The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber

Midway through the first act of The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber when Blake Bowden sang “’Til I Hear You Sing” it happened - I started to feel tingles up my spine - that marvelous thrill you get when everything is working right in music-theatre. Bowden’s stunning tenor took this show-stopping song from Lloyd Webber’s newest hit and made it one of the night’s highlights.

Alinta Chidzey proved with Superstar’s “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” what an incredible talent she has. We knew she could dance (wasn’t she the best thing in West Side Story), we knew she looked good, but that voice is simply dripping with soul. She lit up the stage at every appearance.

Michael Cormack also thrillingly came into his own with The Phantom of the Opera segment giving us a taste of what London audiences heard when he played the role in the West End.

Delia Hannah’s turns as Evita, Grisabella, and Norma Desmond, were studied and mannered. She hit all the right notes, but lacked the passion, a criticism that could be leveled at a lot of the performances.

Together the company did well with “The Vaults of Heaven” from Whistle Down the Wind and their encore “Any Dream Will Do” (Joseph).

This is not the first concert of Lloyd Webber’s amazing catalogue of hits, but it’s far and away the best production, with the orchestra seated upstage behind six screens of varying sizes which were continually ablaze with images by Julie Lynch. At times they shifted focus from the performers on stage, but at others, like the Phantom of the Opera sequence, they worked brilliantly.

Stuart Maunder’s direction kept it moving, Michael Waters’ sound design was loud, but clear, Elizabeth Hill’s choreography was perfunctory, and Paul White’s musical direction got a big sound out of a small eight-piece group that included three keyboards.

Peter Pinne

Images: Jeff Busby.