As part of the Tonbridge Music Weekend, an annual festival held in the grounds of Tonbridge Castle, first time producers Oliver Tourle and Hannah Rotchell have assembled a tremendous cast of the very best of the West End’s Leading Ladies to entertain the capacity crowd who, in the light of the afternoon sun, assemble with eager anticipation.
Indeed the weather could not be any better as the first act takes to the stage. Her name is Lily May Marshall and no, she’s not a West End Leading Lady – well, not yet! She is 15 year old winner of the Rising Star competition, run in advance of the day, and her prize is, firstly, to open the show and, secondly, she will get some recording studio time at the Lana Banana studios in Sevenoaks at a later date.
Lily May has chosen Pulled in a New Direction from The Addams Family Musical and she gives a performance that has an emotional intensity, backed up by incredibly powerful vocals, far beyond her tender years and she really sets the tone for what promises to be a superb celebration of the very best that musical theatre offers.
As the first of our Leading Ladies, Shanay Holmes and Christina Modestou, take to the stage we are thrown a real curveball for the first number. Let Me Be Your Star is taken from the American TV series Smash!. In the series a group of writers come up with a new musical about Marilyn Monroe, called Bombshell. The song we hear is the opening number from that fictional musical and, although very catchy, probably not what the audience expect to hear.
The only way to move on is to choose the West End’s longest running musical. A duet of I Dreamed a Dream followed by a solo performance of On My Own, by Shanay Holmes, give the audience exactly what they had hoped for and move the production along perfectly for the arrival of the headline performer.
Looking absolutely stunning in a figure hugging blue dress, West End and Broadway superstar Kerry Ellis delivers a flawless version of Nobody’s Child from Chess. Considering the size of the crowd and the fact that the concert is in the open air, the castle grounds fall totally silent as the audience soak up every note that comes blasting from the stage.
The three ladies then share performances of I Know Him So Well, Being Alive and The Way We Were before we meet yet another Leading Lady. Emma Hatton, who started in Evita, excels with her performance of Don’t Cry For Me Argentina and then promptly hands over to the fifth of our stars, Savannah Stevenson, who sounds every bit as good as Julie Andrews with the title number from The Sound of Music.
Savannah stays on stage and is joined by Kerry to finish the first half with an incredibly emotional performance of For Good from Wicked, as the re-unite to perform the song for the first time since 2015, when they both starred in the West End production. Kerry then takes the massively enthusiastic crowd into the interval with one of her signature songs, Defying Gravity.
The second half begins with a guest performer, she takes centre stage ready to sing the superb A Million Dreams from The Greatest Showman. Emily Crittenden is her name and her stunningly powerful vocals ensure that, once again, the whole arena falls totally silent – because Emily’s amazingly confident performance is made even more impressive when you take into account that she is just eight years old!
The unenviable task of following that performance falls to the Hillview Singers who, having only sung backing vocals so far, really throw themselves into their solo performance of You Will Be Found from Dear Evan Hansen. A very popular choice with the younger members of the audience, who reward the performance with some very enthusiastic applause.
The Leading Ladies continue to take turns with songs from Frozen, Cats, The Bodyguard, RENT, Dreamgirls and the lesser known musical, Just So before we reach the We Will Rock You finale. Kerry leads us in with a breathtaking performance of No-One But You and Somebody To Love before she is joined by the other Leading Ladies to finish off with This Is Me from The Greatest Showman.
With the small orchestra, led by Musical Director Matt Pallant, and the 26 strong Hillview Singers choir, under the direction of Emma Donnellan, the sound throughout the concert has been rich and full, with the incredible voices of the Leading Ladies powering right across the arena – and onward, over the rooftops of Tonbridge.
The standing ovation is well deserved. Bringing the West End to Tonbridge has been a great success. The audience have appreciated the incredible talent on offer, the Leading Ladies have enjoyed a superb evening of doing what they do best and two fledgling producers have jumped out of the nest and soared skywards – hopefully to produce many more tremendous concerts in the future.
***** Five Stars