Dysart Productions return to the Fringe with an updated version of their 2011 show and really wows the crowds with their peerless vocal performances of some of the great songs from the West End stage.
The production is based on an audition to join the company of the great London show Les Misérables. The auditionees are put through their paces with a selection of group songs and individual numbers from shows as diverse as Rent, The Lion King, and Phantom of the opera. It’s a showcase of the beautiful and talented voices, including extraordinary performances from Sami Hindmarsh singing ‘Music of the Night’ and Stuart Pattenden performing ‘Empty Chairs at Empty Tables’. The live onstage band really lifted the production above some of the other concert-type revues, to offer a truly satisfying and relatively cheap hour of musical entertainment.
My only concern is Anastasia Palikeras who has such a distinctive voice that during group numbers it does tend to overpower the rest of the ensemble and slightly spoils the harmonies. She does of course come into her own in her solo numbers but can be ever so slightly nasal. That aside, when you close your eyes and listen to the vocal talent on offer in this production you can't help but wish the show went on far longer than its hour long slot.
If this is the next generation of musical theatre performers then the industry is in safe hands.
