BBC Proms John Wilson Orchestra West Side Story.

Is this going to be on Radio Three?

Well this was fantastic.
Although it isn't being televised it's a shame because it would have worked brilliantly. All of the songs were 'acted out' in, more or less,  stage costumes too. There was a little bit of dialogue but I found it just as emotional as the full musical, actually more so because it was so well performed.
The orchestra was sensational under John Wilson. We've come to expect that but it considerably exceeded my expectations. Rhythmically as tight as possible but all the pianissimo bits had a real frisson. He got the strings to sound like the Vienna Philharmonic in their plush richness at the start of I feel Pretty.
Ross Lekites was a very strong Tony. He has a very appealing beseeching quality to his voice, with heft for the climaxes but also a lovely falsetto.
Eden Espinosa was a characterful Anita, although she has a  slightly mannered, below the note, attack.
Louise Alder sang Somewhere fabulously.
Micaela Bennett was outstanding as Maria. After all the kerfuffle over the casting of this part she ended up, with strong competition, being the best thing in it. She has a glorious voice; quite a strong vibrato, but also able to 'float' high notes exquisitely. She did I feel Pretty (a song that often disappoints in performance) better than I've ever heard it. She also blended beautifully with Tony in Tonight.

Looking forward to listening to this on iPlayer at some point next week!

I adored this as well - I agree the lack of dancers and ensemble on stage at times was strange (it was particularly problematic during America), but it allowed the focus to be solely on the fabulous John Wilson Orchestra, who were outstanding. I Feel Pretty was a highlight for me as well.

The weak link for me was the Mountview/ArtsEd chorus - it worries me slightly if the future of the West End can't even sit down and stand up in unison - their timing for the choreography was atrocious, and I thought their "acting" (as such) in America was a mess. They sounded good the rest of the time, but my choir director at school would have given us a stern telling off for being so messy with entrances, and we weren't specialist theatre students who should know better!

Contemplated going and even logged in online just after 9am only to find 980 people in the queue before me an (in truth) on a personal level, this week as been difficult and I was just tired, so after finishing overtime at 2, I had some lunch and took a nap.

I know, I'm getting old!

I enjoyed this very much. The orchestra sounded wonderful and it was in general very well sung. It's a real pity that they couldn't reproduce the wonderful Jerome Robbins' choreography.

The three leads didn't quite cut it for me though. Mikaela Bennett and Ross Lekites both sang competently enough but they were nothing special and had no chemistry. The biggest problem for me though was Eden Espinosa, she sang well but looked far too old to play Anita, totally miscast. Her green dress was really unflattering, truly dreadful, what were they thinking?

The rest of the cast were quite good and Alistair Brammer nailed Gee, Officer Krupke.

Overall, a great night out.  John Wilson never disappoints. 

Just listened on iPlayer.

Excellent music, but wow, what it's short! According to the presenter, it's the licenced concert version. Basically it cuts out 90% of the dialogue. I don't think you'd have a chance of following the show if you didn't know it well already (perhaps easier in the venue with the acting).

The programme on iPlayer looks a lot longer than it really is, as there's chat at the beginning and during the interval, as well as 35 minutes of previews for other proms at the end. Skip those bits and it lasts about 90 minutes.

They mentioned on the broadcast there's a surround sound type version released on Monday which you listen to through special headphones (there is a better term than that, but I'm not much of an audio expert). I'm sure it will sound even better than way.

Katie Derham mentioned On The Town last night. When Proms Extra ends at 7.30, the live broadcast will start.

Just listened to this on iPlayer and thought everyone was fantastic. My favourite musical. Always thought that America sounds better with men joining in too but nonetheless I loved it