Review: ALL STAR MUSICALS, ITV

The world and their dog appeared to watch BBC’s Musicals: The Greatest Show a few weeks back, which was the nation’s love letter to the arts while the theatres remain dark due to the pandemic. Seeing this hunger for the genre, last night saw another primetime musical theatre TV show aiming to provide us with our stagey fix, ITV’s All Star Musicals.

The show sees six celebrities performing some of our favourite musical numbers to try and earn a good star rating from the judges and impress the virtual audience, whom would ultimately form the decision of which celebrity would be crowned Champion. If performing in front of millions on national television wasn’t daunting enough, the judging panel that the celebrities had to impress was made up of musical theatre icons: Elaine Paige, Trevor Dion Nicholas and Samantha Barks, all of whom performed ‘You Can’t Stop The Beat’ from Hairspray at the beginning of the show with host John Barrowman and an ensemble of sixteen West End performers, each costumed as leading characters in musical theatre.

The celebrities are mentored by Elaine Paige leading up to their performance and deliver choreography set by Olivier Award-winning choreographer, Bill Deamer, accompanied by the talented ensemble cast.

TV personality Judge Robert Rinder opens the show as Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast, performing ‘Be Our Guest’. A perfect song choice for Rinder as both himself and the character are naturally debonair, plus the song itself is a massive spectacle so it sets the show up well. Rinder comes across as a confident performer throughout and whilst his costume could have been a little more elaborate to match both his performance and the ensemble’s costumes, he carries the whole performance brilliantly.

Following up Rinder’s superb opening is actor Barney Walsh, who performs ‘Flash Bang Wallop’ from Half A Sixpence. Crammed full of high energy choreography that Barney excels with, he shows bundles of personality and maintains constant enthusiasm throughout. 

Next up, actress Jessica Hynes delivers a rendition of ‘When You’re Good To Mama’ from Chicago. Whilst she takes a short while to warm up, when she finds her stride, she is amazing to watch. Her voice is strong and she has great stage presence by truly embracing the sexy and sassy side of Mama Morton.

This Morning resident doctor Dr Ranj Singh is next to perform, taking on ‘Come What May’ from Moulin Rouge. This performance is a sharp contrast to the previous numbers of the evening, which makes for a nice change of pace. He appears to take the power ballad in his stride and being the only celebrity not to have ensemble backing, this leaves him very exposed. However, he is a natural performer with excellent vocals and it was lovely to see him fulfil a dream, being a big fan of musical theatre himself.

Eastenders actress Luisa Bradshaw-White changes the tempo again with ‘This Is Me’ from The Greatest Showman, and considering she is also not known as a vocalist, she hits some impressive notes and whilst her nerves did show at times, the emotion drives her performance.

The final celebrity performance of the night is by Robert Preston who delivers a super cool rendition of ‘Luck Be A Lady Tonight’ from Guys and Dolls. He embodies the character well and although occasionally pitchy, you can tell he is thoroughly enjoying himself.

The highlight of the evening however, intended or not, is the guest appearance from Carrie Hope Fletcher who sings ‘I Know I Have A Heart’ from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s upcoming West End production of Cinderella. Powerful, emotionally driven and epic; this is great promotion for the new show.

*SPOILER ALERT*

Deservedly so, Judge Robert Rinder is chosen as the winner of All Star Musicals after what was a very fun show. It is a shame that this is a one-off programme as it would have been great to see the celebrities’ progression across a series. Perhaps in the future. We can hope, Besties!

Ultimately this is a show that celebrates theatre at a time when it is needed most.

****’ Four and a half stars

Reviewed by: Rhys Payne and Jenny Ell

You can catch up with All Star Musicals on ITV Player now.