Tuesday, April 23, 2013

An evening of movies & musicals

The past weekend we were in the Welsh capital, Cardiff where we attented a wonderful concert on Saturday night. It was a night to remember, and also in support of a good cause, namely The Stroke Association.

Conductor Matthew J. Hampson is a big fan of film music. When the film E.T. celebrated its 20th Anniversary in the US, they decided to show the film with a full live orchestra. Matthew thought this sounded so good he planned on bringing a sortlike concert in Europe. At the same time, he loves musical theatre, so he thought these concerts should include some musical acts as well.

A night of films and muscials began in Cardiff last year, in 2012, and then made its round throughout the UK, to much acclaim. This 20th April it was back in Cardiff, to a sold out St. David's Hall.

We truly enjoyed the philharmic orchestra, the choirs (more than 200 people) and of course those stars of the muscial theatre we love to hear. Ruthie Henshall performed songs from Cabaret and Chicago, also from Les Miserables.


John Owen Jones (used to be Phantom and also Jean Valjean) did the best songs from both muscials.


Peter Karrie also used to be Phantom and although getting older, he still has a wonderful voice and brings a great performance.


Of course there were other artists, such as soprano Fiona Kelly, the Siren Sisters, Live & Swinging, the South Wales Gay Men's Choir, Dafydd Christopher Gape (winner of the Young Voice of Musicl Theatre).

The show lasted over 3 hours and afterwards, there was a meet & greet with the artists. Ruthie was flattered we loved seeing her in Marguerite and John Owen Jones even remembered seeing us before, during the 25th Anniversary of Phantom in 2011. I always think these musical stars are nice people, with no star allure. They take the time to talk to everyone and are most willing to go on a picture with them.

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