When Covid first arrived and closed West End Theatres a number of producers quickly put musical content online and began to address the challenges of recording and broadcasting in a new medium. As time has progressed the production values and quality have improved. Thespie.com was set up to help artists and producers sell tickets to their shows (without ticket agent fees), help people find shows that match their interests, and reach remote audiences using live-streaming and filmed performances. Their latest offering is Together Again which premiered on 7th January from the Fiction Studios which looks a bit like Professor Dumbledore's study!
The Together Again title refers to reuniting the three Heathers; Chandler, McNamara and Duke from the 2018 West End Production and the Janet Jackson dance song of the same name that one of them sings during the show. Sophie Issacs, Jodie Steele and T'Shan Williams are a likeable trio and we feel like we are eavesdropping on a private reunion in one of their homes! The fifty-minute show gives them each a chance to sing a couple of their favourite tunes and to deliver some big numbers as a trio.
Jodie Steele powerfully recreates the wonderful "The Wizard and I" which she sang as Elphaba in the 2016/17 international tour and a slower emotional tune from a less well-known show The Scarlet Pimpernel, "When I look at you" which gently recalls her memories.
T'Shan Williams gives us a song from a show I saw her in at Hampstead, the moving and powerful Caroline or Change, "I hate the bus" and then the Janet Jackson song "Together Again" which was written in tribute to someone who had died of AIDS. Both songs are packed with emotions and beautifully delivered.
Sophie Issacs (who I have previously seen in Pantomime at Richmond, Woking and the Palladium) presented her version of "I See Stars" from Mean Girls and then a 2017 hit "Best Part". I had not heard either song before but I enjoyed her strong vocals that earn her a "pocket rocket" nickname from her colleagues.
Together they present the upbeat "One Night Only" from Dreamgirls, a lively and fun Christina Aguilera song "Ain't no other men" and then everyone's guilty pleasure of "Never Enough" from The Greatest Showman before closing with " Candy Store" perhaps the best song from the 2018 Heathers musical. They are at their best as a trio.
In between songs they chat casually on the stools or on a sofa reminiscing about how they got started in Musical Theatre and how they met and became friends. Their admiration for each other appears genuine and their friendship shines through. You warm to them and in the end are left wanting more. The show is simply produced, well lit and with clear audio and the home is filled with their powerful vocals. Someone just needs to tell them that the song they warm up to is "Come on Eileen", a 1982 hit for Dexy's Midnight runners and now a part of the England Football fans catalogue! I really wanted them to sing that as an encore.
Review by Nick Wayne
Rating: ★★★
Seat: Online | Price of Ticket: £21
