A Night At The Musicals

Sunderland Theatre Company’s concert this year was all around songs from musicals currently playing in the West End and Broadway and looking at the programme I was really excited to see that this group were bringing some exciting new songs to entertain their audience. As always Sunderland Theatre Company takes pride in ensuring that the final details in terms of the presentation are visually pleasing to the audience and this year’s concert was no different: the room was set cabaret style and the stage looked fantastic dressed with musical notes, floating stars and the comedy and tragedy mask and I liked the way the company used a projection screen at the side of the stage to show the audience which musical the song was taken from. The staging looked very professional with everyone dressed in black with the men wearing different coloured ties and the ladies with different coloured pashmina’s very simple but with a touch of elegance. Brian Leach as the director certainly put some thought into the programme of music there was something for everyone: a great choice which was well received by the audience. Sound was provided by Northern Production and lighting this year was provided by Ian Bianchi which I thought was well designed something I know Brian is very particular about.

The concert opened with the whole company singing the number “Show People” from the musical curtains: a fantastic choice for an  opening number full of energy and passion, Kristan Bailey delivered a beautiful and confident number from Rent: “One Song Glory: great interpretation and confidently sang, the full company returned to deliver  the fantastic number “ Seasons of Love” from Rent  great soloist vocals from Molly Stobbs and Mathew Clarke who supported the company to deliver this powerful number. Jessica Chilton sang the number “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again” from the beautiful musical Phantom of the Opera and what a performance: there was no apparition in Jessica’s delivery just pure Chrystal clear vocals I absolutely loved this performance. Mathew Clarke followed with the musical number “December 1963” from the musical Jersey Boys good delivery which took us back to the 70’s, the company followed with the moving song “Once We Were King” from Billy Elliot, I loved this number which gave the men the opportunity to show off their vocals: very emotional and beautifully delivered. The next two musical number were from the musical Ghost and delivered by two sisters: the first  was the beautiful number “Nothing Stops Another Day” delivered by Gemma Fowler a beautiful interpretation conveyed with sentiment and feeling, the next number “With You” was delivered by  Cara Fowler who delivered a stand out performance Cara commanded both the stage and the audience: I felt every word in this fantastic performance. Raising the tempo the company sang the Joseph medley from the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, lovely chorus routine with individual solo performances from Linda Fowler and Hannah Brettell narrated the opening and the prologue, Kristan Bailey singing “Any Dream Will Do”, Linda Fowler and Company singing “Jacob and Son/Josephs Coat”, Daniel Dryden with “One More Angel In Heaven”, great performance and delivery from Rebecca Crackett and Chloe Douglass  singing pharaoh Story, Derek Crooks with his Elvis interpretation of “Song of The Kings” and Stephen Fay and the company delivering “The Brother’s  come to Egypt. We were next taken to Northampton  with two numbers for the musical Kinky Boots, Gabrielle Smith delivery a stand out performance with the musical number  “History Of The Wrong Guy” excellent delivery  strong confident vocals and good use of the stage, Daniel Drydon delivered a sterling polished performance of “Soul Of A Man” great performance from this talented young man. Dear Evan Hanson is a new musical to me and it was so nice to hear two lovely numbers from this new musical: Alexandra Fisk sang “So Big So Small” nice delivery and confidently delivered, Sean Smith and company delivered “You Will Be Found” lovely sentimental song lovely number for this group great harmonies and it is so nice to see Sean back on the stage such a talent.  To conclude the first Act the group sang two songs from the musical Lion King the first “He Lives In You” fantastic delivery and lovely vocals this was followed by “Shadowland” another company number supported by vocalist Samantha Kennedy who delivered a stand out performance excellent powerful vocals a perfect number to end act one.

The second act opened with Gabrielle Smith, Helen Smurthwaite, Lois Smith, Gemma Fowler, Cara Fowler and Jessica Chilton singing “Ex Wives” from the new musical Six which tells the story of the six wives of Henry VIII, excellent opening number well delivered, the next number the company took us to the outback with the number “Colour My World” from Pricilla Queen of the Desert: I loved this number great vocals, this was followed by a number from one of  my favourite musicals “Blood Brothers: Linda Fowler and the company delivered a lovely rendition of the song “ Tell Me It’s Not True, well delivered this was followed by two numbers from the Carole King musical  “Beautiful  and what a  beautiful duet from Cara and Gemma Fowler singing “He’s Sure The Boy” lovely vocals and well delivered: this was equally followed by Sean Smith who delivered a stand out performance with the number “Up On The Roof” great vocals. The next three numbers were from a great musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz:  Wicked is the fifth longest running musicals on Broadway and what a performance by three of the strongest and most talented young women I have seen, first to take to the stage was Helen Smurthwaite who delivered a stand out performance with the number “The Wizard And I”  and can this young lady sing, excellent vocals and tremendous stage presence,  Molly Stobbs was unbelievable for a seventeen years old this young lady delivered an outstanding performance of the number “No Good Deed” beautiful delivery and a well-polished performance and finally Gabrielle Smith supported by the company singing the number “Defying Gravity” again a fantastic and stand out performance from this talented young lady who delivered this iconic musical number with ease and provision well done. There followed a medley from another of my favourite musicals as the Company took us to France to deliver a spine tingling rendition of some of my favourite numbers from Les Misérables starting with company delivering “At The End Of The Day” confidently delivered, this was followed with Rebecca Crackett singing “I Dreamed A Dream” vocally this was outstanding I could listen to this young lady sing all day beautiful vocals, Hannah Brettell delivered a lovely performance of “Castle On A Cloud” which was followed by Sean Smith and Jason Waldock and the company delivering a confident “Do You Hear The People Sing” great number I loved the harmonies Chloe Douglass delivered a beautiful rendition of  “On My Own” lovely vocals and emotionally delivered and to conclude the medley Stephen Fay delivered a confident interpretation of "Bring Him Home”. Lois Smith sang “She Should Be Mine” from the musical Waitress and what a performance from this young lady, for such a young person her delivery was excellent:  great vocal control, excellent tone and volume which left the audience wanting to hear more, I predict we will be seeing more in the future from this young lady,  when we look at versatility Kristian Bailey definitely  demonstrated that he can turn his hand and voice to any genre: I loved his interpretation of “The Legend Of Loco Chanel” from the musical Everyone Talking About Jamie: excellent performance with good musical phrasing and delivery. When it comes to big numbers there’s nothing bigger than “Don’t Rain On My Parade” from the musical Funny Girl and Samantha  Kennedy  interpretation of the character Fanny Brice was certainly big: fantastic vocal control and beautifully delivered, Sadly all good things MUST come to an end and to nicely end A Night At The Musicals the full company delivered the Mamma Mia Medley with audience participation I think this was a perfect ending to a well performed and  delivered concert.

Congratulation to all principal soloists and members of the company including: Alison Carrick, Janice Farrow, Laura Gales and Jorden Hildrew for their contribution in delivering an absolutely delightful concert: well done to everyone at Sunderland Theatre Company and thank you for the hospitality especially from your front of house staff, can’t wait to see you all again in your Christmas production of A Class Nativity.

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