Momentous Musicals – New Wimbledon Theatre

John Owen-Jones and Gareth Gates in Momentous Musicals

Momentous Musicals was performed at the New Wimbledon Theatre, London and continues to tour until 25 July.

This being a sweltering night at the New Wimbledon Theatre, minimalist attire was definitely the order of the evening. If it was very hot in the auditorium, goodness knows what the temperature was on stage. At one point, top of the bill, Gareth Gates, visibly perspiring in a sharp suit, but still managing to maintain a coolness befitting his star image, was forced to employ a mini hand-held fan.

That was after this production, the opening night in a four-date tour, got off to a belter of a start. West End regular, Rachael Wooding, gave her vocal all during the opening ‘One Night Only’, from the musical Dreamgirls, before Gates made his clearly eagerly awaited entrance, covering ‘Corner of the Sky’ (Stephen Schwartz’s Pippin).

Despite being entitled Momentous Musicals, the show only included a few of the older established classics. But, given the very diverse age group of this night’s presumably representative audience, it needed to include the likes of ‘Over the Rainbow’, sang touchingly and with confident ease by Bronte Barbe, one of the ten finalists in BBC1’s search for a Dorothy back in 2010.

As the evening continued, it was actually refreshing to realise it didn’t involve sitting through a collection of all the old, familiar musical standards – yet again – and the director John Garfield-Roberts and producers Speckulation Entertainment deserved applause for taking that creative decision. On a night that was to boast a wealth of vocal riches, one performer stood out – John Owen-Jones, a superb musical talent. With his charming, disarming honesty and confident on-stage banter, the audience was soon putty in his hands, especially after his superb covers of ‘’Til I Hear You Sing’ from Love Never Dies, and ‘What Kind of Fool Am I?’ from Stop the World – I Want to Get Off, the 1961 Anthony Newley musical.

Top of the billing though was Gates, and in Act I he joined Wooding for ‘Serious’, from Legally Blonde, and then revelled in the chance to perform solo with ‘Proud of Your Boy’ (Aladdin) after what was a rattling good ensemble Disney medley. The audience loved him from the very start, so by the time he sang ‘Unchained Melody’, from the hit, tearjerker movie and stage musical Ghost, he could do no wrong.

Neither did his supporting cast with Ashleigh Gray in superb, feisty form for a cover of ‘Don’t Rain On My Parade’, from Funny Girl, certainly giving Streisand a run for her money.

A quick look through the cast members’ biographies revealed that a number of them honed, or are still honing their talents at the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts and the Guildford School of Acting, while musical director George Dyer hailed from Durham University and Mountview, and lighting designer Tom Boucher studied at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts.

Clearly, the future of British musical theatre is in safe, talented hands. For the forthcoming performances of Momentous Musicals, it will be the name Gareth Gates that really puts derrieres on seats – the shivers down the spine will be courtesy of Owen-Jones’ voice.

 Derek Smith