After a successful run between October 2021 and April 2022, The Choir Of Man has returned to its home in the Arts Theatre, and it feels right. The Arts Theatre isn’t glamorous – its toilets don’t work, its seats are creaky, but it has character and charm. The same can be said of The Choir Of Man. It is unpolished and authentic, with uplifting warmth.
The show is a unique hybrid – not quite a musical, not quite a concert. It is an ode to pub culture: nine men, labelled in the programme simply by characteristics ‘The Joker, The Romantic’, are combined with feel good songs performed in ‘The Jungle’, a pub that resembles anyone’s local. It’s also almost an immersive show – before the show starts, the on-stage pub is open to audience members to sit, have a pint and take selfies with the stars, thus the audience is not just watching a pub, but actively a part of it before any singing begins.
It’s a show full of gags and humour, at their strongest when they encourage audience members to participate. You may be fooled that the ‘immersive’ element of the production would end when the characters introduce themselves, but they bring audience members up into the bar throughout the show, ready for banter and serenading – how they manage to ensure they choose good sports who will play along I’ll never know, especially as they were often so good they would outshine the actual actors.
Although the show professes at the very beginning that it does not tell a story, it is the monologues written and performed by Ben Norris that are the beating heart of the show. Without them, The Choir Of Man would be nothing more than a group of anonymous guys singing and dancing on a stage, but they make it West End worthy. Through these crafty speeches, we get a sense of the choir’s origins, especially through a particularly profound section about where they find and call home. As for the songs, the setlist is well thought-out and balances popular sing-alongs including Some Nights and Wake Me Up, comedy (The Pina Colada Song and 500 Miles) and also very solemn moments – Dance With My Father had every older member of the audience welling up.
The choir are all referred to by their real first names throughout the show, creating a sense of friendly familiarity, although making it difficult to tell to what degree they are acting, compared to simply being themselves. ‘Breaking the fourth wall’ does not exist in this show, as unlike a play where the audience are spectators of the universe the performers belong to, The Choir Of Man’s audience are invited to exist as part of the show. The photos and memorabilia donning the walls of the stalls emphasise this: just as pub landlord and punters are equals, as are audience and the choir – it’s a moment of community, coming together whether you’re sat down in the stalls or performing on stage.
All in all, The Choir Of Man is a group of lads singing in a pub. Would it have been nice to have seen a woman somewhere in the line up, even if upstairs in the band? Would it have been nice for its attempts at inclusivity to be more than a tokenistic poster on the pub’s wall? Perhaps, but that’s not what this show is trying to be. What it’s trying to be is a good night out, a laugh, a reminder of simple and easy times. And that is exactly what they deliver.
The Choir Of Man is playing at the Arts Theatre until February 2023, so there’s still plenty of time to catch a pint (or several!) at The Jungle.
