Familiar sounds but different
The thing about big glamorous shows is that although the lights glitter and the music soars, there’s almost always something missing. It’s either that touch of graceful confidence, or the flash of faith in the performers’ eyes. But tonight, there is a chance for perfection.
Toccata Musical Productions is probably the biggest group of touring artistes to ever visit Sri Lanka. Seventy performers doing 14 shows in five nights, as they just did in India, is no small feat, and founders Sunil Paulraj and Judith Sheridan have had their work cut out for them.
“When you’re doing a show like this, everything has to be perfect,” Paulraj explains, “there is so much work involved.” The nine soloists apart, there’s the 30-plus strong choir, 11-piece band, 10-plus dance chorus, tech experts and administrative staff who have been preparing for this for over a year, with most of the younger performers working extra hours and saving up to be able to afford the trip.
Multi talented: Toccata founders Sunil Paulraj (standing 3rd from left) and Judith Sheridan (5th from left) and other performers. Pic by Indika Handuwala
All of the numbers on the programme are familiar pieces which most of the performers have already sung/danced to/played in one context or another, but the arrangements are unique.
“You’ll never hear them how you hear them with us,” Sheridan smiles. “It is Broadway but not necessarily Broadway as you’ve heard it before.”
For the performers, this means there is much unlearning and relearning to do. Take, for instance, hearing a baritone singing Dorothy’s “Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz, or “Miracles” from Prince of Egypt being sung not by two sopranos (Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston at that!) but by a mezzo and a bass?
“Yes, there are some surprises!” Sheridan laughs mischievously, “but I believe that if something is well written and performed with conviction, the audience will always relate to it.”
Mary Loughran is a soprano trained at the Royal Academy of Music in London. On tour with Toccata for the first time, her best memory of India is the children.
“After so many shows and you are so tired, when the children come onstage, you suddenly realize they are benefitting from what you are doing,” she says, eyes burning. “It really helps.”
In India last week, Toccata was able to raise nearly 100,000 pounds for charity. In Colombo on Wednesday, August 12, they donated medical equipment worth over 300,000 pounds sterling to the Jaffna Cancer Hospital. Nearly 70 million rupees to help save lives. Something worth believing in.
Alison Arnopp has extensive experience on stage, around the globe. She has not only been part of major professional productions of popular musicals, but also won over the toughest audiences in London and New York as a soloist and around the United States as part of the famed Celtic Woman ensemble. But she is ecstatic at Toccata’s reception in India.
“There were people dancing in the aisles through nearly half the show!” she laughs. “And they would cheer and clap even during the songs!”
On Friday and Saturday night, Wizard Entertainment presented Toccata Musical Productions in Colombo, at the BMICH, performing everybody’s favourite numbers from famed musicals at the show titled “Musical Express: The Best of West End and Broadway”. The evening’s programme included titles from Grease, The Sound of Music, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Lion King, West Side Story, Cats, and Les Miserables.
The star list of performers included McHardy, Arnopp, Loughran, Paulraj and Sheridan as well as Fiona Keegan, Charlie Vose, David Booth and Gareth McGreevy. Put together, these nine soloists represent the cream of West End, London productions. Backing them was a live band including such seasoned musicians as Adolfredo Pulido (Bass), Andy Robinson (Guitar), Derrick Coonghe (Flute, Clarinet, Saxophone), Alex Postlethwaite (Violin), Stephanie Cole (Violin) and Richard Knights (Trumpet). Between the 11 musicians that make up the whole band, they nail the gamut of all conceivable genres from Western Classical to Latin/Caribbean music to Jazz, Pop and Experimental. And they have truly covered a “global” audience, in every sense of the word.
For choreographer Janet Walker, when a man claiming to be a neonatal doctor who produces West End shows in India called to ask her about working together, Walker was very skeptical.
“But I met him anyway,” she shrugs. And after hearing about who they are, what they do and why they do it, she “had no doubt” that she was absolutely on board.
Walker brings the dancers together in a mix of styles from ballet to tap to contemporary, working to add something unique to the familiar and bring the different numbers together in a “story” for the show.
For the last time on their Asia 2014 tour, Toccata Musical Productions will take the BMICH stage tonight, to present their final show “Nostalgia: Classic, Pop, Rock and Country Hits”. Tonight’s story?
“It’s a typical boy-meets-girl,” Walker smiles excitedly, “but it will grab any heart and take them all on the journey.”
On the menu tonight are songs that Arnopp describes, laughing, as “the list of songs you come up with when you want to have a great party and you want the best numbers you ever heard!”
Toccata will perform covers of Elton John, Abba, Eagles, Aretha Franklin, Sarah MacLaughlin, Stevie Wonder, The Beatles, Ray Charles, Queen, Elvis Presley, Billy Joel and Guns ‘N Roses. If you fancy floating “In the Arms of the Angels” to “Candle in the Wind” and “When You Believe”, singing along to “Thank You for the Music” and “Country Roads”, dancing to “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Jailhouse Rock” or even screaming “Sweet Child of Mine”, then make a mad dash for tickets.
Tickets priced Rs. 2000, Rs. 3500, Rs. 4500 and Rs. 6500 are available at the box office (Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies). Call 0766622244.