As the play was rehearsed over six weeks at the National,
music began to play a more and more significant role. Music became one of the stars of this production, used both as part of the action, and also to underscore it.
Coram Boy features choral music, written by the eighteenth-century composer Handel, a benefactor of the Coram Hospital, and sung by actors and an off-stage choir of 20. The production’s composer Adrian Sutton
adapted Handel's music and also contributed original music of his own, often composed under considerable pressure of time. But, as Adrian acknowledged, the
music of Handel permeated the whole production .
In casting the actors, director Melly Still had to find women who could not only act as boys, but sing like them too. Indeed, all the company, men and women, were required to sing, sometimes solo (in the case of Anna Madeley) or as part of a chorus. At the end of the play, for example, they all sing part of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s ‘Messiah’. Derek Barnes, the production’s
Music Director had the job of
training the actors to sing some very demanding music.
Derek Barnes was assisted by Jan Winstone who also had an important role to play, not only as a keyboard player, but as the person responsible for
training the choir of amateur singers. Jan and Derek also played instruments in the
on-stage band .
