Review: THE HEART BREAK CHOIR at ASB Waterfront Theatre

Auckland Theatre Company has begun its 30th anniversary year with a heartwarming play with all the great elements of top-class entertainment underpinned by deeper more gripping issues of trauma, loss, healing and the strength of community.

This could not be more apt in light of the flooding and cyclone we've experienced. My heart was definitely both distracted by the worries and lifted by the reminder that when we come together for what is right, the 'good' happens.

The performers perform beautiful songs, they deliver delightful banter and incite belly-aching laughter before exposing us to deeper more serious issues of the need for connection, community and to speak up for those who cannot. The values of truth and 'making good' are sitting within seemingly light-hearted interactions and as the story progresses the revelation of 'the music beneath the words' in a beautifully woven story of love and connection.

The story is centred around a break-off group from the local and well-established choir that rehearses at the Catholic Church hall. Led by choirmaster and psychologist Barbara (Alison Quigan). There's loud, boisterous, exuberant and 'typical outback' Aussie, Mack (Kate Louise Elliot) and her introverted daughter Savannah (Esmay August); heavily pregnant Zimbabwean Anesu (Munashe Tapfuya), a doctor working at a deli until her credentials are recognised; and loud-horn blowing hi-vis wearing Totty (Jodie Dorday) who has a bit of cash to throw around and sees it as the solution to most problems. Later we meet the local senior police officer Peter (Dave Fane) and his son Beau (Levi Kereama) who bring more to the story than expected, both delivering with a fine subtly and...well you'll have to get along to find out what happens.

There are laughs in bundles and the earthiness of the Aussies is well portrayed along with the spirituality of Zimbabwean born Anesu who touches on her own personal traumas within the country of her birth.

The performers are brilliantly interconnected into an authentic slice of life that draws the audience and sustains them.

The singing is simply beautiful.

Playwright, Aidan Fennessy had given permission for producers to choose music that best showcases the performers' talents. Musical Director Jason Te Mete has certainly bought out the best - the singing not only supports the characters and highlights the story but touches the heart.

Director Lara McGregor acknowledges the great responsibility of bringing a playwright's words to life and in the case of Heart Break Choir, Aidan Fennessy sadly passed away before the play premiered in Melbourne last year. I am confident that McGregor has honoured his voice as the atmosphere and talk in the theatre on opening night as the audience departed was one of satisfaction - we'd been served up a great night's entertainment and left empowered that anyone can do anything when they connected to the truth and each other.

There are some great one-liners in this play but one delivered by Mack has stayed in my mind...
"The standard you walk past is the standard you accept."

I encourage you to get along, support our professional theatre and give yourself an uplift.

I loved it.

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