REVIEW: Collabro: Road To The Royal Albert Hall - The Opera House, Buxton

Billed as ‘The World’s Most Successful Musical Theatre Group’ - after touring the globe for the past 5 years(!) - Britain’s Got Talent winners Collabro were in Buxton for their fourth tour and album, on the  'Road To The Royal Albert Hall’, taking on 52 dates across every part of the country. From a start in South Shields and Valentine’s Night in Matt’s hometown of Carlisle (where he will be returning to pantomime there in December to play the Prince in Snow White), we were delighted to have the town’s opulent Opera House as the venue for day three and they didn’t disappoint.

Supported by various special guests throughout their journey to the ultimate venue in London; Michael, Matt, Tom and Jamie, have tried to get to every area of the nation to see and perform to as many fans as they can, singing tracks from their latest album. Whilst I saw them support the great Barry Manilow on his tour last year, I couldn’t help but think that something was missing, their former fifth member Richard who left back in 2016 due to differences is now pursuing a successful solo career (we wish him well, miss him, and look forward to following his progress).

As well as featuring and providing an opportunity for high quality choirs, including local youth ensemble Perfect Pitch, the tour features sections from and including a West End leading lady in either Kerry Ellis or Lauren Samuels and support from Georgia and the Vintage Youth. We, however, were extremely honoured and blown away to have not just Kerry (known for Wicked, etc.) but an incredible artiste in Larissa Eddie, and her brother Jay on keys (apparently she has 4 brothers but usually performs with 3 of them). We were honoured not just because of their amazing talent and musicality but because Larissa is only doing three dates of the tour (Valentine’s Day, Buxton and the big one at the Royal Albert Hall..which she deserves).

Larissa and Jay were brilliant performers and their style is perfectly in-sync, captivating and relaxing. With an EP out, they are certainly a group to keep an eye on (having trained at Brighton Institute of Modern Music - BIMM), if even whilst she is a judge (with Matt and Jamie from Collabro) on BBC One’s All Together Now. With such stage presence and power, it is no surprise that she was chosen for this/these gig(s). Having performed with the likes of Lionel Ritchie, with songs like ‘Where I Belong’ and ‘Loving You’ (which she wrote with Matt Cardle), it was great to hear and see them here and I look forward to their future gigs and releases. Her other songs included ‘People Change (I Wasn’t Wrong(?))’, ‘Hold Me’, ‘Treading Water’ and ‘Give It/Get Up For Nothing’

Backed by a band of five accomplished musicians, including Musical Director producers Ed Rugman and co-producer/drummer Chris Carter (of Ten Forward), their programme of showstopping musical theatre songs came from some of the biggest shows that have been performed and the lighting design matched each beat perfectly and should be recognised.

Starting with Frankie Valli’s ‘Grease Is The Word’, the crowds were warmed up and well up for it, before the poignant ‘As If We Never Said Goodbye’ from Sunset Boulevard, a different variation of ‘Maria’ from West Side Story and ‘Don’t Cry For Me Argentina’ from Evita.

Welcomed as “the first lady of Musical Theatre” (which I thought was Elaine Paige), Kerry Ellis delivered stunning performances of ‘The Way We Were’ (made famous by Barbra Streisand) and ‘I Dreamed A Dream’ from Les Misérables, before the boys joined her on-stage at timed intervals for ‘On My Own’, also from Les Misérables. Despite being a ‘big name’, Ms Ellis does seem to do a lot of one-off shows and join other people on tour, including Queen legend Brian May, but she also has a single available on iTunes of ‘Million Dreams’ from The Greatest Showman, recorded earlier in the year, with proceeds going to Childline.

The boys then sang ‘Why God’ from Miss Saigon before a tribute to The Jersey Boys which contained ‘Who Loves You’, ‘Walk Like A Man’, ‘Sherry’, ‘Working My Way Back’ and ‘Oh What A Night (December 63)’. After the interval came the choir made up of 31 young people aged 12+ who made a powerful impression as they joined the boys for Elton John’s ‘Electricity’ from Billy Elliot and Glee’s version of Faithfully (originally by Journey). Michael spoke to choir member Ruby who sang a extract from a show at Buxton Opera House she will be in where she will play the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz.

The surprise (again for those who haven’t seen/heard it online) of the night came in the form of the performance of their only original song ‘Lighthouse’ which they wrote with A1’s Ben Adams. The song sounds very much like ‘A Place To Call Home’ and ‘The Wassailing Mice’ from Stiles and Drewe’s The Wind In The Willows. This, and the other songs performed are on their latest album. They sang ‘Bring Him Home’, again from Les Misérables, with just Ed on piano, before Kerry Ellis returned to invite us to indulge in what couldn’t not have been included...The Greatest Showman, performing ‘This Is Me’ and her aforementioned charity single (which was recorded with a youth choir), followed by the boys' ‘Never Enough’ (a number they performed at their album launch at The Other Palace) which they dedicated to their fans to whom they are eternally grateful.

With such a special guest as Kerry Ellis, it was odd they they didn’t include her in their ‘Defying Gravity’ from Wicked but it was well-received nonetheless.

Finishing with the song that started it all (their career), ‘Stars’, also from Les Mis, they thanked all of the team who played a part in making the show and ended with a medley of what I thought was The Jackson 5 but I suspect was from Motown The Musical, which included ‘Can You Feel It’, ‘I Want You Back’, ‘Signed Sealed Delivered’, ‘Get Ready’ and ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’.

As the original founding members of the group it was odd to see such a contrast between Michael and Jamie (whose voice I thought was the weakest of the four) but it is great to see that they all still have chemistry after half a decade(!) but Michael is clearly the organised one and leader of the pack. Aptly the only song they performed from Sunset Boulevard ends with the words “we taught the world new ways to dream”. Damn right you have boys, and if you ever want to revert to five members, I am readily available and well-versed in harmony and the world of Musical Theatre! (ha ha).

Reviewer - John Kristof
on - 15/2/19