Cabaret and Champagne Afternoon Tea at The Londoner Hotel, Leicester Square.
London’s newest five-star hotel, The Londoner, served up a five-star musical and gastronomic treat on Sunday in the shape of a three-hour cabaret of young performers, some already working in West End theatre, to accompany as fine an afternoon tea as you could find anywhere in that wonderful city.
The pink champagne is optional but there’s no point in stinting yourself if you’re going to stay in the plush new flagship of the Edwardian hotel group – The Londoner opened only in September – or if you are simply pushing the boat out as a visitor from out of town, as you would for the sheer experience of afternoon tea at the Ritz or Dorchester.
The Londoner, in Leicester Square on the same side as the same group’s Hampshire, couldn’t be any closer to theatreland… or anything central. And the staff could not be more charming.
This was The Londoner’s first collaboration with MOLTO Music who supply the singers and the musical director, in this case Chris Ma, assistant MD on Dear Evan Hansen.
Hosted by singer-songwriter Caroline Kay, whose beautiful ‘A Song For Sondheim’ tribute on Twitter (“you were the best thing that could have happened, goodbye for now tonight”) was a beacon of light on a dark, dark Friday, each performer did three show songs in the Stage Champagne Bar.
It was great experience for them. Some folk sipped champagne and listened while others, less musicals-minded, chatted away, as they were entitled to in a busy area with plenty of comings and goings. Maybe next time a quieter dedicated room will be used.
One who was definitely listening was Broadway star Billy Porter, Tony and Emmy Primetime award-winner for Lola in Kinky Boots, who sauntered into the bar, took a seat, nodded approvingly at the stage and declared: “This is my spiritual home.”
Speaking on behalf of The Londoner, Claire Hepworth took this as a good omen for the future of cabaret there, saying: “We have been working with MOLTO for our live music programming and were thrilled when they suggested a musical theatre event. We wanted to test the water to see if there was an appetite for an afternoon cabaret and the response we had was beyond what we could have ever wished for.
“The line-up MOLTO pulled together was outstanding, featuring artists from shows such as Rent, Cabaret, Priscilla Queen of the Desert and Six to name a few, and some standout performances from up-and-coming musical theatre graduates.
“The feedback has been extremely positive, so much so that we will now be working on developing this idea into a regular event in the new year. And Billy Porter’s comment was the icing on the cake for us!”
There were some excellent performances. Particularly interesting were confident Mountview graduate Andrew Ewart (‘Empty Chairs and Empty Tables’, ‘For Forever’, ‘Being Alive’), Fringe regular Emma Ralston [pictured], a sure-voiced Scottish lass I remember reviewing back in 2017 in Frogs at Jermyn Street and recipient of rave Into The Woods reviews at the Rose and Crown, and Bethany Terry, from the Kit Kat Club ensemble in Cabaret, who gave us a super ‘Come to Your Senses’, featured in the new Netflix movie tick, tick… BOOM!
Mary Moore, who has been playing Amy in Little Women at the Park Theatre, was a delight as a singer – she nailed Sondheim’s ‘What More Do I Need?’, particularly poignant that weekend, and ‘Everything I Know’ from In The Heights. Her song links trailed away a little, but this is something that should improve with more cabaret experience.
Sadly, I didn’t have time to hear everyone in this marathon session and was particularly disappointed to miss host Caroline Kay who writes the sort of songs I like if the gorgeous ‘A Million Things’ from her Irish musical Daisy is a sample.
MOLTO’s creative director Alice Harvey, who is passionate about musical theatre, was “super-happy The Londoner want to make it a regular event”, adding that they are hoping to introduce their shows into all the London hotels and members’ clubs at which they have residencies.
These include the Four Seasons Ten Trinity, the Four Seasons Park Lane, St Pancras Renaissance, Carlton Tower Jumeirah, the Taj, the Court and Home House.
Of course, nothing comes cheap at The Londoner but their afternoon tea is less expensive than the Dorchester or Savoy and surely just as sumptuous. Giving lunch a miss will give you just enough room to deal with endless mini-sandwiches filled with salmon, crab, chicken, beef, duck egg and the inevitable baby cucumber, warm scones with Cornish clotted cream, homemade strawberry preserve and bergamot curd, and handcrafted, exotically-named patisseries that are works of art. Go on – spoil yourself!
Jeremy Chapman
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