Mahé Chamber Choir returns with ‘At The Movies II’ |01 August 2023
● Sold-out show at the ICCS
Mahé Chamber Choir performed its sold-out event, ‘At the Movies II’ on Saturday evening at the International Conference Centre Seychelles.
‘At the Movies II’ musical show is a repertoire of 20 remarkable songs from popular movies and television series, including comedies and animated series, that have influenced pop culture worldwide over the years.
The show was a sequel to the first performed by the choir in 2018.
The evening got under way with a song titled ‘Joyful Joyful’ from Sister Act II, with American actor, comedian, author and television personality, Whoopi Goldberg.
Other popular music from movies and television shows performed either in group or solo by the 32-strong member choir, under the guidance of the director and conductor Raymond Clarisse, were ‘He Still loves me’ from the Fighting Temptations, ‘Hopelessly Devoted to you’ from the film Grease, ‘Under the Sea’ from the Little Mermaid, ‘Caresse sur L’océan’ from Les Choristes, ‘Shallow’ from A Star is Born, ‘Jai Ho’ from Slumdog Millionaire and ‘See you Again’ from Fast & Furious, among others.
At the end of the show, which culminated with the song ‘I will follow him’ from Sister Act I, the crowd demanded for an ‘encore’ of the song ‘Walk with you’ by Della Reese, taken from American drama television series, ‘Touched by an Angel’, that was performed by Kevin Moumou.
All of the people who talked to Seychelles NATION said the show was spectacular and fantastic, they really enjoyed it and it was value for money.
“I always follow them around, I know of their competence and capabilities and for this one I knew all along that I was not going to be disappointed. This is why I came to see them. It was a fantastic show and the songs chosen were very beautiful for the ears. I am glad that I had not missed it,” said Frankline Judith.
“The show was massive. I really appreciated the performance. The voices were marvellous. Shows like this one must be held more often, maybe at least twice a year. Raymond is really sharp in what he does. He is really sharp, sharp, sharp. It’s unbelievable. Hats off to him,” said Roland Payet.
Responding to the public’s comments, Mr Clarisse said he was very comforted by their positive response, especially those in support of the choir.
“I am very satisfied with the performance of the choir given that they did it to the level of my expectation after having gone through the various challenges to put up the show which was very difficult,” said Mr Clarisse.
He noted the choir was better prepared compared to the last show in 2018 given that they had worked hard to improve on it.
Mr Clarisse, who thanked everyone for the successes of the second edition of ‘At the Movies’, said the choir has no grand projects in the pipeline for now for the public, “but given that we will celebrate our 20th anniversary in June next year, we will brainstorm and see what we can come up with for 2024,” he concluded.
The accompanying photos show some highlights of the show.
Text & photos by Patrick Joubert
