Following on from the success of their debut concert, There’s Nothing Like a Dame, Jamie Lambert and Eliza Jackson, as Lambert Jackson Productions, returned to the beautiful setting of Cadogan Hall for another concert celebrating women in musicals. West End Women showcased the extraordinary talents of three west end superstars. Celinde Schoenmaker, Rachel John and Lauren Samuels graced the stage for the two-hour concert, which took the audience on a thrilling journey through the evolution of women in musicals.
The audience will have recognised many of the musical numbers, accompanied by a small but mighty orchestra, under the musical direction of Adam Hoskins. But there were some less well-known numbers sprinkled in to the programme, from Lloyd-Webber to Bernstein and Rogers & Hammerstein, this concert avoided the cliches and allowed its stars to shine.
For a portion of the first half, the West End Women were joined by The MX Masterclass Choir, who gave an impressive performance of ‘Blow, Gabriel, Blow’ from Anything Goes and it was already clear that amongst these youngsters were some future West End stars. After accompanying the leading ladies on a song each, the MX Academy Choir gave a spirited version of West Side Story’s ‘America’, and we were reminded again why talent like this needs to be nurtured.
Lambert Jackson Productions had run a competition to find a singer who would take to the stage during the concert. So impressed were they with the calibre of entrants, they selected five winners who all featured on the night. Lauren Shields, Kayla Carter and Martha Boon performed Chicago’s ‘Cell Block Tango’ alongside Schoenmaker, John and Samuels, and it turned out to be one of the best performances of the night.
Brady Isaacs Pearce and Talia Robens, just 18 and 14 years of age respectively commanded the audiences attention with solo numbers. Pearce wowed the audience with a beautiful rendition of ‘A Piece of Sky’ from Yentl, while Robens delivered a showstopper with ‘Everything I Know’ from In The Heights.
The three stars of the show of course did not disappoint, amongst all the numbers they performed, Celinde Schoenmaker gained a mid-show standing ovation for a breathtaking performance of ‘Think of Me’ from Phantom Of The Opera. Quickly folllowed by Rachel John’s glorious version of ‘Look at Me’. Lauren Samuels had the audience in raptures with ‘Never Enough’ from The Greatest Showman.
Lambert Jackson have truly excelled with West End Women, not only did they do a tremendous job of showcasing three outstanding talents, they reminded the audience of the wealth and breadth of female roles in musical theatre. They have also provided an opportunity to the MX Masterclass Choir, and five exceptional competition winners to share the stage, and learn from the professionals. An eclectic mix of programming, sensational performers, and a desire to nurture those at the beginning of their careers, means Lambert Jackson have found the winning formula when it comes to musical theatre concerts.
Lambert Jackson’s next concert is Main Men of Musicals at Cadogan Hall on 31st May 2019.
As a paying customer on Saturday evening I agree with most of this review but regarding “the audience will have recognised most of the musical numbers” there were indeed several songs in the “less well-known numbers” category, not identified by the lady doing the introductions only one of which I personally knew.
I also felt the running time was a bit on the short side ( just over 90 minutes plus a 20 minute interval, not 2 hours). I am sure the five competition winners – uniformly excellent – could have been allocated time for a second song each, thereby giving the audience even better value for money.
Four stars from me.
Drawn to the show remembering Lauren who I was disappointed did not win Over The Rainbow some years ago and she certainly did not disappoint with this performance, and hopefully has a lot more ‘leads’ to come in the future judging from this. Joined in the well deserved standing ovation for Celinde whose singing range left me wanting to hear more and more from her in the future, and Rachel was also top class. The ‘support’ was simply unbelievable just demonstrating the amount of talent there is around for the future and the amount of effort and knock backs there must be in striving to reach the top. So very much five stars from me in a perfect venue although I do agree with the lack of song introductions. As for the length of the show, it was a trifle short but no length would ever have been enough.