Aylesbury Waterside Theatre – 23 February 2020
Reviewed by Annie Hughes
3***
The well-loved musical concert, Beyond the Barricade, arrived in Aylesbury Waterside Theatre for one night only on Sunday 23rd February as part of its 21st Anniversary Tour. The show consists of four past principal performers from Les Miserables who come together to create an almost Juke Box experience of some of the biggest West End/Broadway musical hits.
It does not take long to understand how this two-hour musical medley has delighted audiences across the world for twenty-one years now. It is a real pleasure to see these four talented singers – David Fawcett, Andy Reiss, Poppy Tierney and Judie Beth Meyer – show-casing their talent and demonstrating why they had such talented careers.
The show is very well curated, with all the songs carefully arranged in an order that takes the audience on a real musical journey. The concert appropriately opens with a rendition of Queen’s “The Show Must Go On” from We Will Rock You, before whisking you into the world of Miss Saigon, Carousel, Phantom of the Opera, The Lion King and of course the jewel in the crown, Les Misérables. The powerhouse numbers like “The Phantom of the Opera” are well followed with lighter musical interludes such as a compilation of “Children’s” songs from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Mary Poppins. I particularly loved David Fawcett’s acknowledgment of the more recent musicals such as Hamilton that have graced the West End and Broadway. The quartet’s rendition of the opening song from the new musical Come From Away by David Hein and Irene Sankoff was a particular favourite of mine as a refreshing surprise!
However, it is precisely for that reason that I have given the show 3 stars. Personally, throughout the show, I felt myself craving to watch the musicals themselves from which the talented quartet were singing such as Come From Away and The Lion King. As a musical lover myself, whilst I appreciated the undeniable talent of the four singers, I missed the running thread of story-line accompanied with set and costume that you would have enjoyed in a classical musical and felt it could not compare to that.
That said, Beyond the Barricade never pretends to package itself as a musical but very much a musical concert celebrating the journey of the 20th century musical in to the 21st. It is not a story in its own right but a love letter to the genre of musical theatre and if you love the songs from the musicals mentioned above, you will have a very enjoyable night at Beyond the Barricade as I did.