As World War I rages on, Dr. Henry Guthrie takes over a British choral society that's lost most of its men to the army. The community soon discovers that the best response to the chaos of war is to make beautiful music together.
Acting
Fiennes at maximum repressed intensity, plus a ghostly Simon Russell Beale cameo.
Direction
Hytner knows exactly when to hold on a face versus flood with voices.
Score
Actual Elgar, actual choirs, actually recorded in Sheffield.
Director
Nicholas Hytner
Ralph Fiennes
Dr. Henry Guthrie
Roger Allam
Alderman Bernard Duxbury
Mark Addy
Joe Fytton
Alun Armstrong
Herbert Trickett
Simon Russell Beale
Sir Edward Elgar
Robert Emms
Robert Horner
Lyndsey Marshal
Mrs. Bishop
Ron Cook
Reverend Woodhead
Amara Okereke
Mary Lockwood
Emily Fairn
Bella Holmes
Shaun Thomas
Mitch
Jacob Dudman
Clyde
Oliver Briscombe
Lofty
Taylor Uttley
Ellis
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus provided actual voices; Fiennes trained for six months to conduct convincingly.
Hytner's third collaboration with playwright Alan Bennett after 'The History Boys'—this one's based on a real 1917 Sheffield choir that kept singing while their men fell at Passchendaele.
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