'Friday Night Is Music Night' with Kerry Ellis

I don't know if I have mentioned this in my blog before but Kerry Ellis is by far one of my favourite singers. Musical theatre is where she started her career and playing the role of Elphaba in Wicked both in the West End and on Broadway was her big breakthrough. She is also famous for playing Nancy in Oliver!, Meat in We Will Rock You and  Svetlana in the concert version of Chess at the Royal Albert Hall amongst others. She has become noticed by the general audience also as a result of collaborating with legendary Queen guitarist, Brian May, who played on and produced her solo album, Anthems. 

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Friday Night Is Music Night at Watford Colosseum, Watford

On 20th April 2012 at 20:00

Organised and broadcast live by BBC Radio 2

Seat: Stalls right, 3rd row

Performer: Kerry Ellis

Guests: Ramin Karimloo, Jonathan Ansell, Brian May

The last time I've been to a show that was broadcast live was the ABBA tribute concert in Hyde Park in 2009 I seem to remember (incidentally Kerry sang a song there as well). That went live on both radio and TV. Anyway, both times have been awesome already due to the fact that the audience really gets into the show. One of the worst things I know in the theatre is a boring and quiet audience so I really enjoyed this concert. The auditorium was completely full as well. Only when we actually sat down did I realise how good seats we actually had. 

Kerry was the main performer of the night singing a bunch of songs mostly famous from musical theatre. I've seen Kerry perform live twice before. Apart from that time in Hyde Park, I saw her on her Anthems tour last year. What I like about seeing Kerry do solo stuff live is that she never pretends to be anything aside from herself (and she seems like a lovely person). She doesn't need to. She only needs to open her mouth and start singing and she will have the audience listening. 


I had never heard this song before but it was one of my favourite songs of the evening: 

After the orchestra (they had a full orchestra on stage) had blasted out an instrumental medley including Wicked, 9 to 5 and My Fair Lady, Kerry came on and opened the concert with Don't Rain On My Parade from Funny Girl. It was great to hear her sing again and, above all, to see her perform so close-up.

Some other songs sung by Kerry over the course of the evening:

• I Could Have Danced All Night from My Fair Lady (new arrangement)
• Cabaret from Cabaret
• Defying Gravity from Wicked (new arrangement)
• Love of My Life
• Born Free
• 9 to 5 from 9 to 5
• Lady is a Tramp from Babes in Arms
• Rock-A-Bye Your Baby

Because I know I have lots of Wicked fans reading this blog, here is the Defying Gravity Kerry performed on the night. Personally I didn't like this arrangement that much because I think this song needs much more guts but that put aside, Kerry does a beautiful job out of it: 

Ramin performed two songs from his new album as well as a duet, Somewhere from West Side Story with Kerry. Ramin is also one of my favourite musical theatre performers. He has such a fantastic voice, too perfect for Phantom. So when he sang "Hold my hand..." I was thinking in my head "Kerry, don't do it! He's the Phantom!". From where I was sitting you couldn't hear all of Kerry's high notes in the song that well, her voice is quite breathy generally and obviously she isn't a soprano, but in this audio I found the whole song is fine actually (and the song itself goes on forever, doesn't it...!): 

Jonathan Ansell I had never actually heard of before but his rendition of Anthem from Chess was one of the highlights of the evening. It was definitely one of the best versions I have heard and the final note was just "Wow". Kerry picked it up and said, kind of in passing "I don't do that on my album". The way she said it made everyone laugh.
Jonathan also sang a classical piece and a duet with Kerry: Come What May from (I'm sure you all know where) Moulin Rouge. Kerry sang this with Alfie Boe on his album and I was half expecting Alfie to come on stage but Jonathan did a great job of the song as well.


I had absolutely no idea Brian May was going to be there. I spotted his distinctive hair by the side of the stage when the previous song was reaching its end and I had to keep myself from bouncing up and down. I had seen the pair of them perform together on the Anthems tour and, well, you can imagine it was incredible. The audience was treated to Save Me and No One But You: Kerry blew the roof belting them out. One could just tell she was comfortable singing these songs, it's peculiar how confidence can shine through like that. 


So a very enjoyable evening overall, it was great hearing Kerry live again. And of course we are all waiting for a second solo album from her...

'Les Misérables' first (No, I had never seen it before)

Those people who know a bit more about me and my interest in musical theatre have expressed their shock when I have told them that I have neither seen this legendary musical nor know what it is about. I own a copy of the audio recording of the 10th anniversary concert (much love for Colm Wilkinson, Philip Quast, Ruthie Henshall etc.) and I have had that playing in the background but I had not listened to the lyrics particularly carefully. And of course I was familiar with some well-known songs like On My Own, I Dreamed A Dream and Do You Hear the People Sing? but aside from that I was very much in the dark until yesterday. 




I will put down some of the things I discovered and liked about the show. No heavy criticism as I don't want to offend anyone. Again, feel free to add your own comments :) 


Before the show: I thought Les Mis was was a story about war in which everyone dies. That will sound absolutely ridiculous to those of you who know the musical. It sounds ridiculous to me now that I have seen it. And I walked into the auditorium quietly singing Do You Hear the People Sing? to myself (and I left at the end still singing that).




Les Misérables at Queen's Theatre in London
Performance on 14th December 2011 at 14:30
Seat: Quite far back in the upper circle but in the middle of the row so I could still see the whole stage. I had binoculars with me.
Cast inc.: Ramin Karimloo (Jean Valjean), Hadley Fraser (Javert), A J Callaghan (Fantine, u/s), Alexia Khadime (Eponine), Lisa-Anne Wood (Cosette), Craig Mather (Marius), Liam Tamne (Enjolras), Cameron Blakely (Thénardier), Katy Secombe (Madame Thénardier)




I very much wanted to see Ramin in this since I've seen him in both The Phantom of the Opera and Love Never Dies before and I absolutely adore his voice. He sang beautifully; especially Bring Him Home was incredible and that long note at the end of Soliloquy genuinely made me jump - I just did not expect it to come out as strong as it did. The audience was quite lame and that combined with the fact that there are not many breaks for the audience to applaud in, everyone sat fairly silently. The only time there was a proper cheer before the curtain call was after Bring Him Home so there really was something extraordinary about that performance.
I have been hearing people doubting how well Ramin could play the part of Jean Valjean because they simply could not picture him do it. A friend of mine pointed out that Enjolras, whom Ramin has played before, is probably a  more suitable part for him. While I am not denying that Ramin was incredible and he adapted his vocals perfectly to the role, I can still see why some people might lean towards preferring him as Enjolras. His voice would have been perfectly suited to that part.


What was the best thing about the show? If I was to say just one thing I would say Javert's coat. I think his coat was really cool! Well that got me nicely onto Javert and the fact that Hadley Fraser was great in the part. And I thought it was brilliant how the part-allocation had worked out here thinking back at The Phantom of the Opera 25th anniversary concert in which Ramin played the Phantom and Hadley played Raoul. Anyway, Hadley has a great, great voice!


Many have wondered how Alexia did as Eponine. If I am honest, she did not leave as big an impression as some of the other actors did. I have heard so many great things about her though, that I have come to think she might simply have had a bit of an off-day today. Her voice is very powerful and on occasion it stood out a little bit too much from the cast as a whole in my opinion, slightly due to nasality as well. However, she did add a riff to On My Own which I liked very much!




Particular mentions go to:

• Lisa-Anne Wood who sang Cosette beautifully. She has quite a pretty, unique voice and I have a feeling we will be hearing of her in the future. Landing a role like this pretty much straight from drama school is no easy thing so she does have talent.
• Katy Secombe came across as the perfect Madame Thénardier (what a name to spell - I keep having to re-check the spelling every time!) both considering voice and comic ability. 
• An amazing soprano voice in the ensemble whose owner I failed to identify but in some ensemble sections I could hear it above everyone else. 
• The little boy who played Gavroche, he seemed so comfortable on stage and made the audience laugh!

Observations:

• This musical consists pretty much completely of singing so for people who are not used to paying overly close to attention to lyrics (like me), it is not the easiest one to follow if you do not know the plot.
• I was surprised by how good the plot was. I am not quite sure why since a legendary musical such as this cannot really afford to have a dull or weird plot.
• This show relies a lot on a great ensemble and the ensemble numbers were impressive.
• There are so many markings on the stage - from the upper circle they are really visible.
• This is no musical for little children; the gunshots really scared me.
• In the barricade scene, from my seat I was able to see the 'dead' people getting up and exiting the stage behind the barricade.
• They have effectively taken advantage of the fact that there is a rotating stage.

I am aware that I am probably in the minority by actually reading the synopses in programmes so: If you have a copy of the Les Mis programme but have not read the synopsis, go and have a read for entertainment value. It is quite funny if you imagine how confusing it is for someone who does not know the plot. Not only are there tons of names, some of the sentences are also very long with several clauses, not to mention the occasional imprecise use of personal pronouns:


"Valjean confesses the truth of his past to Marius and insists he must go away." 


Sorry, who must go away? :P




Conclusion: Yes, I am intending to go and see Les Misérables again :) I am not sure how and why I have gone this long without seeing it. In addition, I know the original book by Victor Hugo is big but I might still have a go at reading it!


P.S. If someone knows what the initials in 'A J Callaghan' stand for, please share. I am curious to find out!