heart

From the moment the singers took to the stage this it was evident that we were in for an excellent evening’s entertainment. Before I talk about the programme, which was delightful, I want to say how immaculately stylish the singers looked throughout to concert.  Just the right shade of red for the lady’s tops, not a variation of a theme that is sometimes the case and which can cause glaring clashes, and the men in pristine white shits, black trousers and the colourful ties. The splashes of colour by added different scarves for the lady’s and the addition of waistcoats and bow ties for the men kept the stylish accents running through the event. Even the waterproof poncho’s for ‘It’s raining Men’ were colour coordinated over the beautiful array of pastel coloured tops and white trousers for the women. It really was tastefully done and added even more polish to the extremely polished performance.

The lovely arrangement of ‘With a song in my Heart’ intermingled with ‘It’s a Grand Night for Singing’ as the opening number got everyone’s toes tapping and we were off. The ladies then sang ‘The Sound of Silence’ so beautifully that you could have heard a pin drop.

This was followed by Sue performing ‘I wish I’d looked after my Teeth’ and gosh, she sounded so like Pam Ayres, it was amazing and had the audience laughing out loud in appreciation.  Natalie then stepped onto the floor to sing ‘The Power of Love’ which is quite a power ballad and although had a nervous beginning came through at full throttle at the end.

I have to admit that when I saw on the programme that the men were then going to sing ‘On the Street Where You Live’ my heart sank a little as I have heard this sung many times with varying degrees of tunefulness (or not in many cases). So, I was absolutely delighted when the men gave a faultless harmonious and simply gorgeous performance and had me smiling like the proverbial Cheshire Cat.  Jacky sang ‘Lilac Wine’ with gusto and put a lot of emotion into it.

Yet another beautiful arrangement in four-part harmony of ‘I Write the Songs’, made famous by Barry Mannilow, and I can only describe it as ‘graceful’. From one extreme to the other, we then heard the singers give their interpretation of the Jungle Book’s I Wan’na be Like you and Bare Necessities which was great fun.

Mary and Richard then gave a brilliant rendition of ‘The Song that Goes like this’ from Spamalot and the audience whooped and cheered showing just how much they had enjoyed the intentional send-up by them both, it was hilarious.

The finale of the first half took us through some of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musicals and what a treat this was. Medley’s from Jesus Christ Super Star, Evita, Cats, Phantom of the Opera and finishing with Love changes everything from Aspects of Love, It was sublime.

The second half saw more wonderful performances including a nod to the late great Doris Day, but the opening selection from Blood Brothers was pure joy. Yes, there was the momentous ‘Tell me it’s Not True’ sung beautifully by Sandy, but it was nice to hear snippets from the less well known songs that aren’t usually concert favourites.

Di sang a completely unknown (to me) Doris Day number ‘My Ship’ and it suited her voice, she added lots of light and shade and it was lovely.  Rita followed this with ‘Sentimental Journey’ which was really good and gave Richard an opportunity to show his prowess on the keyboard.

The group came back together to sing ‘The Impossible Dream’ and ‘The Winner Takes it All’ again to arrangements that pushed the singers to excellent effect. And then for something completely different, Sandy and backing singers belted out with complete assuredness and confidence ‘Suddenly I see’ by K T Tunstall which was fabulous. It was then taken down a notch with the nicely paced and melodic ‘Sway’ sung by Owen, only to be taken back up to the heights with the Ladies and Andrew raising the roof with ‘It’s Raining Men’ much to the pleasure of the audience.

Mary invited the audience to join her in Que Sera, Sera and some did but Mary’s version was just so lovely, it was a shame to spoil it. Michelle and Andrew then performed the lovely duet ‘Rewrite the Stars’ and certainly did it justice, and as the penultimate song was just right.

The finale, ‘Best of the Beach Boys’ was a mix of the less well known and the really famous songs which ended the show on a high. The lighting came into it’s own and lit the stage and pastel shades beautifully giving a ‘glow like’ effect which was a suitable ending to a perfectly wonderful evening.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.