THE Myall Melodians outdid themselves with an engaging free performance of their ‘Yaccaba Community Radio Show’ at Tea Gardens Grange on Tuesday 19 May.
Complete with an ‘On Air’ light box, emcee Bill Bailey introduced the Melodians, pianist Margaret Rowden, and co-host Allan Anton.
Each bracket of songs from the choral group had a distinct theme related to show tunes, including The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, South Pacific, and Oklahoma.
Margaret, who also organised the 30 Melodians and their song program for the event, played the piano live throughout the show.
“Thanks to Bill Bailey for putting it all together, and to the Melodians for their work tonight,” she said.
“We do up to 500 songs, and practise up to 30 every Tuesday night, including the 25 performed tonight.”
Allan conjured up audience involvement and wrangled the crowd of close to 100 with custom ‘clap’ and ‘quiet please’ signs, while Bill managed to keep the production moving, despite a few technical glitches on the jingles.
The song brackets were separated by famous Australian ad jingles, featuring live renditions of mascots including WeetBix kids, Aeroplane Jelly eaters, some happy little Vegemites, and Morty the Fly.
The Sound of Music bracket featured several solos, and songs that all could sing along to, including Do Re Mi, The Hills Are Alive and Edelweiss, while the Oklahoma bracket saw cowboys and farm girls singing songs of unspoken feelings.
The show was greatly enhanced by the addition of a new stage extension, recently built by Barry McClean and the Tea Gardens Men’s Shed.
By Thomas O’KEEFE
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