West End Musical Drive In has been a constant source of joy for us when we needed a stagey fix during the multiple closures of theatres. First taking place last summer and autumn to bring some of the biggest performers in musical theatres to a supportive audience, we have spent the last few weeks reliving it with 5 of these concerts streaming online. Now, sadly it is time for the fifth and final installment of the series but what a way to end it.
This weeks West End Musical Drive In had a Halloween theme, mainly because it took place on Halloween. Headlined by Lucie Jones, the concert saw her reunited with three former cast members from three different shows she starred in - Shanay Holmes from RENT, Jon Robyns from Legally Blonde and Kelly Agbowu from Waitress. Together they rattled through two hours of musical theatre classics - some with a spooky theme and some not so much.
Some Halloween themed musicals getting the treatment here included Beetlejuice, The Addams Family and Little Shop of Horrors. Kelly Agbowu and Lucie Jones both tackled songs from Wicked (Does that count as a Halloween musical?) with spectacular renditions of 'No Good Deed' and 'The Wizard and I' respectively while Kelly, dressed as Maleficent, channeled another Disney villain to perform a brilliant 'Poor Unfortunate Souls'.
Jon Robyns took us on a whistlestop tour of his musical theatre career bringing out the big guns with 'Bring Him Home' from Les Miserables early on, revisiting his role as King George in Hamilton for 'You'll Be Back' before delivering one of the most mesmerising performances of the night with 'Memphis Lives In Me' from the criminally underrated Memphis. In a Legally Blonde reunion with Lucie, you sensed the emotion on stage.
Lucie Jones was the headliner of thie show so took the lions share of the stage time. Dressed hilariously as Zombie Jenna from Waitress, the little pie show was represented by four numbers from it including a hilarious 'Bad Idea' with Jon Robyns "Hold me close... We probably shouldn't. It's 2020" and of course the incredible 'She Used To Be Mine' which Lucie can sing like no other, providing a standout moment of the concert.
Out of the five concerts, this was one of if not the best of the lot, mainly down to the performers and their song choices. A fitting end to what has been a fantastic season of concerts. With the series returning to live audiences next month, lets hope more of them are streamed for us to enjoy in the future.
Setlist:
Shanay Holmes - I Put A Spell On You
Jon Robyns - Bring Him Home
Kelly Agbowu - Poor Unfortunate Souls
Lucie Jones - Don't Rain On My Parade
Lucie Jones - What Baking Can Do
Lucie Jones - Pulled
Lucie Jones & Jon Robyns - Legally Blonde
Jon Robyns - You'll Be Back
Kelly Agbowu - No Good Deed
Lucie Jones - The Wizard and I
Shanay Holmes - This Is Me
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Shanay Holmes - Little Shop of Horrors
Lucie Jones & Shanay Holmes - Take Me Or Leave Me
Jon Robyns - Memphis Lives In Me
Lucie Jones - Dead Mom
Kelly Agbowu - I Didn't Plan It
Lucie Jones & Jon Robyns - Bad Idea
Jon Robyns - Don't Stop Me Now
Kelly Agbowu - I Wanna Dance With Somebody
Shanay Holmes - One Night Only
Lucie Jones - She Used To Be Mine
Lucie Jones - Into The Unknown
★★★★★ West End Musical Drive In is streamed on https://stream.theatre on Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st March at 7pm.
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