THE CHOIR OF MAN
Arts Theatre
until June 2024
“Olivier Award-nominated, worldwide smash and West End favourite The Choir of Man, is releasing a six track Christmas EP, Christmas with The Choir of Man on Friday 1 December.
The EP is a must have for fans of the show and fans of Christmas! With classic Christmas songs including This Christmas, Driving Home for Christmas and The Christmas Song all given the incredible The Choir of Man treatment, and introducing a brand-new original song Spend the Rest of Christmas, the EP is a joyous and uplifting celebration for the holiday season.
Not only is this EP a brand-new collectable for The Choir of Man and musical fans, but also features an all-star line-up of Choir of Man cast members who have been seen on stage across the world!
The EP will be available on CD from the home of The Choir of Man, the Arts Theatre in London’s West End and will also be available digitally from all the usual digital stores.
CD sales link here, https://presave.to/mWWMD033”
Review by Richard Lambert, 3 Stars
The stage is themed to be a British pub where everyone is welcome. Cast of 9 performers, all actor musicians, along with an additional band of 4 makes this a pretty large show for a venue the size of the Arts Theatre.
A working bar on the stage, in addition to the regular theatre bars, and drinks given out alongside packets of crisps, and we’re all in the pub together.
There are similarities here with SIX the musical – both shows started at Ed Fringe and have become commercially successful. SIX being all-women (not necessarily their gender self-identification, depending on the cast which regularly changes), The Choir of Man being all-men (I’m hoping not to offend by saying this – there is a clue in the title of the show). But then the differences start to drift – SIX has a back story for each performer and a through-story arc for the evening, The Choir of Man has no story but a biography spoken about each character. With a complete lack of story I found it hard to engage in the biographies of someone I didn’t know, hadn’t met before, and unlikely to meet again.
The overall production had a very conservative feel about it – a sort of “Magic Mike live” directed by Mary Whitehouse. It was quite a long 90 minutes stretching out the well-chosen songs into an evening’s show.
But the singing, musical arrangements and energy of the songs was brilliant. Foot tapping, foot stomping and “booyahs” aplenty. It lifted for the singing and finished with an amazing beer swilling, beer mug percussional piece of choreography. They saved the best til last!
The Christmas CD is just out and pure magic – their singing is what they do best and you can now enjoy this at home!
Welcome to THE JUNGLE, the best pub in the world!
Here, an (extra)ordinary cast of nine guys combine beautiful harmonies and foot-stomping singalongs with first-rate tap dance and poetic meditations on the power of community.
Now in its 2ND SINGSATIONAL YEAR in London’s West End, and brimming with hits from artists such as Queen, Luther Vandross, Sia, Paul Simon, Adele, Guns & Roses, Avicii and Katy Perry to name but a few, this is a pub like no other!
An uplifting celebration of community and friendship with something for everyone – including free beer! Enjoy 90 minutes of feel-good, foot-stomping entertainment unlike anything else in the West End
Jack Blume – Producer, Vocal Arrangements, Orchestration, Composition, Musical
Supervision, Programming, Engineering, Editing, Mixing, Cello, Piano, Additional Strings,
Additional Vocals
Marcus Collins – Lead Vocal – This Christmas
Keith Klein – Lead Vocal – The Christmas Song
James Hudson – Lead Vocal – Spend the Rest of Christmas
Matt Beveridge – Lead Vocal – Christmas Time, Choir Vocals
Tom Brandon – Lead Vocal – Driving Home for Christmas, Choir Vocals
Richard Lock – Lead Vocal – Driving Home for Christmas, Choir Vocals
Daniel Harnett – Choir Vocals
Connor Going – Choir Vocals
Mark Loveday – Choir Vocals
Ben Norris – Spoken Word writing and performance – This Christmas
Alex Reeves – Drums & Percussion, Engineering
Ehsaan Shivarani – Piano
Digby Lovatt – Bass Guitar
Jack Hartigan – Acoustic Guitar, Banjo
Darius Luke Thompson – Violin
Oliver Carey – Trumpet
Members of The Latymer School Junior Chamber Choir – Vocals – Christmas Time
Tim Debney – Mastering
Nic Doodson – Executive Producer
Louis Hartshorn – Executive Producer
Brian Hook – Executive Producer
Carl Bonwick – Associate Producer
Rebecca Woolcock – Associate Producer
Ruth Sherry – Assistant Producer
Perry-Greene Design – Artwork
For Westway Music
Neil O’Brien, Managing Director
Rhydian Roberts, A&R Director
Rachel Agnew, Label Manager
https://www.westwaymusic.com/
Website: choirofmanwestend.com
Facebook: @thechoirofman
Twitter & Instagram: @choirofman