Interlude: Now at Underbelly Boulevard Review
Written by Annie for Theatre and Tonic
Interlude London have returned with their latest concert, and their first time performing on the West End. “Now!” performed a one-night concert at the shiny new Underbelly Boulevard in the heart of Soho on Monday, 27th October - showcasing the choir’s efforts from their latest term, and celebrating the talent within the group.
Interlude was created off the back of a bet during lockdown between Ben Levy and Aaron Bladen, who noticed a gap in the MT industry for performers to have continual ensemble rehearsals and tuition, as well as the lack of opportunity for working performers to perform if not in contracts. With a motive and their drive, Bladen and Levy created Interlude to fill this gap. Gaining over 500 auditions and managing to whittle it down to 30 singers, Interlude has been running weekly sessions since the end of lockdown.
Although the initial mission and members have slightly changed, Interlude has proven its ability to react and adapt to circumstances and ensure that they continue to offer (extremely) affordable and excellent tuition and opportunity for its members.
Running 12 weekly terms, with a showcase at the end, Interlude focuses on ensemble tuition, training and singing - to help performers hone their skills - as well as providing them a stage to perform their hard work in a wonderful relaxed yet immensely supportive crowd. Their first show on the West End just proves the success of Interlude and how it is only going from strength to strength.
Run by Aaron Bladen, a performer himself, but also a talented musician, conductor and accompanist, the choir is a joyous community that welcomes and celebrates performers no matter how much training they’ve experienced previously. Bladen works hard to provide excellent tuition on gorgeously arranged scores which honour how deliciously beautiful ensemble singing can sound.
“Now!” featured an eclectic mix of Musical Theatre hits, both mainstream and slightly nicher, which ensured a night of interest and entertainment. It’s always refreshing to see people break the mould and demonstrate the wonderful variety of songs within the MT world, and open people’s eyes to music they’ve perhaps never heard before. Honourable mentions must go to The Wild Party medley, and the trio performance of Up the ladder to the roof, which was beautifully and powerfully performed.
The programme was split across two acts, spanning 2 hours in total - which flew by. Amongst the whole ensemble numbers were some breakout solo sections as well as duets, which excellently celebrated the choir’s talents whilst still remaining a collective performance. Without wanting to detract from the entire choir (as honestly they are all incredibly talented) - standout solo performances were performed by Phoebe Noding (her rendition of Me and the Sky was out of this world) and Amber Bunce (whose acting through song abilities was an utter joy to watch).
Interlude is an incredibly welcome addition to the MT world in London and I look forward to continuing to watch their growth. Roll on the next concert!
★★★★★
