West End Live 2022
West End Live is one of the biggest theatre events of the year here in the UK. The event is completely free and is on a first come first served basis. West End Live runs on both Saturday and Sunday in Trafalgar Square. Throughout the weekend we were given the opportunity to see a multitude of different shows performing some of their most famous songs. All of the performances were great but I’m going to share my thoughts on the ones that particularly stood out to me.
The Drifters Girl
This was the first time that The Drifters Girl has performed at West End Live as they are a fairly new production having only opened in November 2021. It is safe to say that they did not disappoint at all. The boys opened their performance with one of The Drifters’ most iconic songs “Kissin’ in the back row of the movies”, which immediately got the crowd excited. They then went into “There goes my first love”, another upbeat number which truly made the guys shine. After the boys had done their part, the iconic Beverly Knight took the stage to perform. She performed “Harlem Girl” and left the crowd speechless. She is such a powerhouse and if anyone was on the fence about seeing the full show, this performance definitely proves it’s worth going.
Roles We’ll Never Play
Roles We’ll Never Play is actually a musical concert, using music from a variety of shows with people who you wouldn’t typically expect to be singing the songs. For example, the whole adult cast singing “revolting children” from the musical, Matilda. One of my personal favourites from this performance was Tom Duern singing “I Say No” from Heathers. Whilst we only got a brief showing of the song, what we got was remarkable and his voice was mesmerising. He sang with such conviction and I will definitely be endeavouring to see the full show. Another sensational vocal performance was Carl Mullaney singing “Popular” from Wicked. Even without costume and staging, it was like he channelled Kristen Chenoweth and gave us a brilliant show. Every single member of the cast was incredible and it was one of my favourite performances of the day.
The Phantom Of The Opera
The Phantom Of The Opera is such a well-known musical but unfortunately can become quite predictable. However, this year there was just something special about it. Hearing Lucy St Louis and Rhys Whitfield singing “All I ask of you” was breathtaking and the chemistry these two actors have on stage is evident. The spell-binding moment of this performance was hands down “The music of the night” which I know, phantom always [erform this song for any appearances, but what was so amazing, was the fact that they chose to showcase the three understudies of the role of the Phantom. The trio sounded absolutely perfect together, and I haven’t stopped thinking of their performance since I first heard it. I really enjoy the fact that West End Live gives the understudies their chance to shine and each of the three men, Ashley Stillburn, James Grant, and James Humes, make fantastic Phantoms.
Jersey Boys
Everyone loves Jersey Boys. It’s a great musical and has some brilliant songs that everyone knows and can dance to. This was time brilliantly to perk up the audience as it is a long day. The audience was clearly enjoying themselves and so were the boys on stage and that was evident from the moment they walked onto the stage. The main role of Frankie Valli, is played by Ben Joyce and this role is actually his West End Debut., not then you can tell. His stage presence is matched with the rest of the cast. The audience was singing for a long and some fans were even mimicking the dance moves, which the four seasons made recognisable. The fans especially enjoyed it when they began to sing “Beggin”, which was one of the group's biggest hits, and has been covered by multiple artists since, which meant that almost everyone there knew the words and the place turned into one big sing a long, which is nothing to complain about!