THE saying goes "too many cooks spoil the broth", but that doesn't apply to gravy.
More than 1000 people have already signed up to learn and perform Paul Kelly's Christmas classic How To Make Gravy as part of the City of Newcastle's One Song Sing initiative in Wheeler Place.
By the time the free pop-up event comes around on December 21, also known as "Gravy day", organisers are expecting in excess of 2000 people to be belting out "give my love to Angus and to Frank and Dolly/ Tell 'em all I'm sorry I screwed up this time."
Civic Theatre manager Leonie Wallace described the free pop-up event as "hug to the community".
"We're expecting a big turn out," Wallace said. "To have 1000 people interested at this early stage is really encouraging.
"I just think it's a great way to kick off the festive season with a big community event where you can bring your family or your friends, make new friends and see the coming new year with a bit of joy.
"You don't need to be able to sing. That's what I love about it."
Mark Jackson of Newcastle's The Sum Of the Parts (music) will be tasked with corralling thousands of people together and teaching them to sing How To Make Gravy, in four separate parts, in an hour.
"We don't find it too much of a challenge," Jackson said.
"When people go, 'I don't sing, you can't get me to sing', they're the type of people we want. Everybody can sing.
"I always quote, can Bob Dylan sing? Can Tom Waits sing? Can Peter Garrett sing? We all can sing and it's just about doing it."
One Song Sing will be filmed by the City Of Newcastle and food and drinks will be available on the evening.
Kelly released How To Make Gravy in 1996. It tells the story of an imprisoned man, who writes a letter to his brother detailing his recipe to make gravy, as he's unable to attend the family's Christmas celebrations.
