Curve Leicester - Lloyd Webber concert

You can get a hotel next weekend for £30, there's a new travelodge just opened round the corner, and with tickets still available for £10 for sat night it probably isn't any more than you'd normally pay for an average ticket?

What about Saturday afternoon? There is a matinee with good availability too.

I agree with the positivity of others who have seen this, it's a wonderful 'best of celebration that proves when Webber is good, he really is very very good.

I was on the Studio side (row J, £20, absolute bargain). No real issues with sound from there that I noticed.

I did think the beginning medley didn't really start the show off with the 'bang' that I was expecting, but the rest of the show had obviously been very well thought out and it came together really well. I thought the ALW video interludes worked well and I learned a few things I didn't know before.

For me, the Evita and Phantom sections were the standouts, they were just electric. Also as others have said, the lighting rig is just stunning and deserved a round of applause all to itself.

Madalena Alberto's 'Don't Cry For Me Argentina' is a masterclass, as is Tim Howar's 'Music Of The Night'. I'm not a huge fan of Ria Jones, and strangely I thought her 'Memory' was much better than her Sunset Boulevard songs. She can definitely act a song well, I just find her voice gets very strained at the higher end and it grates on me a tad.

Karen Mav is performing, she just sings from a wheelchair rather than being part of the group. She sounded great. Seeing her being wheeled on to the overture from Starlight Express was unintentionally brilliant.

I would say that Tim Rogers was the biggest disappointment for me, he seemed to struggle with all of his songs despite having played those roles previously (JCS, Aspects Of Love, LND). I don't know if it was 'end of the week fatigue' but his timing and phrasing seemed all over the place and some of the big money notes were a bit painful.

I do however need to know where Jessica Daley has been all my life, because she was the absolute highlight for me, every note was just phenomenal. I watched Over The Rainbow last year and I don't even remember her on that show. She's worth the ticket price on her own. Maybe shared with the lighting rig.

Definitely grab a ticket but I'd be surprised if they don't stream it at some point as well. I think it would get a big home audience.

I'd go as far as to say that Jessica is actually even more impressive than Carrie. I got the feeling she'd be a more natural actress (judging from her Unexpected Song performance) and her vocal tone was just gorgeous. Those LND notes!!

I remember her being lovely on that show, but didn't they think she was too young at the time to carry 8 shows a week so she was voted off

I must admit I agree.  I didn't want to single him out in my review as I thought it would be unfair, but as you've mentioned it I felt his voice was lacking energy, he fluffed a few notes in both the matinee and evening performances, diction/timing was a bit sloppy.  That said, perhaps he is a bit rusty after the Covid lockdown.  He sounded like he had a cold/hayfever (perhaps?) when he was talking to the audience.  Anyway, his fan club was in Saturday evening so he got some good cheers.  I seem to recall seeing him as "The Man" in the Bill Kenwright "Whistle Down The Wind" (Palace), and I thought he sang the role as well as Marcus Lovett did in the original Aldwych version.  (Original if you exclude the NYMT version of WDTW which I thought was just as good, though lacking in the Steinman stature of the ALW version!)

Stalls circle seats opened up for final performance on Sat PM - some £10 tix for groups of 3 available. Glad to see this final performance get close to a full house - such a great show. Phone box office if you need other permutations as they are superb and really helpful.

And now we await the inevitable (?) announcement of the online tickets. If they haven’t recorded this for streaming I’ll be 100% shocked.

Wow.That was fantastic. So glad I made the effort to come down and see the show, it was well worth it.
All the cast were fantastic-Jessica Daley was absolutely astounding. Every song she performed was perfect,but Unexpected Song and Love Never Dies were incredible. Madelena gave one of the best renditions of 'Don't Cry for me.." that I've ever heard.
Tim Rogers was rather a distraction every time he appeared in a fantastically tight t-shirt, but he has a lovely voice too.
It was great to hear some things that don't get performed very often. Amigos Para Siempre has always been a favourite of mine so I really enjoyed hearing that.I might have got a bit emotional when they introduced Pie Jesu and dedicated it to those we've lost over the last year. I've never been fond of the Variations (thanks to a rather awkward dance class at teacher training college years ago) but the staging of Variation 23 tonight has made me want to investigate further. The lighting rig for that section was inspired. In fact, as has been said before the rig was worth the ticket price alone, it looked amazing.
My only niggle was some of the video inserts. ALW looks extremely scary on a large screen and there was some rather jumpy editing. But that hardly mattered, it was just so good to be back in an audience in a theatre again.

Loved it tonight. Curve proving once again what a top class theatre for musicals it is. It was good to be back in a theatre. Acres of space and felt completely safe.
Although very clever the acapella medley at the beginning was an odd start to the show. I was just like ‘bring on the tunes!
I didn’t feel it really got going performance wise til Evita which was fab. I need to see Madelena as Eva.
Highlights for me were the phantom and LND sections. Tim Howar and Jessica Daley were just impeccable. Why Jessica Daley didn’t get further in the Dorothy competion 11 years ago is beyond me but they need to make up for it and cast her in something big quick. She reminded me of Claire Moore.
Although I was a little bit worried at times about Ria securing some notes in places in her other songs she smashed Memory - I might’ve shed a tear at the key change.
The other performers were less sure footed. Shem Omari James the newly graduated baby of the group was good but could’ve done with a bit more power (I found the sound a bit lacking particularly for the men who I struggled to hear on occasions) It was a shame Karen had hurt her foot. I don’t know whether it was because she was mostly stuck in a corner or I’m just a big sucker for Andrew’s high romance soprano songs but her songs were not what I was waiting for!
Loved the Variations cello piece really want to see the whole thing now and would’ve loved Pie Jesus as a duet. The soprano didn’t sound ‘clean’ in places.
It was just so lovely to hear all his best loved works in one place reminding us what a Titan of musicals he really is, little awkward jokes and all. A hugely entertaining night with ALW anecdotes we hadn’t heard before.
I’m afraid I can’t agree with you Ceebee Tim Rogers needs to hang up his biblical robes that note he ‘hit’ in Gethsemane (my fave ALW tune) was a shocker. I was wondering without any disrespect whether he was perhaps suffering from a sore throat?
ALW said he hopes LND will return to the Curve. I hope he casts Tim Howar and Jessica Daley if it does.
We didn’t get a programme but whoever designed the lighting deserves an award. It was stunning. The Phantom lighting gave me chills.

Compared to last week he hit the notes... I don't want to be unkind to him but I agree - Gethsemane sounds beyond his range now.

Ben Cracknell - and I agree wholeheartedly, it was superb. The rig almost breathed at times.

Ben did most of the lighting at Curve, but not quite as much recently because he's in demand in the West End now, he's doing Joseph and Heathers at the moment and did most of the Palladium pantomimes over the last few years.

Were you in the stalls? I was in row J left side and there were some talkers chatting all the way through. I also didn't appreciate the overzealous usher at the end holding everybody at bay and pointing to the rows she was "allowing" to leave. I'm afraid I walked straight through with my kids, as I was becoming very concerned by the crowd of people building with no covid protocols being observed while she held a black bag out for rubbish whilst trying and failing to corral the audience.