29-07-2010
It's been a while since the last blog, (I can't think why!!) so I'm going to fill you in on my perspective of the recording of the OMA television series for S4C. (It's Andy by the way.) With over 30 pieces to learn, Tim wisely decided that 6 hours a week were not enough rehearsal time for the two weeks before the shows. Rehearsing 10 till 5 (10 till 9 on a couple of occasions) was (on the whole) great fun, if a little exhausting at times. There were the usual moments of hilarity, our first full run of 'Step in Time' since our performance at Drury Lane stopped approximately 30 seconds in when it became clear that no one could remember it! (Copacabana was slightly worse if anything, several unnamed choristers were caught out, thrusting hips / arms / legs / other body parts in the air at completely the wrong time!!) Luckily we had video evidence of both numbers from Christmas, and our choreographer Debbie Chapman, so we were soon back on track. A good thing really as Tim decided to put 'Step in Time' into our Llangollen International Eisteddfod concert a week later! From the audience's reaction I think it's safe to say we managed to relearn it! There were some new pieces to be learnt musically and choreographed also. Ken Caswell and Debbie tried out a few new things, including a football match, traditional male voice choir rehearsal and a pub crawl ending with us all passing out! Unfortunately we were too busy to fully research the first and last of these subjects. The three days we spent in the Wales Millennium Centre were a bit of a blur, if you asked me which piece we recorded on which day I probably couldn't tell you, although I do remember them all! We had many old friends on the show, the wonderful Shan Cothi in Hello Dolly, who was joined by Leah Marian Jones, Rebecca Evans and Margaret John as guest Dollies. Caryl Parry Jones and Katy Treharne, (who stepped in to Connie Fisher's shoes at the BBC's Songs from the Show's concert which we performed at in February 2009.) Bonnie Tyler, Catrin Finch and Kerry Ellis. (I got to play guitar on this collaboration, which was tremendous fun, I wouldn't like to step into Brian May's shoes every day, but certainly won't forget backing Kerry in a hurry!) There were also some artists whom we have long admired but never performed with before; the lovely Elin Fflur, Julian Lloyd Webber, Max Boyce and The Three Welsh Tenors to name some. The girls from Serendipity also made an appearance, it was wonderful to resurrect our mixed choir. Another fantastic choral experience was Only Boys Aloud's debut performance. We were a bit worried about keeping over 100 boys concealed behind a gauze (especially after hearing their excited chatter in the rehearsal!) But in the concert they were superb. I can't wait for their Eisteddfod performance now. Rhydian and John Owen Jones both had to pull out due to illness, which was a real blow to us, as we have worked with both closely over the last couple of years. Peter, Aled, Wyn and Tom bravely stepped into the breach, learning 'Anthem' from 'Chess', which we had been scheduled to perform with John. They did a superb job of it too! The Monday after was a bit of a write-off. I slept in till midday, (after getting to bed at 4, so not really a lie in.) and spent the rest of the day perfecting my zombie impression. By Tuesday I was back to normal, a good job really as we were back into rehearsals!!