INTERMISSIONS CONCERT 1*****

 

By Megan

Link: https://page.inplayer.com/Intermissions/

Available until: 1^st September 2020

We missed the Intermissions shows when they were new but we were given a special offer of watching all four concerts for £20 (they’re £10 each) and that is so generous so we decided to watch them and I’m so glad we did.

The person who had the idea of doing the concerts is Alice Fearn who is a West End star. She played Elphaba in Wicked and she was playing Beverley, Annette and Others in Come from Away when all the theatres closed. The concerts were in Ms Fearn’s back garden so they didn’t break the rules and they were social distancing. I think it is a really lovely idea. I had a lot of fun watching this concert and I could tell the singers all had a really good time too and they were all in the garden together the whole time so they had an audience in person as well as an online audience.

There ware several guests in each concert and they all perform songs and talk to Ms Fearn about what they had been doing in lockdown. It is really friendly and relaxed which is nice but some of them are wearing concert clothes and concert hair. It is nice to dress up sometimes and it probably made it feel even more like a concert.

The camera work looked really professional. It felt quite weird to be watching films with lots of different camera angles. We’ve mostly been watching films of staged productions which don’t have many camera angles and concerts in lockdown so this feels really technical and exciting. We see lots of Ms Fearn’s lovely garden and she’s got some really pretty signs that say Intermissions and Broadway.

Nick Barstow played the piano. I don’t know how they got a whole piano into the garden but they did it! He’s really really good and he can sing too! He did some duets with Ms Fearn.

Ms Fearn opened the concert with a brilliant song, I’m not sure what it was called but I really liked it. Then she said a few words about the theatres being closed. She is so good at talking to the camera. She explains everything really well so it sounds really professional but she sounds really friendly too. She also sang a song called Old Friends which is really nice because she got to see lots of her old friends in the concerts.

The first guest was Andy Coxon. Mr Coxon described the moment when his production of West Side Story shut down on Day 2 of rehearsals. It was really really sad but it was really special to hear what had happened and how it felt. He also told us about making his own deodorant called Akt which helps actors when they get too hot in performances. It sounds really helpful.

The next guest was Jodie Steele who was on the national tour of Six but since the theatres closed she has been working as a carer for autistic people. She cares for two ladies who love musical theatre so she taught them routines and she really loves doing it. She also does really fun workshops on her website Jodie Steele Associates which is called JSA for short. I watched a play recently where someone was moaning about JSA and I was really confused because Jodie Steele Associates is brilliant but then Louise (my sister) explained they meant Job Seeker’s Allowance which is money you get when you don’t have a job. That made a lot more sense. Ms Steele also talked about how the Six drive in tour was planned and then cancelled a few days later which is really really sad. We’re going to see Ms Steele in Godspell tomorrow (online I mean) and I am so excited!

A lady called Shan Ako sang a new song called Step Up which she wrote herself. I really like the song a lot and she has a really beautiful voice. I don’t think I know anyone else who has a voice like her and it’s so lovely. She talked about her inspirations for writing sings and her first musical theatre appearance in Les Misérables and what happened when the theatres closed.

There was a really lovely section about the students who graduated this year who probably didn’t get to finish their course and when they got out there was no theatre. Lots of people from the theatre industry did lovely encouraging messages for them all and that was so nice of Ms Fearn to organise that and for them all to do it.

Afterwards Ms Fearn showed us an interview she did on Zoom a while ago with a graduate called Elliot Akeister where she asked him lots of questions where he had to choose between two options. He shouldn’t feel bad for not knowing people from The Great British Bake Off because I’ve never seen it either. I’m sure it’s very good but we don’t have time to watch all the good programmes because we need to sleep sometimes and get our daily exercise. Mr Akeister sang Her Voice from The Little Mermaid. He has a lovely voice and I’m sure I will see him in the West End one day. I thought he acted the song really well and when I looked at his eyes it was like he was really looking at someone which made it feel really real.

Ms Fearn and Ms Ako sang When You Believe from The Prince of Egypt together. I haven’t seen The Prince of Egypt but I really want to. This song makes me feel really shivery. It says there can be miracles when you believe so I am going to believe in lots of miracles for everyone.

There is a social interactive media section where Ms Fearn reads us all the messages and shows us pictures from people who are watching live. It sounds like people really enjoyed it a lot and I’m not surprised because I really enjoyed it too.

Ms Fearn sang You’ll Never Walk Alone which is famous as the song of Liverpool who finally got their first Premier League trophy this year, they are not my favourite team but they really deserved it and I was quite worried they would void the season and not have a champion so I’m glad they did. But it is also a song in a musical called Carousel which is available to watch online. I really like the way Ms Fearn changed her voice so it sounded more like Rodgers & Hammerstein, it was almost like light opera. I really liked the arrangement too. Her last song was really jazzy and she can sing that too, she’s really good. I hope I’ll get to see her in Come from Away one day. She is so talented and she is a really nice person too.

At the end we got a preview from Emma Lindars who is going to be a guest in the next show. I am looking forward to seeing her. Sam Tutty from Dear Evan Hansen is going to be a guest too.

We are going to watch and review one Intermissions concert each day. I don’t think I will review them all but I know the other concerts will be brilliant so I hope lots of people will buy them and enjoy them before the offer runs out.