Where in Brighton could you hear a song in Swahili, a Carole King classic, an ABBA medley and body percussion in one two-hour show?
Well, the answer is this musical lucky dip came from the Rainbow Chorus’ winter show Snowing Me, Snowing You, and what a triumph! This is a choir that really knows how to enjoy itself and entertain us too.
It was an evening tinged with sadness as the Chorus said goodbye to their musical accompanist of 11 years Mojca Monte Amali – better known as Monti – and she was rightly given a loud and long ovation.
But what about that highly mixed programme? They kicked off with May It Be from Lord Of The Rings, a wistful song of self-belief, and followed up with a rousing Gloria by Vivaldi, showing their high-quality balanced and rich harmonies – soaring and uplifting.
Eric Whitacre’s heartachingly beautiful Seal Lullaby followed and another Vivaldi offering – Domine. File Unigenite – had glorious overlapping parts, which were perfectly balanced. A Holly Jolly Christmas had zing and fun, with some marvellous kazoo playing, and The World For Christmas was achingly beautiful seeing the festive day from the eyes of a newly born baby.
Carol Of The Bells, always tricky, was totally mastered, and Deborah Harding-Newton gave us a soaring crystal clear solo in Mozart’s Laudate Dominum. And the first half closer of the rather out-of-place Rhythm of Life is one of their favourites and they tore though it at pace and with enthusiasm.
Part Two was equally top quality with the haunting Swahili Baba Yetu presenting a new challenge , especially for BSL interpreter Marco. Chosen Family is clearly a song with queer resonances, and their rendition had great gusto and empathy. The audience had a chance to sing with two items and then Rainbow’s smaller groups took to the stage with White Winter Hymnal, gripping with its persistent rhythms and body percussion. Another small group gave us the joyous bouncy We Need A Little Christmas – jolly, harmonious and camp.
Then for ABBA fans there was pure heaven with 15 minutes of their hits, entered into with a quirky spirit and with crazy costumes to match. The finale Time To Say Goodbye – was all for Monti. She will be hard to replace.
The Oxford word of the year is Rizz – short for charisma. Musical director Aneesa Chaudhry has it by the bucketful and she drives this choir to greater heights at each outing.
Rainbow Chorus were at St George’s, Kemptown.
