Beyond The Barricade At Lighthouse Poole Review
DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW
Reviewed by Mel S-W
Beyond the Barricade hit the stage at Lighthouse Poole on Friday 13 March. The show is the UK’s longest running Musical Theatre Concert Tour where the cast celebrate the best music of Broadway and the West End.
Being a lover of all things theatre and musicals I was treated to more than a few of my own personal favourites. The show features some classic musical numbers from The Phantom of the Opera, Jesus Christ Superstar, West Side Story, Blood Brothers, Miss Saigon, Hamilton and many others. As the name suggests, the show climaxed with a spectacular finale from… Les Misérables!
The concert tour featured Andy Reiss who led the production, ensuring everything ran on time and also engaging with the audience. Joining him were Katie Leeming and Poppy Tierney who have all played principal roles in both the West End and UK Tours of Les Misérables. David Fawcett was unexpectedly still recovering from an operation so was on bed rest instead of being able to join the cast for tonight’s performance. Norman Bowman joined the cast in his place. The cast was joined by a live band that consisted of Dave Williams on the keyboard, Russ Kennedy playing the most incredible double bass and tuba and Daniel Goodger on the Keyboards.
Poppy Tierney was a standout for me. Her voice was simply stunning and she had such great stage presence that she had me captivated. You could tell that she had played the role of Cosette in Les Misérables. It looked like she lived and breathed it when she was singing and I absolutely adored her Chicago medley.
Tonight was a celebration of live music, with everything that was sung or played on stage was done so live, with nothing pre-recorded. I know it was about the songs from the musicals, but I did find that after seeing some of the musicals live on stage, watching this talented crew singing behind a microphone, I felt like there was something lacking. Their rendition of “Master of the House” from Les Misérables, saw them having a bit more fun with it and it gave that moment a different kind of energy. Also, during the Miss Saigon numbers there were images on the big screen above them that complimented the song but at other times the screen could have been utilised better or turned off because it was a distraction.
I enjoyed learning a bit of background to the musical that the show was going to sing next. It added a little something extra to the performance. This was particularly helpful when they were going to perform a song from a production that I didn’t know such as “Chess” being written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, and what Come From Away was really about. There were some shows that I haven’t had the pleasure of seeing yet and definitely a few that have now made it onto my theatre wish list.
I would rate the show 3.5 out of 5. I really enjoyed the music and the singing but was somewhat distracted by the sheer amount of smoke from the smoke machine. I was very impressed with the vocals, but there were some numbers that didn’t play to the strengths of the cast. I struggled to pick out Katie Leeming’s voice throughout the first half, but she came alive when singing Marilyn Monroe from Blood Brothers in the second half. The audience took to their feet for a standing ovation, again celebrating the live performance.
This was a one night only show and tickets started from £20.80. To see what else is on check out their website https://www.lighthousepoole.co.uk/whats-on/ or by calling the Box Office on 01202 280000.
The full address is Lighthouse, Arts and Entertainment, 21 Kingland Road, Poole, Dorset, BH15 1UG