Three NE venues—Sunderland Empire, the Sage at Gateshead and Darlington Civic—are looking for choirs to take part in a concert version of Godspell alongside a West End cast.
Following the success of 2014’s gala performance at Shaftesbury Avenue’s Lyric Theatre, in support of the charity Make-A-Wish-Foundation®UK, Godspell In Concert is to tour the UK in 2015 and will visit three North East venues: The Sage in Gateshead on 1 May, Sunderland Empire on 3 May and Dalrington Civic from 21 to 23 May.
Today the show’s producers launched a search to find choirs from all over the country to take part as part of the ensemble cast working with the West End cast and creative team.
Producers are looking for mixed-voice SATB (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) choirs with an excellent musical and performance standard and choir members must be a minimum of 16 years of age.
Each choir will comprise 28 singers of whom half will be static and the other half will ‘move’ (not dance) and will be directed by a choreographer. Four dedicated West End performers will make each choir’s number up to 32 and either one choir in total or two choirs will be cast for each venue.
The choirs will be trained by musical director Russell Scott, who said, "I wanted to bring a choral element to Godspell and so reworked the score which is essentially written for 10 principles. I re-orchestrated the ensemble parts to encompass a choir and the result sounded incredible bringing out the true soul of the piece. There are some great songs to sing, and the addition of a choir just makes the sound even more exciting to listen to.
"My vision was to take Godspell In Concert on the road and to cast choirs from around the country to take part. Godspell was conceived as a community piece and what better idea than to bring communities together to sing in a professional UK touring production? It’s never been done before and I am thrilled to be undertaking this huge challenge to bring choirs together with our touring professionals and to give opportunities to singers all across the UK to take part in this unique production."
To apply, choirs can visit the show web site and apply online. The closing date for applications is Saturday 24 January and after this date shortlisted choirs will be invited to one of six regional auditions.