Whitney: Queen of the Night – Savoy Theatre and Touring

Whitney: Queen of the Night, reviewed at the Savoy Theatre, London, continues to tour.

Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

You can’t really get much better than a bit of Whitney, can you? Whitney – Queen of the Night is a fitting celebration to the life and music of the legend who brought us songs such as ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’, ‘Greatest Love of All’, ‘So Emotional’ and, of course, ‘I Will Always Love You’.

The show takes you through Houston’s career and from the biggest Whitney superfan to someone who only knows the biggest hits, it is a pretty sensational night for everyone. The show takes arrangements from the star’s live concerts and it’s almost like she’s there in the room.

The auditorium was clearly filled with huge fans and everyone properly threw themselves into the atmosphere, cheering, clapping, dancing (mostly in their seats) and singing along. The great thing about Houston’s music is even if you go in thinking you won’t know many of the tracks, you’ll will be surprised not only at how many of her songs you do know, but how much of them you’re able to sing along to as well.

Elesha Paul Moses takes the spotlight as lead vocalist and, if you close your eyes, it is basically Whitney singing there for you, live. In fact from where we were sat, we didn’t even need to close our eyes to believe it. She has Houston to a tee and every note is flawless. She manages to captivate the audience and it really feels like a throwback watching her on stage.

Moses is accompanied by a live band and three backing vocalists who keep the energy electric. Whether it’s an uptempo song or one of Houston’s classic ballads, the vibe is spectacular.

It wasn’t clear from the beginning what kind of vibe audiences could expect with a vast majority mistaking the Savoy Theatre for the O2 arena as they got up, sang along and were generally too buzzed to be the quiet type of audience the theatre is used to. Of course, it’s impossible not to join in with Houston’s music, but perhaps this show would be better suited to a venue that permits a louder audience.

However, you can hardly fault anyone for having a great time and, as they say, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. It’s impossible to resist the pure joy and energy of the performance and you might even surprise yourself when you find yourself on your feet by the end of the show.

Tal Fox