It’s that time of year! When Christmas shows across the land open their doors to hundreds of excited families, eager to get their dose of Christmas spirit. But have you ever wondered how these shows come together? Exactly what goes into bringing a huge team of singers, dancers, musicians, and backstage technicians together into a festive explosion of joy and happiness?! Let’s find out!
Nestled among the countryside of Norfolk, only 8 miles from the sea, exists the most unexpected, yet delightful festive spectacular. The biggest show of its kind in all of Europe, the Thursford Christmas Spectacular is an extravaganza of festive cheer wrapped into a three-hour musical performance. With 58 singers, 23 dancers, and 32 orchestra members, it boasts a huge cast bringing Christmas cheer on a 140-foot stage to over 1,400 people daily. As one of the 2024 singers, I am a very small cog in the Thursford wheel but I decided to take you with me through one of our busy rehearsal days!
We are currently in rehearsals six days a week, and things are busy! Our day starts promptly at 10:00am, where we must first sign into the building (our company manager demands it!). We start our days with a company warmup; 20-minute physical with the dancers, onto a 10-minute vocal with one of our music directors. Because our rehearsal period spans over six weeks, a proper warm up is vital for both our stamina and health. It’s an opportunity for the company to come together as one and check in at the start of each working day. But that’s not all! In preparation for our opening number (in which we enter from the back of the house), we also practice walking together (girls in heels of course!) every morning. Though this sounds silly, by opening night the audience are bedazzled by the gliding effect of 48 singers processing down the aisles together. Practice makes perfect!
From there, we singers head to a different space in the theatre for vocal call. We usually run three to five songs per session, working on harmonies, cut offs, and dynamics. Our rehearsal today is only to piano, but the show itself will always be played with a full orchestra. With so much music in the show, we are expected to be off book two weeks before opening night. It’s a lot of material, but by repeating things in rehearsal, the music is slowly sinking into my brain all on its own. Meanwhile, the dancers have stayed in the rehearsal studio to run conditioning. These amazing 23 ladies remain incredibly physical throughout the show, dancing over five different styles during the three hours. Their conditioning sessions include everything from planks to split jumps to keep their cardio and strength levels up!
From 12:00pm to 12:20pm, we have a tea break before meeting our choreography team in the rehearsal room to run the Act One finale. The number is massive this year; a 6-minute Irish extravaganza with 78 company members on stage. Today’s rehearsal is a cleaning call and the second step of learning any dance. Having been taught the choreo already, this session’s purpose is to perfect the steps and clarify any details that were missed in the teaching of it. This is also an opportunity for the swings to run any tracks they would like to practice.
Fun fact! Because the show runs seven days a week, Thursford has a brilliant and complex swing system: in the singers alone, we have 8 people to cover days off, and 6 for illness. Our two brilliant super swings even know 24 tracks each!
After cleaning the Irish number in the studio, we all break for a one-hour lunch from 1:30pm to 2:30pm. Because the theatre is quite remote, I usually bring my own lunch from home, but there is a café that serves food by the lobby. Today, the men are rehearsing a male only number after lunch, so I have an extra hour free. I grab my cup of tea and my score and make my way to the café with friends to review any material that still feels hazy in my mind. Our beautiful score, arranged by Jonathan Smith, often boasts eight-part harmonies, so we need to be confident in our individual vocal lines. I sing alto two in this show, the lowest of the female voices.
At 3:30pm, I make my way back to the rehearsal room to run “Applause”, our Act One company number. I have a solo in this number (though we call them step-outs at Thursford) and I share it with two other wonderful ladies. Once open, we will rotate between shows throughout the week, swapping between our soloist and ensemble track to cover off days and illness. We continue to clean and add specificity to this number until 5:30pm, when we all take a mini dinner break for half an hour.
Our evening sessions usually run from 6:00pm to 7:30pm and tonight, we find ourselves in costume on stage! Because our rehearsals take place in the theatre, we have the unusual advantage of practicing in show conditions before tech week. And so, we ladies head to the dressing rooms to don our multi-layered costumes! This specific Christmas costume has so many pieces; red tights, boots, bloomers, an underskirt and overskirt, all paired with a beautiful Victorian leotard full of cuff links, puffed sleeves, and a rose studded collar. Needless to say, getting dressed takes time! We have a dedicated costume team here at Thursford that not only make these beautiful pieces but maintain them during the run as well. As the costumes are built and fit to each individual person, they work in a team of 11 people, though only four stay for the duration of the run.
Eventually, we head onto the stage, away from the safety of the rehearsal mirrors and into the bright lights. And this is where the Christmas magic happens. After all the learning, and practicing, and cleaning, we can finally run the number the way it was intended; on stage, with lights and costumes. It is overwhelmingly beautiful.
At 7:20pm, we all head back to the dressing rooms to change, and (after clocking out!) head home. This year, I only live a 5-minute drive from the theatre, so commuting is a breeze. It will be an evening of meal prepping and then straight to bed. Then again, maybe we’ll watch The Great British Bake-Off with a cup of tea and biscuits. It’s been a long day after all!
The Thursford Christmas Spectacular is now open and runs until December 23rd.
