Well, if Friday’s concert by Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus (BGMC) at St George’s is anything to go by, this year’s Brighton Fringe will be a winner. Adventurous, experimental and in full, rich voice (lack of tenors was a disappointment occasionally), the Chorus treated us to songs old and new as well as encouraging members to take on the nerve-racking responsibility of solos.
The subject was Divas! and I was expecting all songs would have been originally by women (currently a trend in cabaret) but the Chorus chose to add some males. While you could argue that more women could be represented (Adele, Streisand, Garland, Simone…), the (slightly confusing) highlight was the Elton John and Freddie Mercury section with clever use of song titles.
Pace and vocal energy are so important in comedy sketches and the Chorus must be congratulated on trying new approaches. It was a full show so I can only mention my personal highlights.
Firstly – Andrew Farr as Piaf, which was a masterclass in detail and emotional stillness, followed closely by Jon Taylor with It’s So Quiet. Jon showed, as always, great comedy skills and dynamics. I also, particularly, liked Jolene (Keiran Moore) and You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me (Charlie Bedson).
Tim Nail’s arrangements are legendary – too many to pick out and it was great to have piano only rather than mixing with track. Lighting was more subtle than usual and complimentary (apart from the occasional splash of green on faces!). Sound was excellent – just one little hiccup with Sadao Ueda’s mic in Love in the First Degree, which had excellent choreography performed by Declan McChrystal, James McGoldrick and Sadao. Vogue, on the other hand, was a little ambitious and reminded me of the mantra ‘less is more’.
Musical Director Joe Paxton led modestly with precision and verve and the costumes for Act 2 were fantastic – a rainbow of Divas from Ed Sheeran to the Greatest Showman on Earth!
A warm and concise appeal by Laura of Allsorts Youth Project (the chosen charity) completed a professional and entertaining evening… We are so lucky to have all this talent in Brighton!
Words by Carole Todd. Picture credit: Ameet Vaghela
The Morning After
But, after the extensive re-build in the smaller “studio” theatre, we now have the choice of two first class spaces both with tiered seating and full lighting rig. The plan for the smaller theatre is that all LGBTQ+ messages will have a space and voice to communicate with all whilst the slightly larger space can continue to offer up historical commentary, modern LGBTQ+ musicals, important current issues and now, fun, farce orientated entertaining comedy plays.
The Morning After is a happy, gay play set in modern times but but evoking a sense of a 70’s sitcom. In fact, I felt at times , I was in the audience of a TV studio. The first 15 minutes was completely a “one shot with no editing” and certainly drew us into the scenario due to the immaculate , comedy direction of Andrew Beckett drawing the most out of the two young actors waking up in bed, the morning after.
Supporting well, especially in the enhanced farce elements of Act 2, we have Colleen Daley playing the sex- obsessed Mum Barbara and Matthew Lloyd Davies as the totally bonkers Uncle Martin both helping bring the madness of Act 2 to a fulfilling end. Interestingly, this play started life as a gay play but was changed into a straight play where it became highly successful all over Europe. This is it’s premier in the UK and, also, in English. Long may the rainbow flag wave.
Singer/songwriter 
Ms Brackenbury is well capable of taking on more whether accompanying herself on guitar or keyboard. Nearly half of the songs are her own compositions in the style of her hero, Victoria Wood, with all material delivered with respect, love and truthfulness. Victoria’s voice is much lighter than Hannah’s and does not have Hannah’s bigger range.
A good thing as this stops Hannah being simply a tribute act in any way . Quite the opposite. The original VW songs and Hannah’s own compositions are carefully set in “random” order and interspersed with a little biographical info about both Victoria and Hannah- sometimes as dialogue and sometimes as poetry. I’m sure Ms Brackenbury has a lot more equally excellent ideas to be developed into a longer show and this would be a pleasure to see from such a talented performer.
Gscene had another pair of eyes & ears at the Actually Gay Men’s Chorus concert and here the alluring Carole Todd gives us her considered option of what the evening held.
This Actually’s concert was supporting The Sussex Beacon, you could feel the emotion in the air and the delivery, especially the last soloist in Circle of Life and, my favourite, Benedictus was breathtaking. Another special moment was Panis Angelicus sung by musical director Sam Cousins. This was conducted by the father of the late Mark Slater-Hyndman to whom tribute was paid alongside Roy Perkins, Richard Tredgett and James Ledward, all lost within the last difficult year.
Tonight’s sold out
Using the pulpit for the speeches was fine although the sound monitors attached to the column in front of it obstructing some sight lines however, we heard everything beautifully. For the first time ever in 10 years, I found the Track intrusive now the harmonies and tonal qualities are so high so consider working with keys or live band only!
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