"Saints & Sinners - A Musical Theatre Concert" by Prism Theatre.

Sawley Memorial Hall, Long Eaton.

Prism Theatre is a new set up but you'll know all the performers that performed in this relaxed concert of songs from musical theatre. This is their debut show and included well known songs from well-known musicals as well as lesser-known songs from, well, lesser-known musicals. Basically, there is something for everyone, and even I discovered some gems that I'd not heard of previously.

Prism represents colour and this show presented plenty of colour in many ways. The range of choice of musicals and their songs was colourful; the language at times was colourful, even down to the metallic ties worn by the men were different and colourful.

Matt McAuley opened the show with "Wait For It" from "Hamilton and later in the show delivered a beautifully arranged version of "Corner Of the Sky" from "Pippin" among his numbers.

Lu Anthony's first appearance tonight was with Charlotte Howarth in the duet "What I've Been Looking For" from "High School Musical". With presentations like "Saints & Sinners", you get to see the songs out of context from when you see and hear the song in the musical it originated. You also get to hear the singer, because you are concentrated on that one person on stage. Lu also sang "For Forever" from "Dear Evan Hansen". I heard such control from Lu in this song, and you could tell that it was a song that resonated with Lu from the emotion they poured into the words. By contrast we also got to see their comedy side in the duet with Emily Owen in a song from "Beetlejuice" called "Ready Set, Not Yet"

Adam Guest, who has just finished playing Tevye in "Fiddler On the Roof", and has been nominated for an Eagle award for his portrayal of the Jewish milkman, revisited "Do You love Me" with Becky Morley, but not before giving us another great Jewish musical theatre song, "Reviewing The Situation" from "Oliver". If Adam has never played Fagin in the past, I hope that he gets to do so in the future because he brings out the comedy in Lionel Bart's lyrics splendidly.

Later in the concert Adam teamed up with Jake Gelernter to sing "Pretty Women" from "Sweeney Todd", showing a really smooth blend of two male voices. You know when you have a tub of natural yoghurt and you stir in natural honey and the blend is so sweet and looks so good with the honey swirls, well that is what came to mind to me in this duet.

Graham Buchanan's debut on stage tonight was with a song from "Shrek" called "Who I'd Be", but showed a complete contrast in the second act with a wonderful comic rendition of "Say My Name" from "Beetlejuice". Graham can look serious but has funny bones and both song choices play to his strengths.

Jake Gelernter presented me with my first unknown song and musical; "In Love With You" from the musical "First Date". This was one of those songs that you didn't expect to make a 360 degree U Turn with the lyrical content; the first of the songs and musicals that I will now be hunting down!

Jake was obviously feeling brave, taking on the mighty "Gethsemane" from "Jesus Christ Superstar" - my favourite song from the soundtrack. In this song you get to experience Jake's incredible falsetto, and it's not an easy song to perform due to the breath control and extended notes. I've seen several professional singers trying to hit that high note and falling short, and I hope that Jake has another crack at that loooong, high note later down the line to see if he can perfect it. Even John Legend didn't quite make it; Ted Neely, the original Jesus from the film set the bar almost as high as that note and, this is only my opinion, nobody has quite reached that bar. That said, I loved Jake's heartfelt version

Martin Lewis whipped out his Periodontal probe to give us an oral examination while singing "Dentist" from "Little Shop Of Horrors" backed by Charlotte, Becky and Kim-Louise. we didn't have to wait too long for his second offering, clad in thigh high blood red high heeled boots, he gave us "Sweet Transvestite" from "Rocky Horror Picture Show", proving that sex really is in the heel.... no wait, that's another kinky musical! And they reckon the quiet ones are the worse!

Beth Yearsley, fresh from her earlier duet "Crazier Than You" with matt, from the musical "The Addams Family" returned to perform "No Good Deed" from "Wicked". OMG can Beth belt a song out. Her voice can cut glass and her vocal control is out of this world, enough to give me the tingles. In the second half, Beth goes full on operatic in "I've Decided To Marry You" from "A Gentleman's Guide To Love and Murder" along with Jake and Charlotte.

Kim-louise Sparks, along with Lu, Emily and Beth, opened the second part with a song from a musical I'd never even heard of until a few weeks ago when I was chatting to Kim and Matt. The musical is called "Lizzie" and their song was called "House Of Borden". Kim, as many people will know is mainly a backstage kinda woman, but after seeing and hearing her in this concert, she ought to consider moving from backstage, and transfer to frontstage. Just a thought, Kim.

Charlie Buchanan then took centre stage to perform "Quiet" from "Matilda". This song really suited Charlie's voice. Once more, in contrast we got to see her perform with her dad - this family has as many talented members as the McAuley family - in "Say My Name" with Graham, Lu and Kim-Louise.

Charlotte Howarth stood out in the duet of "Dead Girl Walking" with Matt, from the musical "Heathers". This is the raunchy song in the musical, and thank goodness that they didn't have to act out the scene to this song as it may have raised the heat even more! A brilliant fun song, performed really well with some powerful vocals from both parties.

Oh, and talking about powerhouse vocals, Charlotte teamed up with Beth for an explosive duet of "Who Will Love Me As I Am?" from "Sideshow". What a song! What a performance!

Becky Morley, in my opinion, doesn't get to showcase her vocal talents as often as I'd like. With her duet with Adam on "Do You Love Me", you got to hear what a lovely voice she has, which sometimes gets lost in ensemble numbers that she has been in of late.

Emily Owen featured in a song from one of my current favourite musicals that not many people have heard of "Something Rotten", which still has not had the performance licence released here in the UK, so no one can perform the full musical. Thankfully some songs can be performed from the soundtrack and here, Emily, Jake and Matt get to perform "Right Hand Man". It quenched my thirst for "Something Rotten" fare, but I want MORE!! There is a wonderful song from the "Something Rotten" musical called "A Musical" which is A-MAY-ZING!!

Rounding off this wonderful musical theatre treat of an evening, we were treated to a full company version of "Freak Flag Fly", of course from "Shrek"

Tim Yearsley, Martin Lewis and Jake Gelernter provided the musical backing to what was a lovely, relaxed evening of songs from the stage, kickstarting my weekend perfectly by some wonderfully talented performers.

This was a one night only event, so if you weren't there, well, you should have been quicker in getting your tickets.