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I was lucky enough to be able to get tickets for this and went with Sue C from LMAS who has written this brilLEEiant review and has given me permission to use it - as it is far better than anything I could do!!!
I have just got home after a wonderful afternoon spent at the WI Christmas Concert in Cheltenham.
I hope you don't mind but I want to tell you all about it, as not many of his fans were able to get tickets for these two events.
Firstly I must say a HUGE thank you to Tiffy who rang me on Monday morning and said she had just booked two tickets for the afternoon concert and did I want to come with her. I leapt six feet in the air, which was not a good idea, as I was having my hair cut at the time !! I now have a very wonky fringe
We arrived in Cheltenham about 12.30pm and went straight to the Town Hall to collect the tickets. It's a very impressive building. As Tiffy went up to the B/O to collect the tickets I suddenly heard our man singing PIB and realised he was doing voice checks on the other side of the door. I leant casually on the door It was securely locked. Then Tiffy came over with the box office lady and said "Sue, our tickets aren't here !!
I said "Don't panic Mr Mannering. Ok, what do we do??" Lovely B/O lady then said "Why don't you find Jane (not her real name, as on line) and ask her where they are, she'll know she's from the WI" I said "Sure, would Jane happen to be on the other side of this locked door? " Yes ladies, you've guessed it !! Door was unlocked by a security guy and Tiffy was pulled very swiftly through by me, much to her surprise. Within two seconds we were sitting quietly at the back of the room, behaving like angels and watching our boy rehearse. There were about 10 WI ladies further down and a few of the dancers dotted about listening intently. He was a joy. While doing "Dancing through Life" he explained to the Stage Manager he usually dances with this song. He then did a fabulous comic dance to show how. He was all legs and arms and it looked so funny. No one took any notice of us, so we just held our breath and stayed put. He was wearing dark grey jeans, black shoes a cream and black short sleeved T and a matching grey scarf with the same cream detail on the end. This was wrapped tightly round his neck. He looked stunning and was obviously enjoying himself. When he finished his voice checks he put on a thick grey coat and wandered off into the wings. Tiffy and I staggered to our feet and went in search of a sandwich. The missing tickets still hadn't arrived and Jane was long gone !
Went back in after lunch and there, like magic, were the missing tickets in the B/O.
The Concert was fabulous. It was held in the most beautiful room. The stage was large, with a huge organ at the top. The walls were cream with pale blue carvings and large orange marble pillars. There were lovely red curtains draped across the stage and the side walls were decorated with holly and red bauble's so it looked so Christmassy. The ceiled soared above and was vey intricately carved. A really beautiful setting for our boy to perform
We started with the choir and the audience all singing Jerusalem. The WI choir ladies on the stage were all dressed in elegant long black dresses with very large velvet red roses on their shoulders.
We then all sang "Hark the Herald Angels Sing". "The Sussex Carol" and the choir sang a selection of Christmas songs. A local dance troupe did a lovely routine to Masquerade from Phantom of the Opera.
Then...... The Conductor introduces "Lee Mead, Star of the West End" and he walks sedately on and starts singing PIB. Ooooooooh ladies, he looked divine. Black suit, rather ahem, closely fitting, black shirt, open at the neck AND a red velvet rose in his button hole to match the choir. Talk about stunning. Tiffy will vouch that I gasped when he came on [ She did !!]
Cor, he looked fantastic.
He sang "PIB", "Gonna make you a star","Collide", "Chesnuts roasting on an open fire","ADWD" and "Anthem". He sang Anthem with the choir singing in the background, tiered in five rows above him. It sounded so beautiful and as always, I cried.
He chatted away easily between songs. Similar tales to the ones he does at the concerts but all delivered with grace and charm.He told us he loved Cheltenham and chatted about how he enjoyed doing Lord Arthur there. He thanked everyone for coming, not just once but several times during the afternoon. When singing his voice sounded like melted Turkish Delight dunked in a glass of warm Baileys
He had the WI ladies eating out of his hands.
The first half ended with a rousing "Jinngle Bells".
The second half started with "Ding Dong Merrily on High" and "Child in a manger". The dance troupe did a very good set from Musicality and songs from Chicago and then, phew, he's back on for a second helping of delights.
This time he's wearing a light grey suit, very well cut cream shirt, dark grey tie and black shoes.
He did "Dancing through Life", which sounded gorgeous but felt strange to us, as no dancing. Then he paid tribute to Denise and Betsy and sang "Nothing at All". Then it was a beautiful, slow delicious "CED" which produced loud cheers from the audience and then "Have yourself a very Merry Christmas" YUM,YUM. He finished with "If I could Dream". This produced the standing ovation he so deserved.
All through he spoke beautifully and engaged with the audience totally. Before singing DTL he explained to us about his dancing in Wicked and said " But this is what it sounds like" then there was a loud screeching noise from an amp. He stopped and gazed in horror then said "What was that. The song doesn't sound like that " The audience roared with laughter
Forgot to say that when Tiffy went to the ladies in the interval, a lady behind me tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I seen "This nice young man perform before " I replied I'd seen him a few times on stage She then said " I guessed that. Even sitting behind you I could feel vibes of love flowing from you towards him " Tiffy came back and the lady repeated that she was getting vibes of love of us and we explained we were extremley loyal fans
I am so sorry I have written a book but I know tickets were so limited and so many of you would have loved to have been there. I haven't "got what it takes " as Madam Morrible says and Toni would have done us proud with a review if she had been there but I have tried to remember as much as I can.
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