Marina Prior with Victoria Welsh Choir
Following the two previous concerts in 2015 and 2017, the choir was delighted to be back at this magnificent theatre, with Marina Prior, to raise funds for the Rotary Club of Bendigo South and for the Ulumbarra Foundation.
After the rousing opening Men of Harlech, sung in Welsh then English, compère Drew Hopkins introduced Faleiry and Lorna before launching into the first Welsh bracket of Blaenwern (Love Divine), Calon Lân (A Pure Heart), Rachie and the well-known Cwm Rhondda with the sold-out theatre lustily joining in with the final Songs of Praises choruses.
Guest artist Marina Prior, accompanied by David Cameron, underlined her soubriquet of Leading Lady of Musical Theatre, by thrilling the assembly with her Andrew Lloyd Webber medley of popular numbers from Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar, Phantom of the Opera and Cats. Channelling her Irish and Scottish background, Marina then sang the beautiful supplication Be Thou My Vision which elicited heartfelt appreciation.
Moving on to Rodgers and Hammerstein, she then led the choir in the iconic You’ll Never Walk Alone.
From this emotional high the choir came down to earth with the lilting and gentle Ar Lan Y Môr (Beside the Sea).
Bob Ash stepped forward and prefaced the next two songs with a potted history of coal mining and its awful death toll. He then sang, without accompaniment, the heart-breaking Prince Among Men. Equally affecting was fellow bass Barry McMahon as he led the choir on the soaring Working Man.
Before the last item of the first half, Faleiry turned to the audience to rehearse them in their part of the final chorus. Some very confident soprano voices showed that they were ready and able to take their part very seriously. And so it proved. Battle Hymn of the Republic, with flute accompaniment by Nigel McGuckian, crescendoed to its final choruses and amens so tremendously that, of course, a final reprise had to be sung, to great acclaim.
After the break Merlyn Quaife AM (who coincidentally, as Marina told us later, had been her singing teacher since she was 14) explained how the money raised by the concert, were shared between Rotary and the Foundation which, in turn, funded young musicians from Bendigo Senior Secondary College. The 2017 BSSC Musician of the Year Sean Nudl then plugged in his guitar and impressed patrons with his intricate variation on the theme of Imagine by John Lennon. Next was the 2018 winner Sophia McGranaghan, accompanied by Lorna, with a virtuoso performance on alto sax of Debussy’s La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin.
From Debussy to Verdi then, with Speed Your Journey sung by the choir followed by the haunting modern Welsh song Anfonaf Angel, again with delicate flute by Nigel.
Marina returned to the stage to thoroughly entertain the attentive assembly with Someone to Watch Over Me. Georgy Girl was next with tuneful whistling from some choristers and with the audience and choir encouraged to sing along at the appropriate time, which was done with huge enjoyment. With patrons beaming, it was fitting that Marina’s next number was S’Wonderful before her magnetic show-stopping Music of the Night from Phantom in which she had starred for three years. The whole theatre fully acknowledged Marina’s stage presence and beautiful voice with loud and sustained applause.
Musically moving back in time, the choir then sang the romantic My Dearest Dear before Bendigonian second tenor Keva Lloyd sensitively caught the pathos of another Ivor Novello number We’ll Gather Lilacs. Not surprisingly, many patrons knew this one well and sang along with the choir.
Moving even further back in time, Bob Ash and tenor Ed Hughes manned themselves with caps, gloves, moustaches and lethal French bread sticks to present the comic Gendarmes’ Duet. With their deft footwork and singing, their tour de force was justly rewarded by much laughter and acclaim.
Our brilliant flautist Nigel came forward once again to lead the choir into the nostalgic Goin’ Home. This proved to be a premature thought, however, as Marina again took the microphone to lead the choir in the powerful How Great Thou Art. Marina remained on stage as versatile compère Drew was joined by bass Graeme Sanderson to conjure up Waltzing Matilda in a modern arrangement which then led into simultaneous singing of the Welsh National Anthem by half the choir. As this wonderful concert came to an end, the audience was only too happy to sing the final chorus twice before a veritable wave of lengthy applause gave thanks to the musical achievements of Marina, Lorna and Faleiry and the choir.