THE THEATRE CHANNEL EPISODE 2 (Theatre Café)*****

 

By Megan

Link: https://www.thetheatrecafe.co.uk/episodes/the-theatre-channel-episode-2/

Available until: April 2021

The Theatre Café Channel is a great idea and it’s so much fun. There’s one every month and it’s lots of big West End stars singing really good musical theatre songs. There are a few I hadn’t heard before but I’d definitely like to hear them again.

As it’s nearly Halloween, this episode had a spooky theme. The opening number was performed by Jordan Shaw and the Café Four. It was a really spectacular way to start the episode and although Jordan Shaw was a great lead singer, all the Café Four – Alyn Hawke, Emily Langham, Sadie-Jean Shirley and Alex Woodward - all show how talented they are. The costumes and lighting are really special all the way through this episode.

I won’t tell you all the songs because that will spoil it but several of the musicals are based on some very well-known scary books including Dracula, Frankenstein, Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde and a much more recent horror story. There are two others which are much lighter but still creepy and another that surprised me at first as I didn’t think it was scary at all, but then I thought about it and decided that actually, anything based on fairy tales is likely to have scary bits.

Aimie Atkinson’s costume and make-up are brilliant and her song is perfect for her as she gets to sing sweetly and belt. I don’t think I should really say Bradley Jaden and Sophie Isaacs give a tortured performance because it’s definitely not torture if you’re watching it, it’s really brilliant, but the characters are tortured and I could really feel that. Ria Jones sang a song from one of the musicals I know and I love her characterisation. Josh Piterman has to play two characters in his song, but he does really well with both of them.

Linzi Hateley is the only performer who doesn’t play a spooky character, but it’s definitely a spooky musical and it’s a really powerful and sad performance. She does a bonus feature at the end of the show which is really interesting so I hope you won’t switch off the video as soon as the credits start rolling because there is more to watch and it’s good.

Trevor Dion Nicholas closes the show brilliantly. He played Genie in Aladdin who I suppose could be seen as spooky because of the magic element, but that’s not who he plays tonight. He plays someone very different! He is really good at this role too. The Theatre Café Four are back for this one and they all look amazing and there’s also a guest appearance from a musical theatre legend. It’s so much fun, it’s like being at the theatre again!