The stage at Sir Mutha Venkata Subba Rao Concert Hall is wearing shadow, the type that makes you lean ahead and watch for one thing to start. A faint spill of sunshine then catches the perimeters of the microphones, the define of the conductor’s stand, and the shimmer of brass tucked right into a nook. For a second, the viewers turns into part of the body: nonetheless ready with bated breath for the primary cue. Then, An evening on the movies begins because the Mellow Circle choir steps ahead.
Act I: The Overture
The opening chords of ‘A dream is a wish your heart makes’ fills the auditorium, the harmonies, a reminder that this choir has been on the coronary heart of Chennai’s music scene for over 20 years.
The Disney medley unfolded like shot of a movie with ‘A whole new world’ gliding effortlessly into ‘I’ve bought a dream’ adopted by ‘When you wish upon a star’. When (*25*) arrived, accompanied by ballet actions that traced arcs throughout the stage, it felt much less like a music and extra like a scene — the type that leaves a theatre hushed for a number of seconds after the final be aware.
It was a delicate starting, but it surely set a excessive bar. As Chrystal Farrell, retro band A26’s lead feminine vocalist, mentioned later, “We wanted people to feel like they were stepping in to watch a movie, not just a concert. The choir gave us the perfect opening — that sweep of nostalgia and hope draw you in before you even realise.”
The selection of repertoire — music that speaks of resilience, pleasure, longing, and connection — appeared to mirror that function with out turning into didactic. The opening chords of ‘A dream is a wish your heart makes’ stuffed the auditorium, their harmonies polished, but heat, a reminder that this choir has been on the coronary heart of Chennai’s group music scene for over 20 years.
Act One: The Overture
A choir was additionally part of the efficiency.
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Special Arrangement
It was a delicate starting, however set a excessive bar. As Chrystal Farrell, A26’s lead feminine vocalist, mentioned later, “We wanted people to feel like they were stepping into a film, not just a concert. The choir gave us the perfect opening — that sweep of nostalgia and hope that draws you in before you even realise it.”
Act Two: The Score Comes Alive
The shift within the temper was virtually cinematic. As the choir stepped again, A26 took the stage with confidence. The opening chord of the Top Gun theme rang-out and the live performance’s second act started with a rush of instrumental movie themes. Mission: Impossible pulsed with tightly wound rhythm, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly carried the unmistakable whistle of a desert standoff, and The Godfather unfurled in Grayston Vaz’s guitar traces with a reverence normally reserved for orchestras.
“Some of the greatest scores in cinema are instrumental,” Chrystal identified. “We wanted to give them their due, but also make them ours. You can’t just copy an orchestra, so we reimagined them with our textures: guitar solos, trumpet accents, rhythm sections that still carry the drama.” From there, Pirates of the Caribbean galloped ahead on Clifford Siquiera’s drumming, earlier than Game of Thrones got here as a brooding, late addition that match so nicely it appeared inevitable.
Only then did the vocals arrive. ‘Nothing’s gonna cease us now’ served as each a title-card and declaration, vibrant and expansive. Mrs. Robinson traded Simon & Garfunkel’s folks edge for a looser, extra playful tone. Skyfall adopted — darkish and deliberate, Chrystal’s decrease register including weight with out tipping into imitation. ‘Life is a Highway’ despatched the vitality again into excessive gear, ‘Raindrops Keep Fallin on my head’ supplied a breezy interlude, and ‘Shallow’ closed this sequence with the intimacy of a confession.
The Goan band — A26 — gave a high-energy efficiency in Chennai
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Special Arrangement
Throughout, the band — Lester Rodrigues (lead male vocals and guitar), Chrystal, Alfin Fernandes (on the keyboards and the trumpet), Ignatius Rodrigues (on the keyboards), Marwino Dacosta (on the bass and the flute), Grayston Vaz (on the lead guitar) and Clifford Siquiera (on the drums) — handled every music extra like an authentic. There was room for element: a trumpet line tucked right into a refrain, a flute phrase catching the sunshine, a guitar solo that performed like a personality’s interior monologue.
Act Three: The Ensemble Returns
The choir’s return marked one other shift. ‘Tomorrow’ from Annie built-in cautious layers, its optimism tempered by restraint. The senior ensemble moved into ‘Into the Unknown’ from Frozen II, their harmonies rising in waves that echoed the music’s cinematic urgency. The junior choir carried out ‘I just can’t wait to be king’ from The Lion King, their vibrant, playful supply incomes smiles.
From there, A26 steered into acquainted territory, providing a rock-and-roll-tinged Bollywood-medley and the Konkani traditional: Godacho Panv. “Retro is coming back in a big way,” Chrystal mentioned. “Songs from the 60s and the 70s had this live-band energy, clean harmonies and rhythms that crossed cultures. You can twist and waltz to them and they still feel fresh.”
Act Four: The Finale
The momentum climbed via ‘What a Feeling’ from Flashdance and the grit of Eye of the Tiger. By Footloose, the aisle had its first dancers. Audience who had sat via the instrumentals in quiet focus have been now clapping in rhythm.
Ballet actions traced arcs throughout the stage, making it really feel much less like a quantity and extra like a scene.
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Special Arrangement
The remaining stretch felt like a closing montage. The younger ones carried a contact of youthful nostalgia earlier than the opening chords of ‘Time of my life’ signalled the finale. The choir and band stuffed the stage, the viewers joined within the refrain, blurring the road between performer and spectator in these final minutes.
“We first did this in Canada,” Chrystal shared. “Now that the manufacturing is tight, we need to take it to Mumbai, Bengaluru, possibly Dubai. It’s a format that enables us to stretch as musicians and connects us with the viewers otherwise.
A Night on the Movies was staged to lift funds for the Prathyasha Home for Destitute Women.
