"Love, Laughter & Loathing" by Musicality.
The Great Hall, Trent Building, UoN.

When I last saw Musicality, they performed "Made In Dagenham" at the Nottingham Arts Theatre and I mentioned how strong their harmonies were, so when I was invited to see this showcase, it did not take me long to accept, because I knew how good this group are.

From the very first number in the showcase, "No One Mourns The World" from "Wicked", the ensemble seemed to have started where they left off, with incredibly tight harmonies.

As every piece of music was rolled out, I said to myself that i must mention that song and the performers. Well that thought soon went out the window because otherwise I would be commenting on all 26 of the numbers and their incredibly talented performers, so 'll try not to be biased as I continue.

The choices for the showcase were not the standard ones that you'd think of first time round when given a musical, and that made this production very exciting for me.

The choices of musicals as well were inspiring with many new musicals interspersed with classics."I'm The Greatest Star" from Funny Girl, a spine tingling ensemble version of "Somewhere" from West Side Story and "Downtown" from Little Shop Of Horrors" sat perfectly with tracks from newer musicals like Come From Away, Hamilton, Waitress, the wonderful Dear Evan Hansen, Catch Me If You Can and big West End successes like Mamma Mia and We Will Rock You. This showcase covered so many musical theatre songs for all levels of musical theatre fans.

The Musical Co-ordinator for this mammoth job was Matt Talbot, and just watching him conduct made me feel tired, he puts so much energy into this job, as well as playing keys and performing in several of the on stage pieces.

The band - although I am sure that numbering sixteen, we could class this as a mini orchestra at least, were just so amazingly good, something that you really appreciate in the ballads.

The emotional highs emitted by these performers made the hairs on my arms stand upright so many times this evening. "I Confess" from Footloose, "Bui Doi" from Miss Saigon, "You Will Be Found" from Dear Evan Hansen, "Prayer" from Come from Away, "It's Quiet Uptown" from Hamilton.

Balancing these with wonderful lighter moments like "There Right There" from Legally Blonde, "Jailhouse Rock" from the Blues Brothers, "Meet the Plastics" from Mean Girls, "Take A Chance On Me" from Mamma Mia, "Master Of the House" from Les Mis and bringing the evening to a rousing close, "Raise You Up/Just Be" from the brilliant Kinky Boots.

Did I say that I would try not to be biased?

It's quite easy to not be biased with the performers though because every single singer on that stage was superb, I wouldn't know where to start if I were to be biased.

These kind of showcases are perfect nights of entertainment for me, especially when you can recognise the amount of hard work that everyone involved, from the singers, Choreographers, Directors, tech magicians, the orchestra have put in. These sort of shows don't just happen, and when you think they all have studies and degrees to work on and for, it makes me wonder when these people sleep.

Thank you Matt Talbot for asking me along, and thank you to every single person who performed, thank you for making the end of my weekend a very special one.

There was lots of love, there was plenty of laughter, but there was no place tonight for the slightest bit of the other one.

Here's looking forward to "Little Shop Of Horrors".