Barbershop singers – they wear striped waistcoats and sing about the good old days, right?
Wrong.
The latest batch of barbershop singers still sing in delicious close harmonies, but their choice of material is rather different, and comes served with a large helping of comedy.
Welcome to the strange and wonderful world of 'Barbershopera', a musical quartet who are about to unleash their third a cappella comedy musical on the world – and this time they’ve gone apocalyptic.
In the show, 'Apocalypse No!', which visits Perth, Inverness and Aberdeen over the next few days, audiences will learn that God has had it with the world and summons the four horsemen demanding they sort it out.
Company director of 'Barbershopera' Productions is Rob Castell, who is also an established actor whose roles include playing Tony in 'West Side Story' and Dr Rance in 'What the Butler Saw'.
“I grew up with barbershop music, as my mum is American and my grandad sang in barbershop choirs.” said Rob.
“We used to sing with our friends, but we also enjoyed acting and comedy so wanted to create something which brought all these elements together. The result was 'Barbershopera'.
It was their first full-length a cappella musical and they took it to the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe, where it got rave reviews. A second show, 'Barbershopera II' (subtitled 'In the Mane of the Father', and later re-subtitled 'The Barber of Shavingham'), made its debut in 2009.
It was while touring with that production that the latest show was born.
“We were appearing at Lyth Arts Centre, in Caithness. William Wilson, who runs the centre, is very keen on barbershop singing and let us stay in the centre for a week so we could develop our next show.” said Rob.
“So it was in Caithness that 'Apocalypse No!' was first formed.”
With plenty of laughs, a farcical storyline and lots of close harmonies – along with elements of the blues, boy bands and soul music thrown in for good measure – this show will be unlike any other barbershop show seen before.
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