Musicals unite London at West End Live

Credit: Official London Theatre

While music fans were trekking through the mud at Glastonbury, musical theatre fans were descending on Trafalgar Square for the 13th annual West End Live. The free event on 24-25 June was designed to give a taste of what London’s theatres have to offer, but turned into a celebration of unity after recent potentially divisive events.

West End Live attracts a crowd of more than half a million visitors, and queues to see the performances from West End shows and acts stretched around the block. This year there was an even greater significance to the weekend because of Mayor Sadiq Khan’s #LondonIsOpen campaign, which shows that London remains a welcoming, international city following the EU referendum. Many theatre stars posed with the campaign sign, recognising that the creative industry relies on this diversity. Stomp, the show which creates percussive music with ordinary objects and bodies, also had a background that read “Speaks all languages” – it was clear that music crosses the divide.

West End stalwart John Owen-Jones summed this up during his performance when he said: “This city has been through some dark and difficult times recently, but what shone through all that darkness has been love and humanity, and we’re all here today to celebrate that. We are a community and we are a family.”

Theatre usually costs £40 a ticket on average – the UK industry made over £1billion in ticket sales last year – so this was a rare opportunity to experience musical theatre for free. The Society of London Theatre says West End Live is one of the biggest free arts festivals in Europe. The event, organised by Westminster City Council and Official London Theatre, first took place in 2006 in Leicester Square, but has been held in Trafalgar Square for seven years.

Celebrity hosts including Jason Manford and Claire Sweeney led the occasion – but the music spoke for itself. Sign language interpreters Jack and Andy were also a hit during their signing of the performances, with many audience members taking to Twitter to say they stole the show.

Long-running shows including Les Miserables, Wicked, The Phantom of the Opera and The Lion Kingwowed the audience with well-known songs, with the crowd singing along to tunes such as Defying Gravity, Music of the Night and Circle of Life. Sets from big new shows such as Aladdin were also a success and the cast kicked off the event with songs such as A Whole New World and Friend Like Me. The event signalled a comeback for musicals including 13 The Musical, which is returning to the Ambassadors Theatre in August after leaving it in 2012, and The Wedding Singer, starring this year’s Eurovision Song Contest entry Lucie Jones, which is set to commence a UK tour.

Jukebox musicals such has Mamma Mia, Thriller Live, and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical dominated the line-up. Bat Out Of Hell The Musical thrilled with Meat Loaf classics and an impressive stage climb by lead Andrew Polec.

As per West End Live tradition, there were many surprises in store. Nathan Amzi from Aladdin was joined by a special guest for a rendition of The Who’s Pinball Wizard – Ricky Wilson of Kaiser Chiefs, fresh from Glastonbury, who mentored Nathan when he was on The Voice. Dreamgirls’ Marisha Wallace and Rachel Tucker, best known for her role in Wicked, also performed a duet of Take Me or Leave Me from Rent.

Originally published: PA Diploma News