THE SECRET SOCIETY OF LEADING LADIES (Barn Theatre)***

By Imogen

Link: https://barntheatre.org.uk/secret-society-240221

Available until: Performances every night at 7.30pm until Sunday 7^th March.

The Secret Society of Leading Ladies is like a private concert just for you. The Barn Theatre has gathered together fourteen musical theatre stars, each singing a showstopping song from a hit musical. There are songs from modern classics like Waitress and Mean Girls (nothing from Six though despite having two Queens in the cast) but they’ve also got musicals like The Wizard of Oz and Fame for old people (though I quite like Fame to be fair, I saw Keith Jack in that and he is to die for.)

It’s a bit like Choose Your Own Adventure except it’s much more interesting because you get to hear songs which is much better than boring stuff like “should I go left or right?” or “should stay and fight or run away?” Decisions like “Should I watch a Waitress song or a Mean Girls song?” is far more interesting and realistic.

If you book for one concert, you only get to hear five songs and an encore but you can choose which 5 songs you want to hear. You get two or three options and you choose one and it goes like that till you get to the end. But if you pay £5 more you can watch all of them so you might as well really. £10 for 5 songs and an encore isn’t really worth it, even if you’re sensible and get someone else to pay because you end up with a very short concert. £10 for 14 songs (you only get 2 options on one song so if you want to see them all you have to sit through one song twice) it much more worth it. It’s basically buy one, get two for half-price and who wouldn’t go for that?

In between songs there are conversations between the singers you chose for your options. This is really clever. The singers are never seen on the same screen because you know, GERMS but they do seem to be interacting with each other. Some of them sound like complete nightmares to work with but I think they’re all pretending to be like their characters. I haven’t met all of them yet but I know some of these people and they’re always very nice to me.

There are some really good songs and some really good people. I’m not telling you who sings what but the singers include Jarneia Richard-Noel and Lauren Byrne from Six, Jocasta Amgill from & Juliet and Natalie Kassanga from Dear Evan Hansen. They all sing songs in a style that really suits them.

The songs come from musicals including Waitress, Mean Girls, Kinky Boots and Chicago.

I think it’s a great idea with some great songs but I wish there was a Secret Society of Leading Men too. I would love to see that so if this stupid pandemic goes on any longer maybe the Barn Theatre would like to consider it. When I watch women I am often thinking about how I could sing their songs better because I have a professional interest but when I watch men I usually just feel really happy. It does depend on what they look like though.