Review: The Singers Soirée at St Giles-in-the-Fields

The Singers Soirée

St Giles-in-the-Fields

Reviewed on Thursday 12th September 2013

Following several sold out performances on board the Battersea Barge, last week The Singers Soirée, founded by Jamie Chapman Dixon, transferred to a considerably larger venue, St Giles-in-the-Fields in Tottenham Court Road. The venue is lovely; however, the lack of toilet facilities was slightly frustrating.

At the moment there seems to be a considerable amount of these musical theatre charity concerts, not that I'm complaining as they all raise a lot of money for fantastic causes. It's incredible that so many people are willing to give up their time to support such worthwhile causes. The Singers Soirée raises money for The Shooting Star CHASE. The concert's patron, CJ De Mooi, spoke at the start of the evening and explained just how important the charity is. 

What makes The Singers Soirée stand out from other similar charity concerts is that it is all about celebrating, encouraging and nurturing fresh, new, exciting talent. Throughout the evening there were several duets between experienced, Olivier nominated performers and young performers who are still training or who have recently graduated. The concept is exciting and truly creates an exciting, supportive atmosphere. 

The evening saw a diverse group of performers take to the stage. Some of my personal favourite performances included a duet between Zizi Strallen and Joseph Giacone as well as Summer Strallen's duet with Ben Sell. It was very inspiring to see how supportive Zizi and Summer were towards their respective partners before, during and after the performance. 

Harry Francis brought the house down during his hysterical performance of 'Way Ahead of My Time'. He was the only performer to truly get into character and own the stage. The comedy number proved popular with the audience so perhaps a couple more would have been nice, as ballad after ballad runs risk of becoming repetitive. 

The evening saw two standing ovations. The first was for John Owen-Jones who performed a mash-up of Suddenly and Bring Him Home from Les Miserables. I saw him perform the same mash-up recently at Momentous Musicals but there was something quite hauntingly special about him performing the numbers in a church. The second was for Nathan James; as I wrote in my Scott Alan review, there literally seems to be no note that Nathan cannot hit. His vocal talents are just insane. 

However, my personal highlight of the evening was the performance from three of The Strallen Sisters' - Zizi, Sasi and Summer. The girls certainly lived up to the family name as they belted their way through an electric rendition of River Deep Mountain High. My only complaint is that Scarlett (the fourth Stralllen sister) and Bonnie Langford (their aunt) didn't descend from the sky during the number to join their family on stage. 

The Singers Soirée was a huge success for the singers, audience and charity with thousands of pounds being raised. While the concert went on a little too long, it was a very enjoyable evening. It is wonderful to see how Jamie Chapman Dixon's baby has grown into an unmissable event.

Reviewed by Andrew Tomlins (Editor)
andrew@westendframe.com

Please visit www.thesingerssoiree.co.uk for further informarion & to apply for the next concert.

Photo Credit: Darren Bell (Nathan James & John Owen-Jones performing at Scott Alan Live)

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