Kings of Broadway was a special one-off concert, paying musical tribute to legendary songwriters Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman and Jule Styne, which took place last night at the Palace Theatre. Featuring West End stars such as Caroline Sheen, Richard Fleeshman, Alistair Brammer and Laura Pitt-Pulford, this certainly was one night not to be missed.
Highlights from Act 1 included Jordan Lee Davis’s dragged up performance of ‘I Am What I Am’ from La Cage Aux Folles and a beautiful Into The Woods medley performed by Janie Dee, Anna O’Byrne, Deborah Crowe and Jamie Parker. Celine Schoenmaker brought the house down at the end of the act with ‘Don’t Rain On My Parade’ from a medley of songs from Parade. Open Act 2 was Janie Dee, Laura Tebbutt, Anna O’Byrne, Laura Pitt- Pulford, Deborah Crowe, Fra Fee, Jack North, Michael Colbourne, Nadim Naaman, Jordan Lee Davis & Alistair Brammer performing the opening number from COMPANY which is one of my favourite Sondheim shows and the performance did not disappoint. There was a lovely trio of performances from Sondheim shows in the second half of the show as well with ‘Move On’ from Sunday In The Park With George, ‘Johanna’ from Sweeney Todd and ‘Maria’ from West Side Story, all brilliantly performed.
Kings of Broadway was a brilliant night out, staged with a live band of thirty musicians (led by Alex Parker) which really brought a special quality to the evening. The show was well rehearsed and ran very smoothly, which is rare to see for a one-off concert with so many people involved.
Reviewed by West End Wilma
Photo: Darren Bell