REVIEW: West End Eurovision 2019, in aid of the Make A Difference Trust, at the Adelphi Theatre

Never mind Avengers: Assemble, this epic TheatreMAD fundraiser is West End: Assemble, as heroes from all departments give their best Eurovision-inspired performances, in the hope of lifting the glittering trophy at the end of the night.

Back for its 9thyear, this highlight of the theatrical calendar boasted another fabulous panel of celebrity judges; Love Island and 9 to 5 star Amber Davies, television’s Tim Vincent, ballet impresario Wayne Sleep and stage and screen royalty Bonnie Langford. Throughout the night they treated us to hilarious patter, particularly Sleep, and the audience lapped it up.

Host Richard Gauntlett is a marvel. Each year, he has the audience eating from the palm of his hand with his lightning-quick wit, and this year was no exception. Special mention must also go to Musical Director and Arranger Matheson Bayley, perhaps the hero of the night, leading the seven-piece band through all of the performances. Events like this can easily fall apart without careful planning and rehearsal; with Gauntlett and Bayley at the helm, there is certainly no danger of that.

This year, the shows competing for the trophy were Only Fools & Horses, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Aladdin, Mamma Mia!, Follies, Wickedand reigning champions The Phantom of the Opera. Everyone involved devotes their time voluntarily, and an extraordinary amount of time and energy goes into creating the idents, costumes, choreography, vocal arrangements and technical work on and offstage.

Watch all the West End Eurovision 2019 Video Indents & Vote for your favourite one!

Ahead of the 64th annual Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv, the casts of seven West End shows will wage battle at the Adelphi Theatre on Sunday 28 April in WEST END EUROVISION 2019.

Singing original Eurovision Song Contest songs, they will compete to win text votes from the theatre audience and the approval of a panel of celebrity judges and judges from each competing show.

Giving their all to lift four coveted WEST END EUROVISION 2019 trophies - The Champions, The Best Ident Movie, The Best Creative and the new award for this year Outstanding Gorgeousness - will be the casts of Aladdin, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Follies, Mamma Mia, Only Fools and Horses, The Phantom of the Opera (last year’s winners) and Wicked.

The first guest star performer to be announced is the fantastically glamorous Eurovision winner Dana International, who will perform DIVA, the song that took the crown for her in Birmingham in 1998. And this year’s UK Eurovision Act, Michael Rice, will be performing the UK entry, Bigger Than Us.

Stand out Performances of 2018

2018 saw many kinds of theatre; ground breaking theatre like The Inheritance, gender swapping in Company, new musical theatre like Unexpected Joy at the Southwark, twisting and retelling of loved  shows like Little Shop of Horrors and revivals of classic like Pinter at the Pinter. Within that we have seen some incredible performances and we wanted to highlight some of our top performances of the year. What are yours?! 

Rosalie Craig in Company at the Gielgud Theatre

The first Female to tackle the role of Bobby (Or Bobbie in this adaptation) in Stephen Sondheim's Company, she succeeds in every way possible. She gives a real and genuine performance that is natural and precise, this role could have been written for her. Alongside one of the best ensemble of actors in the West End, she proves exactly why she is the true meaning of a Leading Lady. Company closes on the 30th March, so get down to see her quickly!

Marc Antolin in Little Shop of Horrors at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre

After seeing Marc in quite a few things over his career, we knew he was great but after seeing him as Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors over the summer at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, we finally saw how truly versatile and brilliant he is as an actor. Maybe not the obvious choice for the role aesthetically but he was absolutely the perfect choice in this wonderful and ground breaking production.

Pocket Size Theatre | Faces to look out for in 2019

Here at Pocket we are lucky enough to cover such a huge range of Theatre, from Opera to ballet and Fringe to West End. As a team, we see so much variety that is so hard not to recognise people for their talents. In some reviews its hard to just recognise someones talent because you have to look on it as a piece of theatre, not just singling out one persons contribution to the production. But as 2018 comes to a close, we had brought together a list of people who we think are going to be the hot names of 2019. So keep an eye out for these talents, as I'm sure you'll all see more of them soon. 

Toby Marlow | Writer

After being part of the Duo who wrote the phenomenal new musical, Six, and recently bring his new show 'Hot Gay Time Machine', which he also co-wrote Toby is on our list because the success he has achieved in such a small amount of time is astonishing and totally well deserved. Our faith in the British musical theatre scene is officially back!

Tessa Kadler | Actor

After making her West End debut as the understudy to Katherine Jenkins in Carousel at the London Coliseum, we've seen a lot from Tessa this year. From her performance as Catherine in Pippin at the Hope Mill in Manchester and later at the Southwark Playhouse to playing Kitty in the Return of the Solider at the Hope Mill also. She is currently playing Maria in the Sound of Music in Cyprus, we hope to see more of her in 2019.

Oscar Conlon-Morrey | Actor

After seeing Oscar in Toxic Avenger in 2017, we have followed his career as his performance was just a complete stand out. He has gone from strength to strength, 2018 saw him in Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat at Kilworth House Theatre & most recently in Nativity. He has also been cast in the new musical adaptation of Only Fools and Horses at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in the new year. Having only graduated drama school in 2017, we can't wait to see what the next few years brings him.