F is for phone, for those who spell phonetically

Well, we're now halfway through the run of Manchester Lines, and it's great fun. (It does feel a bit as if I've spent more time at Number One First Street this month than my best friend, who works there, but I know that's not really the case!)

If you haven't seen the show yet, do get a ticket if you can, because it ends on 7th July and you'll never be able to see it anywhere else - and it's fabulous. I just want everyone to see how good it is! It's magical and happy and sad and thought-provoking and beautiful. There are loads of reviews (not sure why there are so many more than there ever are for any of our concerts, but that's definitely the case!) Most of them are good, but there are a couple of awful ones, which baffled me when I read them. (Especially the one in the Oldham Chronicle, where the reviewer complained that his seat was uncomfortable - you get to choose your own seat! So it serves him right for picking an uncomfortable one! Mine was fine when I saw the show, and it wasn't even one of the cushioned ones!)

Hardly any of the reviews mention the choir at all, but luckily we're used to that, aren't we? If you do come to watch, though, try to make it a Monday or Thursday - those are the days you're most likely to see choir members that you know :-)

Before you read the reviews, watch the trailer on the official website - that'll give you an idea. Then, in order of publication:

The Guardian
What's On Stage
The Arts Desk
Oldham Chronicle
British Theatre Guide
The Public Reviews
The Good Review
Jildy Sauce
Creative Tourist
The Stage
Remote Goat
Manchester Evening News/City Life
Alison's Adventures in Theatreland
Cheshire Today
Reviews Gate
The Observer

Other news: let's see… Not much going on with my main choir - we don't have a concert until the end of July and we haven't started rehearsing for it yet (which is alarming quite a few people who haven't sung some of the pieces before!) We did a bit of an Apostles recap last night, but mainly we've been sight-reading a few new things. I really enjoyed having a go at the Holst Hymns from the Rig Veda last week - I'd done some of them before, but not all, and they're all lovely. (Paul Brennan said that the last one sounded like a camel wearing Lycra!)

My school choir has a concert a week on Saturday, which I'm looking forward to. This week we tried adding movement to our last song, and it looks really good - the kids picked it up instantly and then improved it! The only worry is that our songs this time involve quite a few soloists, and we've had to make several changes to these for one reason or another. Let's see who turns up on the day!

One bit of great news that's related to both my choirs is that I persuaded my star singer from the school choir - a year 10 bass - to audition for the HYC, and he's got in \o/ I'm so proud!

You know I always go on about Whit Friday? Well, this week there was a lovely article in the Daily Telegraph about the whole thing.

Gareth Malone's next project is called Sing While You Work, in which he'll train choirs at four different workplaces and then they'll compete against each other. Which is fine, I suppose, but why does it always have to be a competition? His previous projects have been great without setting people against each other - seems unnecessary to me.

A bit of Manchester news: Having been to First Street so many times recently, I'm very well aware that the hoarding in front of the Central Library says it's reopening in 2013. But, according to the MEN, it's actually not opening till 2014… and, what's more, the City Library will close in September 2013 and there'll be a temporary library in the Town Hall until the main library reopens! Does this make any sense to anyone?

I'm sure lots of you are enjoying the football (at least until England lose…) so you'll be well aware of the significance of this advert!

And finally… this made me cry with laughter. Most of you will have sung O Fortuna from "Carmina Burana" (it's the opening item of our next concert, in fact)… but I suspect that after you've watched this video you will never hear it the same way again :-)