FACADE: ACTUALLY GAY MEN’S CHORUS
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Brighton and Hove’s LGBTQ+ choral community is quite extraordinary and the “Actuallys” are no exception from concert to concert and year to year their ambition seems to know no bounds and the driving force of their music team of Samuel Jame-Cousins and Simon Gray push them ever forward with excellent choices of material and stunning arrangements. This season’s programmes is linked by the idea of the faces that we present and those that we hide and it works well, new material throughout but a few that they have presented before, and why not when they fit s o well into the whole.
And what better way to open than with a duet from Jack Lynn and Alan Kite, the stirring Façade from Bricusse and Wildhorn’s Jekyll & Hyde, what a way to open for both featured voices and the full strength of the chorus.
And this was to be an evening of great solo and small group performances, too many to name all but each delivering the theme of the evening with conviction and with force.
More force from that show next as Patrick Bullock brings queer joy to Bring On The Men, a big voice and a huge performance that got plenty of laughs as he took to the aisle of St Mary’s and flirted with the audience.
Nick Johnson and Ian Hollands followed with Into The Fire from The Scarlet Pimpernel, no musical is left unturned with these boys, and that is by no means a bad thing.
I have a real aversion to the next song being delivered by female artists, it was so specifically writnity,ten to be sung by a man that anything else is simply a travesty. The Actually’s get I Am What I Am so very right, power, humour, defiance and joy al wrapped up in song.
Sondheim next with Agony from Into The Woods but there is nothing painful about hearing Nick Paget and Andrew Whitlaw deliver tis piece of comic genius about unrequited love, first class stuff!
Once again the chorus have included guest soprano Karen Orchin and her first number is Kern and Hammerstein’s Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man Of Mine. It’s a soaringly powerful performance underpinned with quality harmonies from the choir. At this point I will say that there is something so good about this choirs approach to solos and that each is always delivered with the inclusion of the full chorus. In my view it lifts things just that bit higher many steps above karaoke for sure.
Nessum Dorma next, not sure why, what’s not to love about a bit of Puccini but why always this. I guess it must be fun to sing, but without a rousing solo voice it never seems quite enough to me. That said it was delivered well.
Hellfire next from The Hunchback of Notre Dame sung by Gareth Berry, another big show tune and despite me saying that I would not, I seem to be naming all the solo performers so far, and why not, we are treated to some very good voices. So hats off next to Stephen Horland who bangs out a favourite of mine from A Chorus Line, What I Did For Love which is a show all about putting on a facade.
Zach Ebling and Thomas Price show just how well two voices can sit side by side in Who Wants To Live Forever as the penultimate piece in part one befor Orchin returns with the full chorus for that stonking great anthem of unity, The World In Union, although I do personally prefer I Vow To Thee My Country which set the hairs on my neck bristling every time I hear it sung.
You need a big number to open the second half and Sean Headley nails it with Sondheim’s Being Alive hitting it firmly on the head with power, pitch and phrasing and we get more of the same when regular soloist Andrew Whitlaw hits us with Sunset Boulevard from what I think is Lloyd Webber’s best work. Wow this man can sing!
Patrick Bullock returns next to deliver a bit of Bizet, an ambitious choice which he, and the chorus give their all. If you are sensing my reservation it is not to do with the performance but with the clumsy phrasing of the lousy translation from French to English. That said, singing anything in French is a nasal challenge for any performer and can induce severe adenoidal agonies.
I felt much the same about Titanium and it seemed to sit somewhat uncomfortably in the programme but the mood was regained by Chris Tippet’s Rise Like a Phoenix followed by Karen Orchin’s What Only Love Can See and Nick Paget’s One Night Only.
The Light We See is a busy medley that sees solos and break out groups throughout with some truly great moments but in my view a few awkward transitions.
I’ve never warmed to Skyfall as a song but Karen Orchin delivers a version that sees her vocal range and colour at its best.
Thene we’re back to that rascal Dr Jekyll again with confrontation from Gareth Berry, a thunder of a number that has the entire chorus at full throttle, loud for sure but erring on the right side of shouty.
A charming new song from the new Paddington music saw the choir in a more delicate mode and one that shows the breadth of their abilities. It’s a nice enough tune too, but not one I left whistling.
What a treat to get a bit of Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent’s Colour My World and that one I may well have left whistling had they not finished with a slab of Les Mis, and why not send us out into the warm summer night with something so good and so much better than what was being delivered at major volume down on the beach!
A great evening from one of the city’s most charming ensembles, a few minor caveats for me this time around but that’s nit-picking that as I type makes me shiver with guilt.
A final word of five star praise to finish for Ian Holland’s breathtakingly beautifully drawn and executed backdrop, what talent, I hope they find an appropriate home for it.
Andrew Kay
18 July
St Mary’s Kemp Town
Rating:
