WEST END LIVE - the best and worst of 2022 | reviewing all of the performances

[@carolynsmith6084]

I live in Australia and I am LIVING for West End and/or Broadway news so thank you for literally everything. I appreciate any and all content I can access outside of it's country of origin

[@jessicaaudreyb]

Question from a theatre lover but as someone who is moving to Australia. I’m really surprised that Australia doesn’t have their own theatre land! Is there no where that’s apart of Sydney or Melbourne etc… that is like the west end or broadway?

[@musicalnerd6014]

@@jessicaaudreyb i'm not sure about Sydney but i Live in melbourne and we do have an area called the "East Theatre District" it is made up of 8 theatres that major musicals go too!

[@jessicaaudreyb]

@@musicalnerd6014 thank you for your reply ☺️ I appreciate it may not be as big or well known as the west end or Broadway but it’s good to know there is theatre around! I’m looking forward to getting to experience the Australia theatre scene ☺️

[@tazmin5020]

@@jessicaaudreyb as a Londoner living in Sydney, we have nothing even close to the west end or broadway here, unfortunately. we only have a handful of professional shows touring Australia at a time and they don't stay in one city for long. That being said, our "pro-amateur" theatre scene is really great. Lots of smaller companies do a couple of shows a year that are really high quality amateur productions!

[@jessicaaudreyb]

@@tazmin5020 thank you Tazmin for your reply ☺️ can’t wait to get out there and see the differences in theatre productions!

[@caitlinhhh]

i’m confused as to why a lot of shows just wear tshirts with a logo instead of wearing their costumes. i understand it can be hot and maybe hard to transport? but wicked, phantom and les mis turn it out every year without fail. i was so excited to see lucies defying gravity, i saw somewhere on twitter that she wanted to sing another song? although i adore the for good and defying gravity mix, i’d love to see them change it up and maybe do ‘what is this feeling?’ just an idea! :)

[@evan4905]

Wicked had no costumes in 2007, costumes in 2008, no costumes from 2009-2013, and costumes from 2014-present. Agreed -- WITF and TWAI would be a good combo instead of FG & DG.

[@edie8931]

@@evan4905 the problem with WITF is that song uses the ensemble, wicked have learnt the best performances at WEL use 1 or 2 people bc of the mic problems so they stick to DG and FG, TWAI could be done though and so could NGD but they probably don’t want to give people too many songs for free

[@amaiacalliope]

This is gonna take me ages. Oh well. *Disclaimer, just so nobody yells at me:* I'm not familiar with every one of these shows. I may get some song titles wrong because I'm just going off what Mickey is saying. 2:25 - The Lion King 2:45 - Frozen (I Can't Lose You clip) 3:26 - Beauty and the Beast (Beauty and the Beast clip) 4:00 - Disney did a Thing 4:13 - Moulin Rouge (Lady Marmalade clip) 5:22 - Legally Blonde (Omigod You Guys clip ft. FUCK YES YOU GET THAT LINE and also the dog is a human) 6:23 - Wicked (Defying Gravity clip ft "come on lemme hear you!!!!!") 7:08 - Grease (Awesome choreography clip [idk the song] ft. Mickey is gay as hell) 7:49 - Book of Mormon (You and Me But Mostly Me clip) 9:02 - &Juliet (another Awesome Choreo clip) 9:38 - Phantom (Music of the Night x3 clip) 10:18 - Bonnie and Clyde (Actors fell down and went boom clip) 11:00 - Cabaret (Cabaret clip) 11:56 - Only Fools and Horses (Clip of ginger man being iconic) 12:54 - Dear Evan Hansen (Sincerely Me clip) 14:04 - Tina (Ladies getting INTO their choreo clip) 14:39 - Jersey Boys (Clip of pretty boys goin' at it) 15:36 - The Drifter's Girl (Clip of more awesome choreo, more pretty boys goin' at it, more FUCK YES YOU GET THAT LINE) 16:17 - Mamma Mia 16:43 - La Voix (Total Eclipse of the Heart clip) 17:33 - Bugsy Malone (Clip of,,,,, wow, pretty lady) 18:03 - Magic Mike live 18:44 - The Choir of Man (Clip of dude with a guitar absolutely slaying and also Heart of Stone clip) 20:02 - SiX (Heart of Stone clip) 21:03 - Roles We'll Never Play (Clip of what I think was I Say No) 21:41 - The Barricade Boys 22:31 - South Pacific (Clip of very dramatic duet) 23:05 - Unfortunate (Clip of yet more awesome choreo) 24:10 - Jean Paul Gaultier Fashion Freak Show (Clip of........ what the absolute shit is happening here?) 24:33 - Identical (Interview clip) 25:28 - Lady M 26:45 - Come From Away (Speech Clip + Me and the Sky clip) *End of Day One* 27:58 - Heathers 28:21 - Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World 29:16 - Hamilton 29:49 - Mary Poppins 30:25 - Les Mis 30:51 - Get Up, Stand Up 31:26 - Back to the Future (You Gotta Start Somewhere clip) 32:10 - Matilda (Telly clip) 32:55 - Pretty Woman (I Can't Go Back clip, but not Aimie Atkinson) 33:37 - The Choir of Man into SiX, again (Get Down clip) 34:27 - Sister Act (The Life I Never Led clip) 35:18 - Magic Mike Live, again 35:28 - Unfortunate, again (We Didn't Make It To Disney clip) 36:26 - Diva Live From Hell (Clip of,,,,, wow, pretty man) 37:13 - Welsh of the West End 37:36 - The Great Gatsby (Clip of the most chaotic dance tutorial I have ever seen) 38:22 - Turbine Theatre medley / Paul Taylor-Mills and shows he is currently involved with (Clip from My Son's A Queer) 39:33 - Footloose (Mama Says clip) 40:44 - We Will Rock You 41:52 - London Musical Theatre Orchestra (Chess clip, Treason clip ft YES CARRIIE *YES*) *End of Day Two.* Hope that was helpful!

[@mashal7965]

bless you

[@Martha_Sheen]

I just started watching your channel and you’ve not only given me lots more musical theatre knowledge and great videos, but also four cushions!

[@cutieepiexo]

Where are they from?! I’ve been looking!

[@Martha_Sheen]

Redbubble!

[@hefinrosser8685]

Never been a fan of cinderella. But I can't get enough of Carrie Hope Fletcher! What an amazing talent xxx

[@Chelseabee55]

She is so talented! Can’t wait to see what she does in the future, hopefully better writing that Cinderella

[@julieh4481]

Great channel - keep up these great reviews x

[@HerHollyness]

Given the success of ‘origin stories’ nowadays, I really wish that StarKid could negotiate some way to bring Twisted to the West End/Broadway. They did it first and best!

[@spacesugar]

honestly, I wish StarKid could do tour one of their shows or bring them elsewhere (maybe for anniversaries)

[@ilgnkoc3020]

I was in the audience and I got really disappointed when Moulin Rouge didn't do El Tango De Roxanne. It was super popular these last months after the release of Aaron Tveit's pro-shot :((

[@sophiea.8366]

I didn't even know WEL was a thing, despite loving musicals being outside London I don't really know much of the theatre news and events. Glad I have found you so now I know I have to go see this one year!

[@gavindean8655]

Thank you for showing us all the shows that are currently on offer on the west end.. we are so starved for diversity in theatre in Australia, it’s amazing to see the feast of shows you get to see is amazing.. if they had a Melbourne Live… it would be over within an hour.. sigh.. so thank you.. I always smile when I see you’ve posted a new review.. from a stagey freind in Australia!

[@samuelblachon95130]

If they do a paris live you would only have the lion king lol

[@londome1]

I saw heathers at 1 on that Sunday and was so confused when I arrived that the Heathers, Veronica and JD all jumped out of taxi and ran into the theatre infront of me, it all makes sense now.

[@Heathersproshotedits1989]

😂

[@alicebradshaw2573]

honestly think lucie was partly just living her dream finally getting to do elphaba at WEL but also she had a chest infection that caused her to develop asthma so she was a star for doing 3 shows that day! she was then off all week and was only just back the other day😅 think she knew that so went for a more relaxed vibe! i thought it was kinda cool though given i’ve seen her do it in the show a few times

[@kaylawarham5656]

I 100% agree with you! If people have nothing nice to say they shouldn’t say anything at all :(

[@totalbookworm]

Thank you! Could you please do chapters for these kinds of videos?

[@elsalter6894]

+

[@liambrownpianoproductions3445]

They really are missing a trick not having an overture of all the shows performing at the start getting everyone excited

[@MickeyJoTheatre]

This is SUCH a great idea!

[@oldschoolabrahamhicks2742]

Amazing review! Feels like we was there- thanks for the coverage, hope you got to enjoy it all and didn't spend too much time making notes for the vids!

[@JordanLukeGage]

I’ve recently very quickly become obsessed with your channel.

[@kfigeroid]

I am loving your videos. This one has me very excited to move to the Netherlands soon and be able to travel to the UK and see some West End Shows. You really do a great job.

[@kittyfreya9141]

Thank you so much for this sum up and clips. Love from Paris

[@mwmheps]

This was great fun! I didn't get to go to West End Live this year so it was fun to hear such a detailed rundown of everyone's performances. Thanks!

[@DamonKClark]

I love Cedric Neal! He’s an amazing artist, a lovely person, and a brother from another mother. I’ve had the opportunity to perform with him on a few occasions.

[@katburgess5926]

Mickey: I'm dead inside Also Mickey: Of course I watched Magic Mike again, I'm not dead

[@christopherwallis3471]

Loved this Mickey - Enjoyed your take on the shows. I definitely learnt things to do as it was my first time at WEL but will definitely be back next year. And if you want someone to go to Tina with totally here for you!

[@amitmeir8109]

I loved the two audience participation moments in Hamilton When Maya Britto sang "People shouting in the square" and everyone screamed When Waylon Jacobs sang "Onarchy? How you say?" and the audience got to sing "Anarchy!" Such a fun surprise for the Ham-Fans

[@samanthalegate7202]

Hey! Me and my best friend are the 2 girls who came up to you after the podcast in heathers costume! Thank you for talking to us :]

[@stuartdixon5738]

Cabaret: “No, we are mysterious and expensive” 😆😂🤣

[@XheyJJx]

Totally agree with lucies defying gravity. I LOVE Lucie and was so excited to see her perform. I did wonder if she was a bit vocally tired and was aware she had to do 2 shows they day which is why she chose a more relaxed version to perform ?

[@Ryandunbar1996]

Personally I liked the way she did it...shows she's relaxed and having fun

[@doyouhearthepeoplesing2]

Nope she just cant sing Elphaba full stop

[@alicebradshaw2573]

she had a chest infection which caused her to develop asthma😅 she was literally off all week after the saturday

[@alicebradshaw2573]

@@doyouhearthepeoplesing2 she definitely can. the girl was literally ill when she performed at WEL

[@doyouhearthepeoplesing2]

@@alicebradshaw2573 she wasnt ill when i saw her in wicked she can act the shit out of Elphaba but cant sing her at all

[@annacalstone610]

Ive devoured all the videos i could find of both days. I saw the come from away performer when I saw the show a few weeks back, she's amazing and their vocals were brilliant, loved them putting on so many of the cast. Legally blonde were amazing, Welsh of the westend blew me away with their vocals and soooo excited to see treason. Impulsively bought a ticket for the extra day they've put on and after that performance very excited to see the concert version. Heard lots of performers say the sound was dodgy as anything and didn't do justice to some performances, though plenty still sounded amazing. Amazing review, wonderful to hear your view on both days and how performances compare to previous years

[@julieb3432]

1. Hooray for *good* male dancers! 2. That little snippet of Three Phantoms had my jaw on the floor. 3. Nice to see Carrie doing well after the Cinderella fiasco. More power to her!!

[@doyouhearthepeoplesing2]

Carrie caused most of the trouble at cinderella

[@doyouhearthepeoplesing2]

@Fudge Brownie Hot Chocolate surely youve seen her social media

[@Jules46219]

@Fudge Brownie Hot Chocolate I kinda feel like they might just be starting stuff in the comments. I might be making it worse but it seems like they just keep mentioning the negative stuff lol

[@rosies14]

Been looking foward to this all week. Amazingly you managed reviews on all performances, you are a star. 😃

[@aideencooney1685]

That was Nikki Bentley singing who I’d be. I saw her as Fiona in shrek in Dublin. She was a standby Elphaba on the wicked tour and finally got her chance to play her in the west end, only to have to bow out early for family reasons. She is so amazing and I hope she’ll get another chance to play Elphaba again for a full run. Great video, you are a breath fresh air!! I’ve been travelling over from Dublin for 30 years for shows and you are definitely the best on KZbin for theatre content!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@ellaclark200]

Ohmigawdheeeeeey from the US! My partner and I love watching your videos. Your reviews are both critical and entertaining, and we love hearing all the hot theater gossip. Everyday after work we check your channel for all the latest buzz. Also, your skin always looks freaking amazing! I am dying to know your routine. ❤🧡💛💚💙💜

[@StitchedRoses]

Can confirm that they fall down in bonnie and Clyde! Normally there’s a sofa they knock over as they fall down, but the fall is intentional!

[@louyou5667]

Yasssss! Was waiting for a video like this 🖤

[@amitmeir8109]

What I love about the choice of "Fat Bottomed Girls" is the fact that Queen themselves sing the opening so in a way we got to hear Freddie Mercury perform in WEL

[@elenicashell7165]

I was really sceptical about Only Fools and Horses the Musical until I saw it a few weeks into the run…it shouldn’t work but it absolutely does. Would recommend

[@FraserAtSea]

Just found your channel - glad I did so - thanks for sharing this stuff!

[@jackreacher1083]

Oh my god hey Mickey, I tested positive for covid on Thursday and am rather unwell at the moment. Unable to sleep I fell into a KZbin rabbit hole and came across your channel. I absolutely love it! I’m spending my days curled up in bed working my way through all your content. Thank you for making this bloody virus a tad more bearable. Btw, yes on your Joseph review. I thought I was the only one who felt that way after seeing it!

[@amylupton8006]

Been binging all your videos lately and I'm so glad I found your channel xx

[@johnmones1450]

Your review of West End Live left me breathless. I enjoy listening to your commentary and live your side comments. 👍🙏👏👏👏👏👏👏😎

[@Ghouliaswag1]

Great review as always, thank you! I went to see Grease last week and highly recommend it, it was so much fun and felt really modern and fresh without making any changes to the script that I noticed. Glad you enjoyed west end live! :)

[@Showtunediva]

This sounds like a blast! I would totally go to this if it was in New York. The choir I used to sing with is going to be performing in London with in the next week. You should check them out.😀

[@jusmarch3740]

Do u think Unfortunate was put on stage on saturday as a last minute cover thing. As they weren't in the programme to be on until the Sunday,. Ferris and Milne were supposed to be on in the slot Unfortunate did on the Saturday?

[@carriehopefletcher1hopeful]

Where did you get those cushions?!?! Ahhh

[@Alice-nt4qr]

Great video - just one thing - even if reggae isn’t your thing please still give get up stand up a review and at least know what song they sang! It is a culturally important show that is bringing in a new audience to the west end!

[@Musicalsfangirl]

I think the main reason Book of Mormon haven’t been in west end live much is because there are not a lot of songs they can do that could be at a family audience. They usually have some pre-school aged characters there, like PJ Masks and Bob the Builder for young families to enjoy there. They don’t want to put anything with strong language or themes in it (spooky Mormon hell dream and hasadiga Ebowi to name a couple). Glad now they are brave enough to but their more ‘clean’ songs for west end live now 😊

[@maddiephillips1937]

Couldn’t agree more about Cabaret, she was absolutely incredible and had the whole crowd in AWE of her👏🏼

[@fp30e]

Hi Mickey Jo, I watched the entire video, and I really enjoyed all 45mins 50secs of it. All shows were very well reviewed. Thank you.

[@fairyqueenie7]

You must see Tina. I went to see it last week. My first ever West End show and it was definitely worth it. Love your channel and how honest you are.

[@cedgson91]

Watched the KZbin videos of it from official London theatre. My highlights - Six, Kinky boots concert - booked tickets instantly! 🥰, Book of Mormon. La voix was funny Some videos I lost interest Looks like a fab event! Loved that there were loads of swings and understudies Haven’t seen Rachel perform in Six yet (she was playing Aragon), that was amazing 🤩 &Juliet looks fun too Ooh forgot about Roles we’ll never play as well & recently saw one of their performances Definitely worth going Luke is awesome!

[@kamillafernandes2202]

Big love from the Grease Cast ⚡️

[@monicag1768]

Would be amazing to be in the UK for WEL at some point - some really fabulous performances this year! Major shout out to all the amazing swings/alts/understudies who performed!

[@ellb-w5076]

Absolutely loving your channel!

[@MickeyJoTheatre]

Aw thank you so much! 😁

[@jennakemp1687]

Great to hear your opinion of the performances - I was stood quite close to you on both days! Would’ve loved to have said hi but couldn’t move much in that crowd 😂

[@annahealy2979]

I was stood just behind you! had a tiny fangirl moment. I COMPLETELY agree about Grease; Arlene really killed it with the choreo and they went full out!

[@janephobkarnr.4252]

Kudos for doing this. This is really fun to listen.

[@twiteye]

Elphaba being like "cmon let me here you" lmaooo

[@kaylawarham5656]

The whole vibe of that performance was just epic!! It was great to see Lucie perform as Lucie and not as Elphaba! The whole energy of her performance and the audience was absolutely incredible!

[@brittanyinlondon]

I won lottery tickets to see Cabaret with Emily Benjamin today and she was SO GOOD. Im so glad people saw her in West End Live. I couldn't imagine a better Sally Bowles.

[@DavidLopez-nr7wp]

I used to live in NY and I LOVE your channel. I now live in Orlando Florida and I want to see Broadway shows every weekend again. I wish I can meet you & shoot the shit with you about performance

[@juliabarnett3713]

You were absolutely right in front of me haha!! Hope you enjoyed it! Go see Tina (it's magical!) !!

[@charlie-oc4460]

Go and see Billy Elliott at the curve in Leicester this Summer xx

[@maratomic663]

I just saw Only Fools and Horses last week... I liked it a lot! I'd love to hear your review of it!

[@brucereisman5241]

Bravo! Great video. We get to see you in the States in video by KZbin. You need a lengthy visit to here, glad to help facilitate that, young man. You bring more young people into the theatre and off their IPhones than anyone.

[@joshglover1732]

45 mins??? We’re officially at Mickey Jo: The movie status! Still watched all of it and loved it though!

[@XheyJJx]

I’ve seen only fools. It’s a bit before my time and I’ve actually never seen the tv show but I thoroughly enjoyed the musical and would defo see it again. It was hilarious.

[@Clemidreams]

What did you think of the organisation? And the fact that press was let in AFTER the general public?

[@MickeyJoTheatre]

I've corresponded with the team a lot about this on the day and since and they're very regretful that this happened but it was disappointing and seems like it could have been easily avoided.

[@Clemidreams]

@@MickeyJoTheatre We received no apologies whatsoever but a rather rude email saying that they are in no way forced to give press access and that if we don't like it we don't have to come...

[@Sclub8mad]

i'm honestly so excited to see bugsy malone in august after watching their west end live preformance

[@XheyJJx]

Book Tina! I booked it on a whim on the rush tickets, managed to get the front row and had a ball!

[@JenniferTaylor9]

Oh my god hey!! Just wondering if you’re going to do a vid about “Trevor: The Musical” that recently got uploaded to Disney+? I watched it recently and would love to hear your thoughts!!

[@baycalver5868]

We were there all weekend fab. Just wondering how does it work that some shows do just one song and some do half their songs. Do they pay more to perform More songs just seem strange

[@KyKanda]

Does West End Live use a live band (in the back somewhere, perhaps) or do they use recorded backing tracks?

[@eddiecomerford8307]

It’s all backing, except for the London Musical Theatre Orchestra.

[@ClaireWritesSometimes]

Never heard of Unfortunate. How does it compare to Twisted, and did it stem from a similar place?

[@hannah41993]

I do think this years WEL was one of the best ones I’ve been to. I may be wrong but was Unfortunate supposed to only be there on Sunday and they replaced the advertised Ferris and Milnes on Saturday? May explain why they didn’t have costumes on Saturday but did on Sunday

[@koldkutgirl]

what happened with cinderella at WEL last year?

[@amitmeir8109]

Shout out to the sound crew for making sure Jon Robyns' mic didn't break this year

[@sammyelliott_]

I was there with one of my friends! tritons number from unfortunate legitimately gave me chills. Also the group number from lady m was really great at capturing the atmosphere of Macbeth, if the whole show was like that it would be better. West end live as a whole needs one thing and that is ear pieces. It felt like there were a lot of performers who would’ve benefited from being able to actually hear the music and themselves.

[@Sam4G0d]

Loved this! Feel like I got the perfect, honest overall view of all the performances in just 45 mins :)

[@jayedawg]

I will never forgive you NOT showing your footage of 30 Magic Michaels dancing! FIE!!!

[@patriciafiechter4696]

saw Tina 4 times. is one of my favourite shows currently on the west end. go to the show!

[@Addcilantro]

Does Broadway have a west end live equivalent?

[@Upndouin]

Never heard of it, but I wish they did!!! Last time I went to West End Live I stood 6 hours in the queue, but it was worth it 😂

[@MissEricaFlowers]

Maybe Stars in the Alley and Broadway on Broadway.

[@ConcernedUserNow]

Macy’s Parade or Let’s Go London?

[@natashakingston8302]

Did you film any of the lion king

[@yoonheart]

Loved Grease the most! Electrifying ⚡️🙌🏻

[@rebeccacraig5117]

OMG my whole year group went to watch Tina a few days ago and it was phenomenal!!! You have to go. So many emotions

[@lucyj8204]

Please go to OFAH! Also, how much of the show was sign interpreted? Love to see it.

[@nicolettejackson2708]

“Some one can break in and grab a couple of corsets” I love you!

[@matthewravenscroft1999]

Going to see sister act in October

[@kathastrophic247]

I'd have cried too... BUT I'M DEAD INSIDE This is surprisingly accurate

[@sirjumaambwana]

Wow that's great brother

[@natashakingston8302]

I've been looking forward to this review

[@mely1955]

Do you have any reviews on Harry Potter & the Cursed Child I thank you for your excellent reviews x

[@EmoBearRights]

I've kinda been in a bit fasinated by Rob Van Houchen ever since seeing him in a West Side Story documentary. I'd love to see him in something live.

[@cicelyamelia]

I saw him as Marius in Les Mis back in 2012(?) and he was my first Marius - absolutely wonderful! He was also in the Sondheim’s Old Friends concert and was brilliant

[@Modtelier_officialRblx]

Omg Moulin rouge did the get krissed song so everyone basically got krissed

[@avaransley7585]

The one thing i wanted was bat out of hell to come to west end live

[@ANightworkerslife]

Love your reviews, really gets me in touch with what is going on in West End :) So, question... what would YOU like to see come as a musical to West End, and I am not talking existing material.. I am talking new.. Comedy, drama, pop, classic, book, movie etc.. What would excite you?

[@Ineeee]

I’m from Argentina and I was recently in London and was so lucky I was there for WEL! I was able to attend Saturday and had a great time. I agree about Lady M. It felt too generic and I can’t remember anything from it

[@johncardno6047]

Luke did Zurich on footloose. He’s been back a few times to cover sickness. Marcus hasn’t done this tour. Aston merrygold taking over for the last 3 week of the tour.

[@katiepook7301]

Watched these at home. The Drifters Girl was my favourite. Loved: Hamilton; Get Up Stand Up; Mama Mia; Jersey Boys; and Treason to. Definitely need to book Back To The Future (so glad it’s extended to July 2023). I agree about Grease (think it looks amazing!) I thought South Pacific and Fantastically Great Women looked amazing to. I liked the look of Lady M as well. 😊🎭

[@doyouhearthepeoplesing2]

*Mamma Mia!

[@CWazBroadwayBandGeek]

Samantha Barks, Steph McKeenon and Carrie Hope Fletcher were definitely my stand outs.

[@amandastumpff5252]

So this is pretty much like Broadway in Bryant Part in NYC

[@misskit123]

Grease is fabulous! I hope you see it and share your thoughts!

[@ms.marvelous8156]

I happened to see clips of the legally blonde performances and I liked it for the most part but I feel like the key the person playing Margot was singing in sounded off. Like maybe it was a mic issue but if not, I feel like the showrunnners could’ve changed key to better fit their vocal strengths.