Review: All I Want For Christmas Is Theatre, Thespie

If there is one gift that keeps on giving this festive season, it’s Thespie and their offerings of stagey goodness, especially their fantastic ‘Reunited’ concerts. These shows bring together cast members of various hit musicals to celebrate the music and joys of live theatre that we have all been missing, and with their fourth instalment comes the news that there are more concerts on the way. 

So far, we have been able to enjoy Unlimited: The Music of Stephen Schwartz featuring cast members from Wicked and The Prince of Egypt, Oops…I Streamed It Again with cast members from & Juliet and Girl Power featuring girls from the London and touring productions of Six. And now, Thespie has got us all in the Christmas spirit with All I Want for Christmas is Theatre, a concert with a title undoubtedly inspired by how every theatre fan is currently feeling. How we would all love to be able to celebrate the festive season with a trip to the theatre but as we are currently unable to do so, this concert is the next best thing. 

All I Want for Christmas is Theatre brings the companies of multiple shows together including Wicked, Dear Evan Hansen, Pretty Women, Heathers, & Juliet, Six and The Prince of Egypt (virtually of course with each cast in their own little bubble) to sing some Christmas classics and if this doesn’t get you in the mood for the big day, nothing will. For just under 50 minutes, you can forget about what else is happening in the world and just celebrate the fact that it is nearly Christmas and feel festive at last. 

The concert opens with Heathers stars T’Shan Williams, Sophie Issacs and Jodie Steele performing a charming and joyful rendition of ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’ and from that moment on, you can’t help but feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Sophie Evans, Dianne Pilkington, Carl Man, Liam Tamne, Alice Fearn, Alexia Khadime, Nikki Bentley and Oliver Tompsett greatly impress with their take on ‘White Christmas’ and I have to praise Alice Fearn for her beautiful solo, ‘River’. I also must say well done to Liam Tamne and Oliver Tompsett for bringing their A game when it comes to Christmas jumpers, good work boys!

We are treated to a charming and heart-warming performance of ‘Merry Christmas Everyone’ from the cast of Dear Evan Hansen including Sam Tutty, Alex Thomas-Smith, Nicole Raquel Dennis, Rebecca McKinnis, Courtney Stapleton, Tricia Adele-Turner, Natalie Kassanga, Lauren Ward, Rupert Young, Marcus Harman, Jack Loxton, Lucy Anderson, Hannah Lindsay and David Breeds; before Charlotte Yorke, Joanna Woodward, Serina Mathew, Hannah Ducharme and Jemma Alexander from Pretty Women bring the sass and girl power with their take on the classic ‘Santa Baby’. Millie O’Connell, Aimie Atkinson, Alexia McInstosh, Jarneia Richard-Noel, Natalie Paris, Grace Mouat and Maiya Quansah-Breed then blow our socks off with their powerful performance of the famous ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’. 

Between performances, we are given an insight into the cast members hopes for next year and they talk about how they would normally be spending their Christmases, including many a great tribute to the joys of attending the theatre at Christmas time with their families and the thrills of the traditional family pantomime. This conversation allow the viewers to get to know the cast members better and showcases just how important it is that the theatre industry is able to come back from all of this. 

As we reach the end of 2020 and go into 2021 completely unsure of what lies in store for the theatre industry, we can thank Thespie for continuing to shine a light on the industry and those within it, and offering a platform for live and recorded performance. I look forward to seeing the new concerts and whatever else this theatre streaming service may have up their sleeves in the new year. 

***** Five stars

Reviewed by: Rebecca Wallis

For more information and to book tickets, please click here.