Weaving songs from musical theatre with stories from his ten-year career, Lee Mead offers something for everyone in TEN YEARS: THE ANNIVERSARY TOUR
It’s been ten years since Lee Mead won the reality TV show ANY DREAM WILL DO and to celebrate, he treats us all to a set containing many songs from his career and a few stories to go with them.
Not only does Mead remind us all why he won the show whenever he sings but we are also reminded of how he won over the public. His friendly personality shines throughout and he always comes across as kind and funny.
Mead is joined by a fantastic band, and a couple of guest songs from CASUALTY cast-mate Amanda Henderson, who treated us to songs from Anastasia, Smash and the duet AS LONG AS YOU’RE MINE from Wicked with Mead, paying homage to another of his former roles. Henderson has a lovely voice and a sweet personality and her time onstage is enjoyable.
The show has many anecdotes woven throughout, including stories about his time on TV, his stage career and his role as a parent to his 7-year-old daughter Betsy. There is also a Q&A section in the second half of the show in which many of his enthusiastic fans ask him questions about his career, his future ambitions and whether he prefers Michael Ball or Alfie Boe.
Mead’s voice is fantastic as always and his setlist is not only restricted to songs from musicals. He also sings a few pop and rock songs, including FEELING GOOD, PAINT IT BLACK and LEAVE RIGHT NOW, some of which he performed on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ANY DREAM WILL DO. Plenty of the songs, however, are from his musical theatre repertoire including a few stand out numbers include WHY GOD WHY? from Miss Saigon, ANTHEM from Chess, and of course CLOSE EVERY DOOR and ANY DREAM WILL DO from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, the latter of which closed the show. It is good to see Mead honouring where it all began, and he may even bring out a certain coat we all know and love.
Overall the performance is a fun night, with something for everybody. He sings songs everyone knows and loves, but are obviously carefully selected to suit his voice. It’s exciting to wonder where the next ten years will take him.
Lee Mead performed at The Lowry on 23 March 2018.
Lucy is a nineteen-year-old aspiring actress from Glossop. She is currently studying Music Theatre at the University Of Central Lancashire and hopes to move onto a career in performance. She also has interests in reading, writing and music.
Social Profiles