Alice Fearn presents Intermissions – Kimberley Walsh

Alice Fearn presents Intermissions – Kimberley Walsh, available to stream online until 1 September 2020.

Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

Thank the musical theatre gods for the great online content being put out during these times of lockdown. It has been a blessed distraction from the tedium and worry. A particular joy in recent weeks has been Alice Fearn’s (Wicked, Come from Away) Intermissions series. Each week she and her guests performed great musical theatre songs and discussed the state of the industry. The series finale featured special guest Kimberley Walsh (Shrek The Musical, Sleepless: A Musical Romance, Girls Aloud).

Fearn kicked proceedings off with a storming rendition of ‘Into the Unknown’ from Frozen 2. Those years at Wicked adding her own magic to songs made famous by Idina Menzel have clearly paid off: this was an electric opener, with Fearn confidently nailing those notoriously difficult high Eb’s in a manner you could only wish your children could manage. She followed this with a more subdued but entirely beautiful interpretation of ‘A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes’ from Cinderella. For both songs she was backed up by the brilliant piano-playing of musical director Nick Barstow.

So far: brilliant, but fairly typical of an online concert. However, the X factor of Intermissions lies in Fearn’s natural warmth and humour as a host. Over the course of the evening her interviews gave us a fascinating peek at how her fellow West End artists were keeping themselves occupied – and afloat – during the lockdown.

Lara Denning was all set to perform in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie in Birmingham when the lockdown hit. Coincidentally, this was a show for which I had tickets. My disappointment can only have been a fraction of that felt by the cast, but Denning was admirably upbeat and optimistic about future tours being buoyed by the show’s upcoming movie adaptation.

Grace Mouat has had a dream start to her musical theatre career, going straight from college into the Tudor mega-hit Six: The Musical, then & Juliet. She is a fantastically talented singer, so it is a shame she didn’t get the opportunity to perform here. We can only hope Fearn keeps her in mind for a future edition of Intermissions. Their interview was delightful, with Fearn and Mouat bonding over their experiences of winning over cynical theatre attendees who thought they would be too cool for the pure pop fun of & Juliet or Wicked.

As for the main event, Kimberley Walsh treated us to a wonderful version of Burt Bacharach’s ‘(They Long to Be) Close to You’, infusing the low notes with an impressive tonality approaching that of the great Karen Carpenter herself. Her interview with Fearn felt like two old friends catching up – and it was! The two have worked together surprisingly often and their chemistry is fantastic. A key takeaway from their chat was that Walsh’s Sleepless: A Musical Romance will be one of the first indoor musicals to come back at the end of this month.

This growing feeling of hope for theatre’s future continued with the freshly graduated and brilliant Lenny Turner’s performance of ‘Left Behind’ from Spring Awakening. With only his acoustic guitar for accompaniment he turned in a superb, heartfelt performance that managed to outshine even his snazzy pink shirt. He is definitely one to watch out for when the lockdown lifts.

It deserves mention that the production values for Intermissions are excellent throughout, possibly the best of any recently streamed lockdown concert. The small team of producer Jake Waby, director Kirk Jameson and cameraperson/Fearn’s husband Gavin Alex Wood created a seamless, glitch-free and expensive-looking and sounding presentation. The fact that these shows are broadcast live makes the feat even more impressive.

Fearn was joined by Emma Lindars (Groundhog Day, West End on Wardour) for the final two songs: ‘You’ve Got a Friend’ and ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’. This combination served as a fantastic ending to a lovely hour of light-hearted entertainment and chat.

Is it worth the £9 entry cost? You could, after all, rent a couple of full-length streamed musicals for that. Well, it may or may not change your life as much as 1986’s Sunday in the Park With George, but if you can afford it, you will definitely feel better about giving your money to brilliant theatre artists rather than to Amazon during this difficult time for the industry.

Ian Bowkett