Choir! Choir! Choir! Is probably one of the best ways to spend an hour on a rainy Sunday in a purple upside down cow at the Fringe. You’ll come out with a silly grin on your face, humming away and wanting to tell everyone they should go.
Daveed Goldman and Nobu Adilman have the audience in the palm of their hands with their easy banter, gentle teasing and great choice of songs. In this show, 3 hapless adolescent boys were easy pickings and why wouldn’t they look uncomfortable and a tad anxious about being dragged with their parents to sing with a load of strangers, reflecting what many of the audience, including myself, felt.
It even comes with a warning for ‘Audience participation’ on the Fringe website. However within minutes we’d all been eased into making ‘La las’ and ‘oohs’, and by the end, everyone was dancing and singing their hearts out whilst making a rather pleasing harmony.
Daveed Goldman and Nobu Adilman set up Choir! Choir! Choir! in 2011 in Toronto, Canada, and over the years have toured extensively and created a huge following. They both make it look easy, building up the harmony sections slowly, alternatively insulting and praising our singing until they’ve achieved the right result.
I confess, I am a community choir member and have been on a song leader’s course, and I know it’s really complex and can go horribly wrong; the more people involved, the more of a possible disaster but here, we are in safe, skilful hands. Research has shown that singing especially in groups like choirs can improve your mental health and you might not be able to hold an audible note or sing for toffee and you’d still benefit. Choir! Choir! Choir! will give you that buzz.
Each show uses a different range of familiar, loved songs and I’m really tempted to go again. I urge you to put aside your embarrassment and get a ticket, gather a group of mates for a laugh, or just go on your own as I did. It might even prompt you to seek out and join your local community choir. Simply joyful!
