Why settle for one musical when you can watch the iconic hits from all our favourites? In the Summer of 2020, the incredible team at ‘West End Musical Brunch’ brought us ‘West End Musical Drive In’ and stunned audiences from their vehicles in the two-hour performance. Now in 2021 we are brought the recorded experience of all five concerts in the comfort of our own homes.
Hosted by Shanay Holmes (co-founder of ‘West End Musical Brunch’) act one of the first concert presents us with a lineup of moving, heartfelt songs such as ‘On My Own’ from ‘Les Misérables’ performed by former Éponine Shan Ako and ‘Burn’ from ‘Hamilton’ performed by Maiya Quansah Breed. Shortly after we were introduced to the headline act Layton Williams who is known for a number of roles such as Billy Elliot in ‘Billy Elliot the Musical’, Angel from ‘Rent’, Stephen from the television series ‘Bad Education’ and notably most famous for the role of Jamie in ‘Everybody’s Talking About Jamie’. In his first performance he was joined by 5 members of the original cast of ‘Jamie’ the musical as they executed ‘And You Don’t Even Know It’.
Act two contrasted act one, with its mix of party songs I as well as the audience on the day could get up and dance to. Such as ‘Run and Tell That’ from ‘Hairspray’ and ‘Almost There’ from ‘The Princess and The Frog’. There was even a surprise appearance from Noah Thomas who also played Jamie from its respective musical.
Throughout the entire concert I was stunned by the outfit’s performers were dressed in. Noticeably, Williams as well as the cast of ‘Jamie’ the musical had three separate costume changes. People similar to me will find that this keeps engagement to the show especially since the glittery nature of such costumes is so mesmerizing.
As Enjoyable as the performances are, I truly think it was unnecessary to keep the ‘West End Musical Drive In’ frame around the screen for the full run-time as it was very distracting. At selective points in the show singers would ask the audience to sing along and commend them for doing so, however at the recorded end we could barely hear a whisper if anything from the crowd. Despite this I must praise the cast and the behind-the-scenes team for continuing the show regardless of the British weather giving them every reason to stop.
All together ‘West End Musical Drive In’ provided audiences with an enjoyable line up of songs and polished performances. It is definitely not something to be missed in this lockdown period. https://www.westendmusicaldrivein.co.uk/
Reviewer: Julia Panova
Reviewed: 20th February 2021
North West End UK Rating: ★★★★