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THE CHOIR OF MAN ★★★★
Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent, Festival Village, South Bank, until September 26
The stage inside the Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent is set up as a pub interior complete with a functioning bar, and audience members don’t have to be asked twice to come up and get a free schooner before the show starts.
This is ‘The Jungle’, the Platonic ideal of an old-school boozer, and the setting of exhilarating jukebox musical The Choir of Man. Created by Andrew Kay and Nic Doodson, the show started life at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2017, spent five years in London’s West End, and has since travelled the world spreading the love of the amber fluid and a good sing-along with its cast of nine likeable British blokes.
A show about drunk guys singing may not be everyone’s idea of a fine time, but of course they’re not really drunk, they have fantastic voices, and the songs have been choreographed down to the last stumble.
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“The wallpaper might be ancient, but the politics aren’t,” we’re told, and it’s true: there’s nothing toxic about the masculinity being celebrated here, unless you count a cheeky version of the Chili Peppers’ Under the Bridge sung at a urinal.
One or two song choices are predictable, but by the time Farnsy’s You’re the Voice gets a run, the show has earned the indulgence.
Refreshingly, highlights are anthems by female artists reinterpreted: a soaring a cappella rendition of Sia’s Chandelier, or a Katy Perry track flipped on its head.
In one striking sequence, Tristan Whincup, as the lovelorn ‘Romantic’, sings an Adele torch number where the backing singers mime watching a sports screen, oblivious to their friend’s pain.
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There are golden oldies in the setlist too, although the ones they’ve chosen hit the nostalgia button while dodging cliche.
Instead of a storyline the narrator (Alex Mallalieu on the night we went) introduces us to his drinking buddies and speaks in praise of pubs as important places of human connection. Given that Brisbane missed out on this show in 2020 because of COVID, the message hits home.
Mallalieu reminds us that the more we imbibe, the better everyone will sound, but you don’t need a stiff drink to appreciate the talent on show here. These boys are all rock stars, and more: one minute George Knapper’s ‘Handyman’ raises the roof with his tap routine, and the next he’s playing a trumpet solo.
Brisbane audiences are well aware of the psychological benefits of group singing – this is the city that invented Pub Choir, after all. The audience is encouraged to sing along throughout, and the unwitting (or uninhibited) may find themselves on stage drinking a pina colada and being serenaded.
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The only disappointment is that while guitars and keyboards are played live by the cast, bass and drums are clearly pre-recorded. But given the size of the touring cast you can understand the need to save some dosh.
Festivals always thrive on shows that get the party started, and The Choir of Man has had to add extra performances to meet demand. An idealised view of alcohol and the men who drink it? Absolutely – but male bonding needs all the positive role models it can find right now.
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Nick Dent is a Culture Reporter at Brisbane Times, covering arts, entertainment and things to do in the city.Connect via email.AdvertisementAdvertisement