One of the few good things that have arisen out of the pandemic has been my discovery -- the world's discovery -- of the Marsh family from England. I suspect that those of you, my readers, who would enjoy this family of singers have already discovered them -- but just to preserve this blog's historical record, let me briefly describe and praise them.
The parents, Ben and Danielle Marsh, live with their four children in Faversham, Kent, England. Ben is a professor of American history at the University of Kent. The parents met at Cambridge, where they both were involved in theater. The kids are Alfie (14), Thomas (13), Ella (11), and Tess (9). They are surprisingly good singers, for kids who are neither professional singers nor, apparently, participants in any choir or chorus. They just sing together.
They came to my attention last spring, in their YouTube parody of "One Day More" from the musical Les Misérables -- a parody lamenting the Covid-19 lock-down and the resulting enforced living-at-close-quarters difficulties of their family. If you haven't watched them, viewing is mandatory. Do not turn your computer off -- watch it now. It's best if you're familiar with the original Broadway version, but that's not necessary.
Since that opening salvo, they have released a long string of productions on YouTube. Some are better than others, but even the weaker ones are literate, funny, and moving. I wouldn't want you to miss out on experiencing their musical offering of best wishes to their grandfather on the occasion of his prostate surgery, but my actual favorite, after "One Day More," has to be a parody of an 80s hit, hitherto unknown to me -- "Total Eclipse of the Heart." The Marshes' version is "Totally Fixed Where We Are." As many viewers have commented, the video is worth watching for Thomas's "interpretive angst dance" alone.
"Totally Fixed Where We Are" (click)
Their songs have produced an enormous outpouring of passionate love from their on-line audience. One fellow confessed that he was an adult, but nevertheless begged humorously to be adopted by the family. Many have been reduced to both laughter and, interestingly, tears -- simultaneously.
Why tears? In our modern world, closeness as a family -- a family, consisting of teens and pre-teens, willing to work together, undertaking projects such as these -- is beyond the experience of many people, people not just from America but from all over the world. The family has been interviewed on-line a number of times. The parents and kids alike are funny, articulate -- and disarmingly modest. It was the quarantine, they claim. We had to do something to keep from going crazy. Which, of course, is also the theme of many of their songs.
Whatever. However long their star lasts -- probably not long in today's entertainment milieu -- that star is a shining beacon of hope that families today can still enjoy each other's company; that ordinary people can entertain themselves by use of their own creativity; and that the English -- who survived the Blitz in World War II -- can, if anyone can, make it through this terrible pandemic without losing their sanity.
May we all be so lucky.
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P.S. -- Oh! And this one, too. Don't miss the "outtake" at the end.
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