Review: The Musicality Singers wow in sell-out show at The Crossing

The programme for “The Musicality Singers” concert for Christmas said they were ‘like a proper choir but more fun’ - and last Wednesday they proved it was true. The concert, at The Crossing in Worksop, was a sell out. Over 250 people went along to hear the choir perform a mix of songs from their main repertoire and some traditional (and not so traditional) Christmas songs. The performance went down a storm.

Possibly the loudest applause of the evening was for Mr Blue Sky, Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah and a new arrangement of Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth, a song that many will remember was a big Christmas hit for David Bowie and Bing Crosby some years ago. One of the stand out moments was hearing While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks to the tune of Ilkley Moor. The usual version will always seem a bit of a letdown now.

Earlier in the day, there was drama as a member of a quartet from within the choir was taken ill and could not take part. It says something of the quality of the choir that another choir member, Joan Broughton, bravely stepped up to the mark at short notice to put in a good performance of one of the planned numbers with the rest of the quartet.

Oblivious to any changes, the audience simply enjoyed the whole concert, being entertained both by the choir and by its musical director, Greg Watson. In his role as master of ceremonies for the evening, he took audience participation to new heights as he shamelessly worked the audience hard during the final number – The Twelve Days of Christmas. It was a really great evening’s entertainment, with the audience going away with smiles on their faces and only good things to say about the performance.

Although they are relatively new on the scene, this is definitely a choir to look out for. The only planned concerts, so far, are in the summer (the first one, at The Crossing on 4th July) in collaboration with a Sutton-in-Ashfield choir. And, according to the concert programme, there are even plans for them to guest on a rock album!