West End meets Live Lounge
October 21, 2011
I’ve blogged before about the wonderful Interval Productions, who produce cabarets and gigs to showcase those ‘in-between’ performers who are working their way into the industry. Their shows tend to be raw, sexy, funny and not too polished – and you might just spot a future star. Now Interval are trying something new, inspired by Radio 1′s Live Lounge – West End Unplugged, on October 30th.
West End Unplugged will mix in new talent and recognised performers such as Paul Spicer and Helena Blackman, performing mostly pop with a dash of our beloved musical theatre in a sultry evening gig at the Leicester Square Theatre. I’m looking forward to seeing and hearing a different side of musical theatre performers; all of the song interpretation but with a more relaxed vibe. Definitely complementing a smooth cocktail of some sort. Another exciting thing about West End Unplugged is the return of the Ensembelles – Interval’s Greek chorus-esque tribe of backing singers, who both accompany soloists and perform cheeky, harmonised group numbers of their own. I’ve seen a video of their rehearsals, and it’s sounding spine-tingling. This gig is rumoured to involve pop mashups, so Glee fans should come on down.
Interval also launched a competition when they announced this gig (now closed), asking from YouTube ‘auditions’ from would-be performers, one of which will appear in the show. This company is all about opportunities, which in a West End full of overly familiar faces can only be a good thing.
WEG will be there, schmoozing with the rest of the Wendies, and I hope to see you there too! Here’s a video blog posted by producer Tori Allen-Martin and guest star Paul Spicer with more info:
