Bengaluru: A drizzle of rain in Bangalore city added to what was a magical, musical Sunday evening on August 20 – it was the recipe for the stage that enthralled one and all present. The Big Bang 100, a celebration of all time golden Broadway musicals sung by 100 singers and directed by Maya Mascarenhas and Judith Roby Bidappa, was a treat for the music connoisseur.
A 100-member strong skilled singers and music aficionados – The Bangalore Chorus, set the ball rolling with ‘Circle of Life’, a song adapted from the 1984 The Lion King musical. The troupe carried on with some more iconic songs likes ‘Ascot Gavotte’ from My Fair Lady (1964), ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ (1929) from the movie by the same name, ‘Bring Him Home’ from Les Misérables (1980) and ‘Pure Imagination’ from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971).
One more the performance that stole the show in the first half of the programme was the medley of ‘Mamma Mia’ and ‘Dancing Queen’ the songs by Abba from the musical Mamma Mia (1999). The enthusiasm of the kids, coupled with the energy of Lauren Rasquinha, Maya Saldanha and Vidya Samuel, had the audience humming and tapping their feet along.
A big wow for Arthur Pais, Niranjan Joseph, Alex Koshy, Ryal Sequeira and Rohan Kamath for their performance of the song ‘Stars’ from Les Misérables, as they hit the right notes and gave the audience goosebumps.
The second part dedicated to Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber was a thrill: The Chorus performed songs from the musicals composed by multiple Grammy Award winner. They performed some of his most popular songs like, ‘Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats’, ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’, ‘Light at the End of the Tunnel’, and also included a medley of ‘O What a Circus’, Requiem and ‘Don’t Cry for Me Argentina’ from Lord Webber’s Rock Opera Evita. The appreciation and encores were indelible and promises for more soon could not satiate the appetite, but all have to await the coming show and the crowd again is going to be phenomenal.
