THEATRE REVIEW: A Night At The Musicals - Salford Arts Theatre, Salford.

Coming all the way from Devon, Thomas Cameron arrived at Salford's Arts Theatre this evening for an hour long solo concert, in which he sang a few of his favourite songs from the musical theatre repertoire.

His set this evening included a couple of non-Musical songs, but were appropriately woven in to the concert through his between-song patter and anecdotes. Cameron appeared to be only in his mid 20s, and yet, as we quickly learned from his chatter, for someone so young, he seems to have built himself a huge reputation very quickly, having worked with some of the finest in the industry and already recorded his first album.

Most unfortunately however, this evening, his voice told a different story. He appeared tired, and his voice certainly was. He simply had not warmed up sufficiently, as most of his songs were sung a little flat. His tendency to slide up to the higher notes rather than hit them pin-head on was also a sign of vocal tiredness. 

Salford Arts Theatre is not a huge theatre, but a 60-seat auditorium with raised seats from a floor-level stage. A microphone seemed unnecessary, and sadly the sound levels were not balanced correctly. His playback tracks were too loud at times and he still sang full power down the mic when, with certain songs, especially in ones such as 'Bring Him Home' he could simply have used his head resonance and almost whispered the lyrics. However, all 11 songs in this evening's set were all sung at the same volume, at the same intensity, with the same amount of expression and lack of movement.

A very disappointing evening.

Reviewer - Matthew Dougall

on - 4.9.21