Cassiopeia Berkeley-Agyepong, Chrissie Bhima and Michael Ahomka-Lindsay impress mightily in Young, Gifted & Black’s Musical Theatre Night at Theatre Peckham
“Point me toward tomorrow”
From the pink velvet lushness of Crazy Coqs to Audra McDonald filling the Palladium and blowing its roof off, cabaret and live performance gigs can provide nice alternatives to get to know performers just a bit higher, away from however along with the roles we see them play on stage. So in the actual intimacy of Theatre Peckham, attending to see Cassiopeia Berkeley-Agyepong, Chrissie Bhima and Michael Ahomka-Lindsay up shut and private was an actual deal with.
They have been that includes in Theatre Peckham’s Young, Gifted & Black season as a part of their Musical Theatre Night and over the course of an hour with MD Ashton Moore on the keys, we acquired to listen to some spectacular singing. From Stephens Schwartz and Sondheim to Sister Act and Dreamgirls with somewhat soul and jazz thrown in for good measure, a wide-ranging setlist explored each the previous and current of musical theatre, while making the case that they might nicely be main performers of the long run.
For Bhima, that likelihood was cruelly taken away from her by the premature closing of Cinderella earlier than she was attributable to take over the title function however the vocal color and charisma she dropped at the likes of Passion’s ‘I Wish I Could Forget You’ and A Chorus Line’s ‘What I Did For Love’ demonstrated she deserves significantly better materials to work with when she undoubtedly will finally lead a present.
Ahomka-Lindsay had an important summer time charming his method by way of Legally Blonde (and can quickly sort out Newsies), impressing along with his crooning by way of Sweaty Eddie’s ‘I Could Be That Guy’ from Sister Act and making me immediately need to discover the forged recording of A Strange Loop with a stunning rendition of ‘Memory Song’ (significantly, how do now we have MJ the bloody musical introduced within the West End earlier than this audacious Broadway present?).
And Berkeley-Agyepong’s candy character and vocal dedication shone by way of on a jazz medley, a music from Beauty and the Beast I wasn’t conversant in and the beautiful ‘Meadowlark’ from The Baker’s Wife. For the expertise on show, they deserved a a lot larger viewers however regardless, I used to be simply glad to be within the room, having my spirits raised and making an attempt to guess which of those will break into deserved stardom first.