Christmas at the Musicals

Mary-Jess and Joanna Forest

19^th December 2018

Six days before Christmas I returned to the little Gloucestershire town of Lydney, on the West bank of the River Severn on the edge of the Forest of Dean. For myself, the town’s main claim to fame is as one end of the Dean Forest Railway, a delightful preserved line running steam trains from the junction with the national rail network into the heart of the forest.

Photo from www.steamheritage.co.uk

Lydney also came to my attention a few years ago as the location for a Mary-Jess concert where she sang for the Royal British Legion’s local Festival of Remembrance. Sadly I was not able to attend that event, but thankfully Mary-Jess has returned a number of times and this was my second visit to see her in a pre-Christmas show at Lydney Town Hall.

This time Mary-Jess was joined by Joanna Forest in the finale of their short joint tour of ‘Christmas at the Musicals’. The two ladies appeared at the beginning of the show holding a conversation, which led into ‘I Could Have Danced All Night’ from ‘My Fair Lady’. The conversational tone recurred throughout the evening, and all but two of their musical numbers were sung as duets.

I don’t know why more classical crossover artists have not covered ‘I Know Him So Well’ from ‘Chess’. The alternating voices were absolutely gorgeous and the counterposed melodies as the song drew towards its climax were truly spine-tingling.

I felt that ‘Walking in the Air’ in Mary-Jess’s own arrangement was a more equal partnership than many times I have heard it before. Often, Mary-Jess will give the main melody to a young guest artist while she fills in with beautiful harmonies, but there seemed to be more to and fro between Joanna and Mary-Jess in this performance.

Soon it was time for the first guest act of the evening. Fifteen children from the local primary schools of Lydney and the neighbouring village of Aylburton came together for a spirited rendition of ‘Feliz Navidad’.

Strange as it may seem, Joanna Forest has recorded the ‘Flower Duet’ with herself singing both parts. Tonight’s performance was a true duet with two contrasting but perfectly blended voices.

As the choir from Bourton-on-the-Water Primary School made their way to front, the seemingly endless stream of children caused me to wonder if they had brought the whole school. The angelic choir must have numbered over sixty for a beautiful performance of the Christmas song ‘Love Shone Down’.

‘Silent Night’ in duet form gave the opportunity for some wonderful vocalisation from Mary-Jess as Joanna took the tune in the final verse. This was followed by the perennial favourite ‘O Holy Night’, and ‘The Impossible Dream’ took us into the interval.

The dramatic interplay between the two artists was back with a vengeance for a breathtaking presentation of ‘Defying Gravity’ from ‘Wicked’, culminating in one of those characteristically gorgeous smiles from Mary-Jess in her sense of accomplishment at a job well done.

The touching ‘If I Loved You’ from ‘Carousel’ came before a medley from Disney’s ‘Frozen’ – Joanna’s ‘Do You Want to Build a Snowman’ leading into Mary-Jess’s ‘Let It Go’, sung in English and Mandarin Chinese.

The children from Aylburton and Lydney came back for the lovely ‘Shine Away’; the only song of the evening which was completely new to me.

‘Ave Maria’ was Mike Christie’s combined arrangement of the Bach and Schubert versions of the classic song, as featured with Beth Ford on Mary-Jess’s EP ‘Inspire’. Mary-Jess and Joanna also appeared on BBC ‘Songs of Praise’ with this arrangement.

Now it was time for Joanna’s solo – the dreamy ‘Hushabye Mountain’, which we can look forward to hearing again on Joanna’s forthcoming album.

The two were back together for ‘The Christmas Song’ (Chestnuts roasting on an open fire) before Mary-Jess’s solo ‘Never Enough’ from ‘The Greatest Showman’. I have heard this from many different artists over the past year, and no matter how many times it is repeated it will never be enough for me.

‘Tonight’ form ‘West Side Story’ led into the finale, ‘Phantom of the Opera’ with both singers vying for the high notes at the end.

The thunderous applause and standing ovation produced the required effect, with the pair returning for an encore of ‘Nessun Dorma’.