The Night Of 1000 Voices

The Night of 1000 Voices is a yearly event which has been taking place at the Royal Albert Hall since 1999.
With this year being a special one as the London 2012 Olympics approaches, and it’s also the Diamond Jubilee year.
The event was dedicated to the Best of British with performances of classic songs from Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, The Lion King, Miss Saigon, Les Miserables as well as the Sing Live UK choir.

The event was in aid of Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research.
The charity are dedicated to saving lives through leading UK research into better cures and treatments.
They look at a number of blood cancers including Leukaemia, Lymphoma and Myeloma.

This charity is fully independent they receive no government funding.
Meaning that they rely solely on donations and people coming together to fundraise.

Over the years I’ve seen the posters on the tube and around London but until Sunday 6th May 2012 I’d never experienced ‘The Night of 1000 voices’.
I love musical theatre and over the last year I’ve gone to see a lot more shows.
One of the many reasons I wanted to attend ‘The Night of 1000 voices’ was to see the talented Matthew Wycliffe who is currently playing Bob Gaudio in Jersey Boys. He was part of the Miss Saigon chorus.

It was a breathtaking evening of musical theatre featuring many classic shows and songs. I’m sure most people who attended heard some songs they know and love and a few new ones just like me.

I’ve only seen Les Miserables once but the song ‘One Day More’ is still to this day so powerful. I had another tearful moment at the show.

I loved Cats when it was in the West End Bonnie Langford performed ‘Macavity’ amazingly.
‘Memory’ is the classic most people remember that was also among the set list and was sang beautifully.

Evita isn’t one of my favourites but you can’t knock the power and emotion in ‘Don’t Cry For Me Argentina’ that song was sang by Kerry Ellis who most people know from Wicked- most recently she appeared on ‘The Voice’.
She sang it well but ever since I went to the cinema to see the film with my nan I’ve kind of hated it.

There were also performances of songs from Guys and Dolls, Love Never Dies, Oliver!, South Pacific, Oklahoma! and Moulin Rouge to name a few.

A number of West End’s finest performed at the event including Daniel Boys, Clive Rowe, Bonnie Langford, Caroline Sheen, Kerry Ellis, Ricardo Afonso, Joanna Ampil, Tiffany Graves, Peter Polycarpou, Sally Ann Triplett and David Michael Johnson.

The show ended with the entire cast singing the classic song from The Lion King- ‘Can You Feel The Love Tonight’.
A truly wonderful evening the only downside was the rude people who didn’t seem to understand when they say no photography.
But despite that it was an unforgettable evening.