Unusually, for a concert, the curtain is down as we enter the auditorium of the Hawth, Crawley, so the staging for Saturday Night at the Movies, with Joe McElderry, remains hidden until the show begins.
The lights dim, Joe’s devoted fans scream, and the curtain rises to reveal a four-piece band comprising of electric guitar, bass, drums/percussion and keyboards. Joe’s voice is the first we hear singing the opening lines from track one of his new Saturday Night at the Movies album, Daydream Believer, although, for the time being, he remains offstage.
First to take the stage is Keith Jack, who has starred as both Joseph and the Narrator since coming 2nd in the TV search Any Dream Will Do. He is followed by Ben James-Ellis who was also a finalist in Any Dream Will Do and who, currently plays Pharoah in the national tour of Joseph. With the indisposition of yet another former Joseph, Lloyd Daniels, the next to take to the stage is his replecement on the tour, X Factor finalist Sam Callahan.
Finally, to the first of many standing ovations throughout the show, Joe McElderry takes his place centre stage and the boys blast out a very enthusiastic start to the show, which has the entire audience clapping and singing along almost immediately.
The rest of the first half is filled with an eclectic combination of movie and show tunes, each showing off the particular talents of each of the singers. Ben James-Ellis, obviously missing his Elvis-like role in Joseph pumps out some good old-fashioned rock and roll, but also shines when he delivers Ben E. King’s monster hit, Stand By Me.
Keith takes a much more laid back part in the proceedings. He sits as he sings So Close from the Disney movie, Enchanted but chooses to stand when he performs a faultless version of the wonderful Bring Him Home from Les Miserables.
Sam, who’s family are seated next to me in the auditorium, is obviously relishing the opportunity to share the stage with the other guys and, as well as providing superb backing vocals to the others, he also stuns the audience into total silence with a breathtaking version of Prince’s most famous composition, Purple Rain. The noise from his family when the number finishes is echoed throughout the auditorium by a crowd who have just witnessed something very special.
The second half is Joe all the way. With the three other guys providing extra vocals as required, Joe works his way through many of the songs on his new album as well as some of his earlier tracks giving his attentive audience a set list that holds everything from Opera to Aerosmith and Elvis to Andrew Lloyd Webber.
The highlights, in what is a superb showcase of his amazing vocal talent, include Con te partirò (Time to say goodbye), If I Loved You from Carousel, I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing from Armageddon, a re-working of the theme from Love Never Dies and, of course, the Any Dream Will Do / Close Every Door medley from Joseph.
We finish back where we started, with Joe, Keith, Ben and Sam on stage, the audience on it’s feet and the familiar sound of Daydream Believer being sung by everyone in the building in a vain attempt to actually raise the roof off the theatre!
It is very obvious that Joe feels very comfortable singing these songs and, with the album riding high in the charts, his already successful singing career looks to be going from strength to strength – and his fans can look forward to him returning the role of Joseph later in the year.
***** Five Stars