A Massaoke Night At The Musicals – Koko, London

A Massaoke Night At The Musicals at Koko, London.

Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

This is like every musical theatre fan’s dream come true. It’s a concert, filled with your favourite soundtrack hits, and you are the star. Okay, you and hundreds of other theatre fans but hey, the spotlight is yours, right?

Let us paint the scene, it’s Friday night at Koko, yes, that’s right, in edgy Camden Town. and as you walk in there’s a medley of musical theatre favourites playing over the speakers to get you in the mood and your vocal cords all warmed up.

People start filing in and soon all you can hear between the loud mumbles of conversations are people getting hyped up and joining in with a bit of Hairspray or Oliver! or getting their Disney on, and the show hasn’t even started yet.

Moving swiftly on to the main event, out comes the band and based on the audience’s reactions (us included, of course) it’s going to be an exciting night.

Massaoke is the perfect idea to bring together those of us who enjoy the spotlight with those of us who would be happier mouthing along in the wings. It’s a live band playing all of our favourite songs while the audience join in guided by a big screen with the lyrics on. In a room full of musical theatre fans, the atmosphere is electric.

This is the UK’s first ever live band mass-karaoke led by band members Ethan McClean, Rye Eden, Neil Winspear, Mark Nilsson and Mat Morrisroe, and they know how to get a party started.

The gig includes songs from The Greatest Showman, Mamma Mia!, Grease, The Phantom of the Opera, Bugsy Malone and a whole lot of Disney. So while they play hit after hit, your favourites are bound to come up at some point throughout the night. 

It’s not just your standard read off a screen karaoke event either, there is plenty going on on stage to enjoy with dancers helping hype up the crowd even more and perhaps one or two other surprises in store too.

A Massaoke Night At The Musicals is just their latest gig in a long line of critically-acclaimed and star-attended previous performances that they have taken around the world.

If it sounds like your ideal night out, then the band announced that they would be playing The Underbelly Festival at the Southbank in April and July so keep your eyes peeled for that.

If you love to sing, dance and would otherwise be listening to musicals in your own home anyway, this is the place for you. You can live out your theatre dreams but instead of singing into a brush in your bathroom, it’s bigger, glitzier and a whole lot more fun.

Honestly, this is the musical theatre event we didn’t know we needed but as the night draws to a close (perhaps too quickly) we can only hope that this show continues to have many more revivals up ahead.

Tal Fox