The Old Joint Stock Birmingham – until 22 June 2025.
Reviewed by Emma Millward
5*****
On a very humid Birmingham evening, I made my first-ever visit to The Old Joint Stock in the Colmore Row district of the city for an exciting musical night with a twist. Do You Hear The People Sing (Along) brings together a selection of the best toe-tapping songs from some of the most popular shows, but unlike your usual theatrical productions, the audience is actively encouraged to sing along too! The Old Joint Stock is a beautiful and unique building. It was originally a library, before becoming the Birmingham Joint Stock Bank, and finally a pub in 1997. The 80-seat theatre is nestled on the second floor of the building and offers an intimate theatre experience. As you walk up the stairs towards the theatre, posters of previous shows adorn the walls. The theatre has hosted an array of different theatre and musical genres over the years, including Avenue Q, Little Shop of Horrors and The Importance of Being Earnest.
From the team behind The Old Joint Stock’s previous cabaret shows, ‘I Screamed A Scream- A Villains Cabaret and ‘A Little Bawl of Pain- Musical Tearjerkers’, the show aims to find the biggest crowd-pleaser of them all, and Director/Writer James Edge and Musical Director Callum Thompson have put together a playlist of amazing contenders for that honour. The ensemble cast of four performers, Shannon Bourne, Emily Hespe, Samuel Howe-Barratt and Josephina Ortiz-Lewis play themselves, but with many different costume changes involved. Joining them on narration duties is Britain’s Got Talent Semi-finalist Will Burns, as (in his own words) ‘the big, loud, annoying voice-over’ who the real host, Josephina Ortiz-Lewis playfully argues with throughout the show. The premise is simple: the cast will sing for us, and when the strategically placed screens dotted around the room tell us that it’s our turn, we get to sing our hearts out!
The cast may be small, but they definitely pack a mighty punch, and they had the audience enthralled from the first song. The show lasted just over 2 hours and along the way, we heard songs from shows such as Cabaret, Chicago, Rent and Grease, presented as solos, duets and group performances. All four performers draw on their strengths and the chemistry between them is obvious. Josephina Ortiz-Lewis and Samuel Howe-Barratt excelled in their comedic turn as two Danny Zukos for ‘You’re The One That I Want’. Shannon Bourne’s rendition of Disney’s ‘Let It Go’ was outstanding. Emily Hespe bought the house down with her powerhouse vocals for some big songs, including Wicked‘s ‘Defying Gravity’ and ‘This is Me’ from The Greatest Showman. As for the audience’s vocals? Yes, we might not have always been pitch-perfect or singing completely in time, but you could feel the enjoyment of everybody in the room and the talented cast always ensured they swiftly got us back on track!!
The tickets have all sold out for this current run, but The Old Joint Stock has created a cheesy but charming singing spectacular that I hope will lead to more sing-a-long shows in the future.