Take 213 singers and a band of 8 all assembled in the glorious Bridgewater Hall in Manchester and you have got what was a stunning night’s entertainment in the form of Unlimited Voices, The Great Songs Of Musical Theatre. This was a show of the highest calibre from an ensemble of amateur performers that have one thing in common… a passion for singing.
Unlimited Voices was created by Linda Metcalfe (our glamourous host for the evening) with a vision of bringing together a group of people passionate about singing to perform at venues across the country. There is no audition process to become a member and it gives aspiring singers the chance to perform in some of the most amazing venues in front of a live audience.
Tonight it was the turn of Musical Theatre to get the Unlimited Voices treatment with 25 songs from this most popular genre spanning many decades. From the opening number ‘Oh What A Night’ made famous most recently by the Jersey Boys musical it was clear we as an audience were about to witness something very special at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. With songs filling the first half from We Will Rock You, Kismet, My Fair Lady, Matilda, Camelot and Fiddler On The Roof there was something for everybody’s musical taste.
As well as the glorious harmonies from a whole host of ensemble numbers there were a couple of solo performances in the first half. Tim Redmond confidently sang ‘Stars’ from Les Misérables. With the audience sitting in complete silence Redmond’s version portrayed all the emotion you could ever need as he tells Javert’s story, explaining some of his reasoning for pursuing the law the way he does, and reiterating his resolve to capture Valjean once and for all. 
Kirsty Barber performed ‘Astonishing’ from Little Women with a huge degree of confidence as she tells how her life is going to be astonishing! The song is the final piece from the first act of the show seen on Broadway back in 2005.
The second half of the evening’s entertainment saw songs from Godspell, West Side Story, Into The Woods, Hairspray, Mamma Mia and A Little Night Music. I was rather surprised to see a medley of songs from the Disney movie Frozen in the middle of the set list in this second half. Frozen in my book doesn’t come under the heading ‘Musical Theatre’ (yet) and just felt it was misplaced within this programme.
Once again during the second half we were treated to two solo performances. The first from Lauren Carroll was the stand out performance of the night for me as she performed ‘Still Hurting’ from superb musical The Last 5 Years. Carroll’s vocal control and emotions made her not only a crowd favourite but also mine. This lady should be in musical theatre as she’d not look out of place on a West End stage.
The final solo of the night was performed by Larry Gibson. His rendition of ‘Mr Cellophane’ from Chicago was heartfelt and emotional as he tells the story of Amos Hart and the fact people don’t even realise he exists. Gibson just got this just right with the final line ‘I hope I didn’t take up too much of your time’ getting an aahhh from the audience.
The show ended with a trip to Fame the Musical and the beautiful ‘Bring On Tomorrow’ which morphed into ‘Fame’ itself with the Unlimited Voices singing and dancing with boundless energy. The final words uttered from the masses were ‘remember my name’, something I most certainly will be doing as I look forward to seeing this superbly talented group perform again as soon as I can.
I applaud musical director Steven Roberts and founder Linda Metcalfe for choosing a selection of songs, some of which are not heard often which all put a smile on your face. I can forgive the inclusion of Frozen as they didn’t include any Lloyd-Webber. A brave move in my eyes considering the title of the show, but one which paid off handsomely.
Reviewer: Paul Downham
Reviewed: 23rd January 2016
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