A ‘jukebox musical’ with a difference - The Choir of Man - shows at the Wolverhampton Grand this week. The hit show began life on the Edinburgh Fringe, made waves in the West End, and has enjoyed runs around the globe, but this is the first time it has embarked on a UK tour. Don’t miss the chance to catch this riot of a show before it leaves the Midlands. 

There’s no plot to speak of, barely any dialogue between characters, and the walls of the set are confined to a single location - that setting is the play’s central focus. The audience is warmly welcomed into everyone’s local pub, The Jungle, complete with wood panelling, saloon doors and sticky carpets. 

In the meantime, the entertainment is raucously, foot-stompingly uplifting. The nine actor-musicians on stage bring to life karaoke classics with joyous energy, courtesy of the show’s orchestrator and arranger, Jack Blume. 

Some visitors can literally pop in to the pub - audience members are willingly pulled up onto the stage for certain numbers, and the bar is charmingly open for business during the interval, where real pints are pulled and paid for. The set, designed by Oli Townsend and Verity Sadler, works fantastically well, truly transforming the Grand’s stage into an archetypal British watering hole.

In the fabric of the pub, theatrical and musical devices have been squirrelled away, in plain sight. A bar stool becomes a cajon drum, the tables and bar are platforms for rousing dance numbers, and tankards are clinked together as percussion - not just raising a toast. 

The Choir of Man themselves are all equally impressive. We are introduced to the bar’s regulars by The Poet, played by Oluwalonimi (Nimi) Owoyemi, with words by Ben Norrs - offering a lyrical and romantic description of his eight fellow drinking companions. 

These are the guitar-wielding Beast (Rob Godfrey) and half-soaked Maestro (Gustav Melbardis), who accompany most of the musical numbers - although all the players pick up an instrument or two at various points throughout the performance.

The Romantic (Sam Walter) and the Bore (Aaron Pottenger) bring a slightly more subdued energy to their scenes, while the Barman (Joshua Lloyd) and Joker (Ben Mabberley) provide some laugh-out-loud moments. The Hardman was last night played by James Hudson, and Jack Skelton, as the Handyman, took a tap-dancing turn in 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover, which was both bursting with nervous energy and undeniably highly skillful. 

The charm of The Choir of Man doesn’t come solely from its showstopping harmonies or well-crafted odes to community, but from the charismatic and inviting stage presence of its nine performers. The play feels deeply personal, both to the actors, and to their audience - who will no doubt be making their way home uplifted, with an earworm and a promise that they’d be welcome any time for another pint at The Jungle.

Five Stars

The Choir of Man was reviewed on Tuesday 20 October by Jessica Clixby at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre, where it shows until Saturday 24 October