Rating *****
Reviewed by Jamie Chapman Dixon
The Leicester square theatre
7 – 9:45pm
Last night I think I witnessed one of the stagiest nights of my life, I guess it’s understandable seeing it was a night with the Tony and Olivier award winning Patti LuPone. If anyone is reading this and doesn’t know who Patti LuPone is then you need to scrap up on your Musical Theatre history quickly.
The night started with Seth Rudetsky warming the very much all male audience up with clips off some classic Musical Theatre history fails and some classic clips of show tunes including The Osmonds, giving their rendition of Fiddler on the Roof. Seth was on stage for 45 minutes before we had a short interval. The audience loved every moment he was on that stage. His presence, charm and just general comedic nature made everyone in the theatre warm to him instantly (even if he does talk incredibly fast at times).
Once we sat back down after the interval everyone was getting excited as they knew it was time for Patti to come on stage. As she entered the applause was deafening and it took several minutes for her to get a word out over the thunderous noise.
The night continued with Patti singing old show tune classics from the ‘thousands that she had prepared’ and Seth accompanying her. We saw classic such as “Rainbow High” (Evita), “I Dreamed A Dream” (Les Misérables), ” Everything’s Coming Up Roses” (Gypsy) and many more.
We also got a glimpse into Patti’s life with Seth playing the interviewer. We found out the stories behind some classic experiences including Evita, Les Mis, Sunset Boulevard and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Seth did a brilliant job at putting Patti on the spot and really choose the right question to ask. Overall the night felt very relaxed and they really engaged the audience into the broadway world and made us all feel very comfortable and part of the show.
If you love musical theatre and even more so if you love Patti LuPone then this show is a must see. Any audience that gives three standing ovations to a performer is hard to argue with.