A WEST END CHRISTMAS (Make a Difference Trust/St Paul's Church****

 

By Alan

Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/2

Available until: Livestreams on Friday 11^th, Saturday 12^th and Sunday 13^th December at 7.30pm and Saturday 12^th and Sunday 13^th at 2.30pm.

There are a lot of really good Christmas concerts on the internet. It is really nice that we get to see our favourite West End actors in so many concerts especially as there are a lot of events we are missing out on this year. It helps make everything feel a bit more Christmassy and when the same performers appear in different concerts they have always sung different songs so far.

This one has lots of different singers in and lots of different types of Christmas songs. There is also some dancing, Robin Windsor and Anya Garnis who used to be in Strictly dance to a version of a carol.

Some of the singers do solos and some sing in pairs or groups so the concert isn’t all the same. It’s not just everyone singing one a time. It would be understandable if it was like that with social distancing but they kept it varied. There are people from lots of different West End shows too.

The casts of Only Fools and Horses, The Phantom of the Opera and Come from Away all did group cast numbers. The Only Fools and Horses cast did a mash-up of different songs which are different from each other and from the music on the Only Fools and Horses soundtrack. The Phantom cast do a really good mash-up too, switching between Christmas songs and musical theatre songs and it is fun waiting to see what they do next. The Come from Away cast do a really good performance which closes the show.

Lots of other West End musicals are represented too. Kirstie Skivington and Grace Mouat from & Juliet sing a duet. Their voices blend really well and they have a good connection. Their co-star Oliver Tompsett sings a solo with a really magical feel. Hiba Elchikhe and Sejal Keshwala from Everybody’s Talking About Jamie sing a song which is usually sung as a solo (it’s a famous song) but it makes a really good duet.

Marisha Wallace whose recording of Tomorrow became one of the anthems of lockdown gives a really amazing performance. You also get to see Kerry Ellis (two really good performances), Clive Rowe (a really lovely arrangement of a well known song) and lots of others. Tom Allen (the actor, not Sir Thomas Allen the opera singer) does a reading from a popular Christmas story.

But this concert isn’t just about giving us a good time, it was organised by the Make a Difference Trust who are raising funds for children in Kenya and they have already built them a school. We get to see the children and hear a little bit from them and they do actually seem happy even though I’m sure things are still very hard. I hope the MAD Trust are able to continue helping them as well as helping with COVID emergencies. They help a lot of people and make them feel happier and that is really special.