Wilma’s Rating ***
West End Men opened on Monday at the Vaudeville Theatre. A collection of musical theatre and pop songs, performed by four West End male theatre performers. Lee Mead, Matt Willis, Glenn Carter and David Thaxton.
The opening song was the biggest surprise of the night ‘Pure Imagination’ from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as well as Matt Willis doing an unexpected rendition of the Busted hit ‘Year 3000’. A nice little mix of ‘Bring Him Home’ and ‘One Day More’ were nicely accompanied by a Choir that came on stage.
Press Night was filled with other West End Men, who came along to cheer the boys on. Kieran Brown, Daniel Boys and David Hunter were just some of the hot young things I had the pleasure of rubbing shoulders with as well as the delightful Claire Sweeney (obviously not a west end man).
Matt Willis was the stand-out West End Man, showing that he really is quite the little performer! Lee Mead was not on top form and hit some interesting notes before eventually sounding like his voice gave up during his ‘As Long As You’re Mine’ duet with Kerry Ellis from the show Wicked.
Kerry Ellis joins the West End Men for some of these shows, giving a welcome female voice to accompany the boys. Starting off with ‘America Out Tonight’ from Rent, Kerry went on to perform a few other songs including a more mellow, yet powerful version of Wicked’s ‘Defying Gravity’. Sadly, I think guest spot performances like this will soon be a thing of the past for Kerry as her talent blows everyone else out of the water. She should really be headlining her own shows but thankfully she was on board to give this one some well needed energy.
West End Men is a collection of songs, performed live on stage, with some cheesy, over rehearsed banter in-between. It’s a concert and not a theatre show but it is an enjoyable evening out for any theatre fan.