By Canadian Press

Wiggles pay surprise visit to N.L. school choir, then invite them on stage

Sep 27, 2018 | 8:43 AM

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — A star-struck high school choir dissolved into screams of joy when children’s musical super group the Wiggles stopped by their rehearsal — and then invited the teens to join them on stage.

The Holy Heart of Mary high school choir in St. John’s had recorded a video performing a Wiggles song, inviting the Australian icons to visit their rehearsal before their performance Tuesday at the Holy Heart Theatre.

The Wiggles members commented on the Instagram post, and choral director Robert Colbourne reached out to management formally inviting the group, but hadn’t heard back by the time Tuesday rolled around. 

“I was starting to lose out hope that our little goal of getting the Wiggles to come to our rehearsal wasn’t going to happen,” Colbourne said Thursday.

Colbourne told the kids to wear the group’s signature block colours to rehearsal, just in case.

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The students and their teacher were floored when the Wiggles trotted in unannounced and listened to the teens perform Newfoundland songs.

After posing for a photo with the excited students, blue Wiggle Anthony Field asked Colbourne if the kids would like to perform on stage with them.

“I was shocked. Are you serious? These kids are going to lose their minds,” Colbourne recalled.

Colbourne captured the heartwarming moment he told the students about the Wiggles’ invitation in a 21-second video posted to Facebook.

“It was almost like the Beatles were here, it was huge for them,” Colbourne said with a laugh.

Colbourne said he never imagined the outcome, but was happy to see his students have the unforgettable experience of performing with their childhood musical icons.

The proud teacher was also impressed to see his teenage students’ enthusiasm for performing in costumes to the Wiggles’ music, which is geared at a younger audience.

“Even though these are 16- and 17-year-old teenagers, they’re still children at heart and they really enjoyed getting to meet people that they’d watched on TV when they were very little — kind of their musical mentors, in a way,” Colbourne said.

“It created a memory they’ll never forget. I’ll never forget it either.”

By one estimate, the Wiggles had sold more than 23 million DVDs and videos, 7 million CDs and 8 million books as of 2013. Their TV show has been broadcast in more than 100 countries and they have performed more concerts than the Rolling Stones.

On the web:

https://www.facebook.com/robertcolbourne/videos/pcb.10156336736935932/10156336728965932.

https://www.facebook.com/robertcolbourne/videos/pcb.10156336736935932/10156336721935932/?type=3&theater

Holly McKenzie-Sutter, The Canadian Press