On Sunday I attended the West End Does: The Magic of Animation concert that was held at Cadogen Hall in Sloane Square. This concert was a one night only exclusive of some of the biggest names in the West End coming together and singing loads of songs from the animated films that we love, especially Disney films, so for me this is my ideal night.
Our host for the evening was the ever amazing Christopher Biggins who bought a lot of laughter and wit into his short and brief hosting duties, he was so lovely. Then for the West End stars we had Fra Fee who most recently starred in The Ferryman which he won awards for. Carrie Hope Fletcher, who needs no explanation having been in Les Miserables, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, War of the Worlds and most recently The Addams Family. Danielle Hope who won Andrew Lloyd Webber's Over the Rainbow show on BBC going onto play Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz as well as Les Miserable, Grease and many more. Rob Houchen was is a director of the West End Does brand and has been in Les Miserables and Titanic notably. Bradley Jaden who is currently Fiyero in Wicked on the West End and has been in Les Miserables and Shrek and many more. Eva Noblezada who has just finished playing Kim in Miss Saigon on Broadway as well as playing the character on the West End as well, she also performed in Les Miserables. Celinde Schoenmaker who recently starred in Barnum as well playing title roles in both Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables. Rachel Tucker most famous for playing Elphaba in Wicked both on the West End and Broadway longer than any other actress in which she won numerous awards for the role. Marisha Wallace has performed in both the West End and Broadway performing in Oklahoma, The Book of Mormon, Aladdin, The Colour Purple and most recently Dreamgirls. So this was our stellar cast to sing an amazing array of songs and they didn't disappoint at all. Also an added note for the orchestra and their conductor Alex Parker who were amazing throughout the whole show.
The show started with a very familiar Overture of Disney's When you Wish Upon a Star which was absolutely beautiful. Next was Eva, Celinde and Danielle doing a Pocahontas medley of Just Around the Riverbend and Colours of the Wind which was beautiful the girls had different voices that worked and fitted really nicely together they were a great Pocahontas trio. We then had Bradley singing Better than I from Joseph which I didn't know at all but Bradley's voice is incredible his vocal range is amazing and he sung the song beautifully. Celinde was back to sing When Will My Life Begin from Tangled and she was one person I was excited to hear sing and she didn't disappoint she has such a unique voice which is amazing and she sung the song brilliantly and added a bit of characterisation whilst singing. Celinde then stayed on stage to sing I See the Light from Tangled and she was then joined on stage by Fra Fee and their voices blended together beautifully which is what is needed for a song like this, also at the end Fra scooping Celinde up off the stage was adorable and funny. Next was Eva singing Reflection from Mualn which is a song I expected her to sing and wow her voice, she reminds me of my friend Sarah as they are both small but when they sing their voices are big and powerful and incredible, she did the song justice and it was lovely. Then surprisingly we were treated to a rendition of Once Upon A December the hauntingly beautiful song from Anastasia which was sung just by the choir and it gave me chills is was hauntingly beautiful, it's one of my favourites and I am so glad they put that in. Keeping with the Anastasia theme next was our first taste of Carrie Hope Fletcher singing Journey to the Past which is also on her album and she just smashes this song it's such a great song from an amazing film, Carrie is incredible. Next up was Rob singing Proud of Your Boy from the Aladdin musical, this song was put in the film then cut but put into the musical and it's one the best songs in the Aladdin show and Rob smashed it, it was perfection. Then there was the surprising song selection of A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes from Cinderella, which made me incredibly happy and we had Danielle sing this song and I found her voice calming and beautiful, she performed the song as it should be done I feel, I was impressed. The final song for Act One was Rachel Tucker performing Let It Go, unfortunately I don't like this song very much but I liked the more jazz sounding backing music and Rachel's voice is amazing.
After a 20 minute ish interval Act Two started with Rob and Carrie dueting Beauty and the Beast and my heart soared these two are perfect stage partners for one another. They were incredible and I loved the little dance in the middle of the song it was lovely. Carrying on the Disney theme we had Bradley singing/rapping You're Welcome from Moana and wow best performance of the night in my opinion, really got the crowd going and cheering and clapping along. His vocals were flawless in both the singing and the rapping I was blown away. Then Eva carried on the Moana theme by singing How Far I'll Go which was great, I loved the mix of old Disney and new Disney throughout this concert it really catered for everyone. Then the Hercules section of the show started with Danielle singing I Won't Say I'm In Love which is one of the best songs and she'd be an amazing Meg I think she really got the flow of the song. Then we had Marisha bring the house down with Zero to Hero she commanded that stage start to finish and blew the song out of the water she was incredible and got the audience involved in the song it was great. Then to end the Hercules section we had Rob sing the pop version of Go The Distance which is such an iconic song and he smashed it. Next was another song I hadn't heard of and that is The Prayer from the animated film Quest for Camelot, this was a beautiful song sung by both Rachel and Bradley with Rachel singing a majority in English and Bradley in Italian which was impressive and beautiful, just wow again. Next was one the best Disney songs in my opinion and that is Out There from The Hunchback of Notre Dam which was sung by Fra and it was incredible to hear it live and if it ever became a musical I want Fra to play Quasimodo because his voice just fits the bill. Then we had the wonderful Carrie Hope Fletcher sing the pop version of Can You Feel the Love Tonight? which was beautiful her vocals are amazing. Then we had Rachel sing Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid, I wasn't a fan of this song, I think because it's generally not one of my favourites but that's okay. The show was finished with Rob and Marisha singing When You Believe from Prince of Egypt which is such an iconic song and their voices complimented one another really well, it was a great powerful song. Throughout the show Biggins would pop up every now and again giving us some well humoured commentary and praising the incredible talent that we saw. Overall, I had an amazing evening I'm so glad I went and saw these insanely talented people sing Disney for a night. There were hiccups along the way with timing, microphones and all that but it never disrupted the show in any way and was taken in good humour. My one complaint is I would have liked a big group farewell sing that would have really capped the performance but nonetheless it was amazing.
A side note on the venue and seats Cadogen Hall is such a pretty little venue, I was impressed reminds me of a tiny version of the Birmingham Symphony Hall. Our seats were Row R which was back of the stalls but I liked the view and fact that it was only a 4 seat row. I'd highly recommend the venue itself. Also on the side of merchandise there were programmes, posters and postcards of the performers all at a reasonable £4 each or £10 for a package which I thought was great value. Also inside the venue at our seats was a little poster of the stars drawn as fairytale characters which is a lovely keepsake to have.
Keep an eye out for more West End Does concert by looking on their social media platforms on Twitter and Instagram with the username: @westenddoes
I hope you enjoyed this post, until next time
Stacey x
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