Songs from the Shows in Concert

As it’s title suggests this show was full of songs from, mostly, well known musicals.  However there were some surprises which were good to be reminded of.  Opening with Be Our Guest from Beauty and the Beast and moving into a short selection from The Lion King all the cast seemed to enjoy what they were singing.  Highlights for me were hearing songs from Flower Drum Song (You Are Beautiful), A Little Night Music (Send in the Clowns), Unexpected Song from Song and Dance and the title song from Fings Ain’t Wot They Used To Be.  Happily Ever After, from a 1959 musical which starred Carol Burnett, was well performed and Once In Love With Amy from Where’s Charley was lovely.  As always, Les Mis made an appearance as the finale and there were appearances from Fiddler on the Roof, Grease, Anything Goes, The King and I, Miss Saigon and Wicked.

It was a relatively static show, simply staged with lighting variation and different costumes for each half, and books were used for the full chorus numbers.  The only problem with this is that, even though we normally know the songs, we tend to keep our eyes glued to the book.   Those members of the cast here who did raise their eyes and communicated with the audience came across very well, especially Jodie Hughes, Mel Kendall and Oprah Kitchen.

The audience loved the she show, singing along with everything they knew.  All in all a very enjoyable evening.

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