Bucket List

The concert was billed as ‘songs we want to sing from the shows we cannot stage’ and proved to be an eclectic mix of songs from across the musical theatre spectrum. The whole evening was compered by the MC in an easy, informal style with brief description of what was to come between each number.

The stage was largely left empty with the occasional item of furniture or prop to set the scene.  Lighting was extremely effective with a different lighting style for each song, to highlight the variations in mood and tempo.  The disco lights for The Last Five Years and the bright light to represent a flame for ‘Burn’ from Hamilton were particularly successful. Costumes were simple on the whole but in some numbers the singers performed in a more show appropriate dress or with a well chosen accessory.  Sound was good and the MD provided excellent accompaniment from the single keyboard.

There were some real highlights during the evening from some very talented singers and performers.  Songs from Six, Waitress and Hamilton were all superb with excellent vocals and strong acting. There was a very entertaining rendition of ‘Friendship’ from Anything Goes, with nicely blended voices and a good connection between the pair.  Miss Saigon was another highlight vocally and there was a very engaging performance from The Last Five Years. I also very much enjoyed ‘When You’re Good to Mama’ from Chicago.

The opening of Act 2 was the beautiful ‘Sunday’ from Sunday in the Park with George, which ended with the cast in a very effective tableau of the famous Georges Seurat painting.  The numbers from The Addams Family and Matilda, which closed the concert, were also very well presented.

As the evening progressed it was clear the Director was keen to showcase musical numbers from some of the less familiar musicals and in isolation these worked well.  It was great to hear the group tackling numbers from Sondheim’s rarely performed Frogs, Ahrens and Flaherty’s Seussical, Anais Mitchell’s Hadestown and Curtains, one of the lesser known works by Kander and Ebb.  However, when reviewing these in the context of the programme as a whole, it felt there was a need to balance the more dramatic slower items with some bigger chorus numbers and more up tempo songs. Perhaps too, there could have been more movement and we lost the full impact of some numbers by positioning the chorus at the back of the stage where it was difficult to see and hear them.

All that said, this was still an enjoyable evening’s entertainment for which the cast should be congratulated.

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