Woburn Abbey – 14 June 2015
The Sculpture Gallery at Woburn provided the excellent backdrop for A Touch of West End. An evening of fine food and very fine musical entertainment.
Lead by the multi talented Amy Shackcloth, who acted as Musical Director and accompanied the singers on the magnificent piano. We were presented with the superb sextet of Sabrina Aloueche, Matthew Cammelle, Olivia Brereton, Tim Morgan, Oliver Tompsett and Annette Yeo.
The show began with Wilkommen and Cabaret from Cabaret performed by the company followed by With a Little Help from my Friends performed by acapella with Amy joining in the singing.
We then had our first course of Terrine of Beetroot and Goats Cheese with chive dressing and ciabatta crostini and a summer sorbet.
Our performers then returned for more starting with Some Enchanted Evening from South Pacific sung by the honey coated voice of Matthew Cammelle. A rousing performance of Posh from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang heartily presented by Tim Morgan. Annette Yeo gave us a superb rendition of Raindrops on Roses from The Sound of Music and Olivia Brereton gave us I Could Have Danced All Night from My Fair Lady. Newcomer to the group Sabrina Aloueche duetted with Yeo on Memory from Cats and a stomping version of Oklahoma from Oklahoma performed by the whole company ended that set.
Our main course of Lock Duart Salmon Supreme with a Prawn and Tomato Dressing with rosti potatoes, corgette fritters and pea puree set us up for our next set piece
Beginning with Seasons of Love from Rent performed by the whole company although Sabrina Aloueche shone like a beacon with her voice reaching musical highs. Some rock came next with the other new comer, Oliver Tompsett, reprising his Galileo and Aloueche recreating her Scaramouch to duet on Who Wants to Live Forever and I Want to Break Free both from the much missed Queen musical We Will Rock You. Ending with the stirring company rendition of Anthem from Chess.
Dessert of Summer Pudding with raspberry coulis and clotted cream, coffee and fudge followed before the final show stopping performance
The entire company showed us how awesome they were with a medley of the classic Les Miserables – Do You Hear the People Sing, On My Own, Master of the House, A Heart Full of Love and One Day More. And a final phenomenal encore of We Are The Champions from We Will Rock You.
The singers are all individually outstanding and harmonise together beautifully. Its easy to see why these have a such a superior musical pedigree and highly successful West End careers.
In a perfect evening of food and entertainment it was a feast for all our senses.
A Touch of West End presented by Ginger Boy Productions appears twice a year at Woburn, make sure you don’t miss the next one