You don’t go to see Choir of Man because you just fancy a musical. You go for the experience. Good theatre makes you very present: you forget what time it is, you don’t start mentally adding to the shopping list or planning tomorrow’s dinner: you lose yourself in what you’re seeing. With this, you are the experience, not just watching it. Never the same twice, you are guests in “The Jungle” Pub, invited to bring your cares in and release them or to leave them outside: the choice is yours. But you are enveloped in the action, some are invited on stage to be part of the pub, and the lucky ones get to be sung to or danced with. The rest of us live those moments with vicarious happiness. It’s like bottled joy: or rather, joy on tap.
Oluwalonimi (Nimi) Owoyemi is the Poet and interacts with the audience, describing the pub and its purpose, and introducing us to all the people on stage. What makes this different is that all the words he uses, spoken with ease yet in verse form, are all about the real people on stage: reading the bios in the programme you see the names and the backgrounds he so poetically describes are all real. They share pieces of themselves with us which makes the people on stage so very rounded, real and authentic: unusual for sure, but it transforms their performances, making them not just singers, not just dancers, not just musicians: but people we connect with. It invites us to be real. Bringing us back to ourselves with grounded connection. And that is unique to this show.
Yet how could anyone possibly describe what they do as ‘just’ singing or dancing. These are some of the best singers and dancers you are ever likely to see on a stage: the quality of the voices of each one of them is outstanding. All different, yet the harmonies they create are the best ever heard in a musical: worthy of praise from the two harmony legend creators greats: The Beach Boys and Clannad. Every single note is pitch perfect, and the way they blend their voices and use volume and power control is jaw dropping. The arrangements of all the songs are inspiring and uplifting: Adele surely never imagined her Hello could sound so incredible, and the a cappella Chandelier was truly sublime. When they were joined by 100 members of the Brighton Busketeers to reprise a version of Chandelier at the end of the Tuesday evening performance, there were people brought to tears and then to their feet due to the beauty of it.
It’s also incredibly funny as well as heartfelt and totally original. I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) is totally hilarious with welcome audience participation, and their performance of Under The Bridge will go down in history as the funniest ever performance of a song. Jack Skelton’s tap dancing is so skilled and joyful, moving from floor to table to bar top; and each of them play a multitude of instruments at the same time, sometimes while singing, always while dancing. The shapes they create between them are stunning; their energy is infectious and always at maximum. Each of them could be highlighted as a standout; yet you can feel the teamwork on the stage, the generosity in performance and as each of them is a star in their own right, they manage to create a whole even better than the sum of its parts.
This is an ode to friendship, an ode to the value of the local pub to simply socialise and be human together, where “the one thing we’re not ignoring here is the heart”. This is celebrating the value of human connection, with the most incredible talent gathered in one place. Sublime, funny, poignant, moving, deeply human, beautifully real and emotional. With absolutely cracking top songs. This is quite simply the best feel good musical you’re ever likely to see. Powerful, beautiful, unmissable.
Theatre Royal Brighton, 21 April 2026
Choir of Man runs until 25 April 2026
Photos credit: Mark Senior
