Side Show in Concert - London Palladium

Some good discounts for this on Today Tix today.

Does she duet with the Chuckle Brothers on it? 


Oh.......

Holy smokes!

Bradley Jaden turned the scoundrel, Terry, into some majestic tortured soul that simply tore the Palladium apart.

Frozen still, facing the audience, unable to even make eye contact with Louise Dearman's Daisy, you could feel the entire Palladium audience hold their breaths, and shrink into themselves as Jaden's "Private Conversation" (the show highlight by a memorable mile) became an impassioned public confession of impassioned self-hatred, that rivalled any passionate Phantom ever, his modulated voice building to towering crescendos of searing passion, before turning to Dearman's Daisy, falling into her duet and her chest like a lost child, only, on her exit, to face the audience again and resume his crestfallen tear-filled tenor crying confession of his emotional inadequacy that must have hit the back of the circle like a delayed thunderbolt. And at last, the audience could breathe again to release the most rousing pent-up ovation of the evening. . .

Earlier, in the first half, before the interval, it had seemed as if the loudest ovation would belong to Trevor Dion-Nicholas's Jake's furious Paul-Robeson-esque trilling trembling commanding bass warning to the twins about sticking to "The Devil You Know."

But they allowed Bradley Jaden's wolf in, to the eternal gratitude of the audience, if not themselves lol.

If I'm honest, I think this piece worked dramatically better as a chamber piece at the Southwark Playhouse, where the differences between the personalities of the twins were under the microscope of the huddled intimate audience. Laura Pitt-Pulford's sensitive Violet could make the smallest wincing reactions to the diva antics of Dearman's brash confident Daisy, her every expression registering as if Bambi's mother was being repeatedly shot.

At the Palladium, the venue is simply too big for that sort of minutiae to even register, so a great deal of the character conflict between the twins is lost. And that drama is the greater part of the drama of the whole show.

Still, having two great theatrical divas belt brilliant songs together is it's own reward, and Dearman's and Tucker's "I Will Never Leave You" brought the house down, so beloved is the song, so beloved are the actors, and so powerfully did they belt. While the intimacy of the characters speaking of their love for each other was lost (they mostly faced the audience) the power of those divas' love for the audience was brilliantly found, and merited the second most powerful ovation of the evening.

Although she never got a dramatic moment, Gina Murray's astounding belt was it's own moment lol.

Anyhow, for two wonderful divas, for Trevor Dion-Nicholas, and most of all, for Bradley Jaden turning Terry into the Phantom, that was a heck of a fun night! 4 stars from me.

It was a really great night. Great vocals all around, and the score truly shone through tonight - wonderful. Not sure the piece worked great as an “in concert” - you could just imagine it with a big set and costumes. Very glad I went though - I Will Never Leave You was perfection.

Wow…that was something else! One of the best staged concerts I’d seen. Not least as I didn’t know the musical, so such a surprise. But that cast was just exquisite.

As ever with these Lambert Jackson things, there were a LOT of missed cues on mics (particularly for ensemble) and the lighting was frequently off so people sang sections in darkness - I get that you have one day in the Palladium but top price is £120 so...being able to see and hear them is not too much to ask.

That said, voices were phenomenal.
Tosh and Bradley really worked well and Gina Murray is always great.

Seeing Tuckman back together was so special - the fact we've had to wait as long as we have is so silly...why aren't they doing Crazy Coqs together every six months? We'd sell it out easy every time!
Rachel was fab and it's always great to see her get to sing her face off.

The whole evening belonged to Louise Dearman though.
She was a marvel as Daisy at Southwark Playhouse, and she was even more so here. That voice is so utterly perfect for this material, and she just SOARS her way through the material.
Obviously the two end of act numbers went off like gangbusters (particularly I Will Never Leave You) but the wall of sound was pretty impressive all the way through.

Very much enjoyed, got emotional seeing the two women together again after all this time, but can we pull the tech up a notch please for the love of god.

Not seen enough people talk about Tosh so I feel I must - he played such a charismatic Buddy, was able to start off as an awkward character somewhat hiding behind Terry and then blossomed as he was given the chance to be more involved with the women.

Showed the real breadth of his voice with both low tones as performed in Showboat and Joseph in Toronto then switching with ease to some higher notes in the very same song plus using an American accent akin to his turn as Rudy in The Drifters Girl, the show wouldn’t have been the same without him and he was a joy to watch, particularly in the small amounts of choreography also as he is a strong dancer.

Thought Louise and Rachel were fabulous, Bradley was great also but I found Trevor, while great, seemed to try his very hardest to make the show entirely about him. He is great but I just wish he was more humble, I just get the impression he very much felt the pleasure was all ours rather than his.

I doubt it means anything. It's one of those shows that's perfect for a concert as it gives people a chance to hear the music. It had a well received shortish run at Southwark some years ago but its quite "niche" so don't see it having a revival or a London run.

Yeah I don’t think Side Show has a future which is a shame because the score is wonderful.

Last night was a very special one-off led by two West End greats and I’m very grateful to have witnessed it.

I also hope a dutiful fan did their job and captured those songs and they pop up online.

Yes, I wasn't bothered by the mics. In fact, one massive explosion of static at the very beginning allowed the conductor to engage in a funny comedy bit where he converted his shock to a pretense that he had been conducting it all all along, which made me laugh. And I also was amused by the rehearsed bit where the conductor played tennis with the twins with his baton (complete with return-serve sound effects). And he also "conducted" the curtain going up and down. A funny man.

Vis a Vis the Southwark show, I can't speak to the view from the sides, as I was central both times I saw it.

However, my view that in that intimate space, the difference between the characters of Daisy and Violet came across infinitely more than in the concert.

No wigs and costumes faux pas could diminish the excellent work of Louise Dearman swelling grandly over a shrinking Laura Pitt-Pulford.

If the creators don't understand that the drama of the competition between the twins played uniquely and brilliantly in that space, and would rather be dismayed over wigs, that's their prerogative.

Damn I’m really sad I missed this now.

Love this score and

I

Love

Bradley

Jaden

I agree. Louise is fantastic and I've seen her in so many concerts (including Side Show on Sunday) and I'd really like to see her go back in to a West End show. She seems to do a lot of concert work.