Shanay Holmes is a musical theatre actress whose name recognition has been growing, from playing Nancy in Oliver! and Cindy Breakspeare in Get Up Stand Up, both in the West End, through to her work as a producer including co-founding West End Musical Productions. Despite her increasing name recognition, this concert is Holmes’ first solo concert and took place just prior to the launch of her first solo album.
Shanay’s concert was a celebration of the roles she had played or musicals that shaped her whilst growing up. The show opened with the Sound of Music as we learned that musical theatre films were a huge part of Shanay’s childhood and we were even treated to a bit of Disney with ‘A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes.’ We then began to learn how Holmes’ career unfolded and with her first job being on Thriller Live her rendition of Michael Jackson’s ‘Smile’ was a touching way to include this. Some of the songs associated with her career highlights weren’t always obvious, when she spoke about her time playing Joanne in Rent and how much the show meant to her this was followed with her version of ‘No Day But Today,’ and ‘Where Is Love’ was the song chosen when she touched on her time in Oliver.
I’ve been lucky enough to see Holmes quite a few times in various roles but it was only tonight as she was singing Bob Marley’s ‘Waiting In Vain’ then belting out ‘Maybe This Time,’ and shortly afterwards with ‘Somewhere,’ from West Side Story that I realised how versatile her voice is. Few performers demonstrate such vocal versatility within a single concert. There is also no doubt that Holmes can really sing and move the audience whilst doing so. Her rendition of ‘I Will Always Love You’ was a real standout performance from across the evening so it showed off her star power vocal quality perfectly.
Shanay was accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, conducted by Chris Poon and this really helped give the show a sense of occasion. The sound the orchestra and Holmes produced together along with the balance between orchestra and vocals remained crystal clear throughout, allowing neither to overwhelm the other, a standard many one-night concerts could learn from.
The nuggets of information shared by Holmes regarding her song choice for the evening also really helped the audience get a sense of who she was. It was touching that she came across incredibly grateful for all the support she’d received throughout her career and dedicated ‘Not While I’m Around’ to her husband and shouted out some of her fans by name at the end of the concert, which only strengthened the intimate atmosphere of the evening. I would have welcomed a few more anecdotes to be thrown in, I adored how she spoke about how she landed the role in Miss Saigon as it felt like a glimpse behind the scenes. She had a giddy warmth across the evening and whilst you could tell that she was nervous and maybe even a little in shock that she was even there this helped steer the evening away from a formal recital feel and more like an intimate evening with friends.
One small criticism is that at times the song choices tended to be a slightly repetative in tone with the majority of the concert made up of slower songs or big ballads. At times an upbeat number would have helped the energy in the room. The exception to this was Don’t Say I Didn’t (Warn You) from Death Becomes Her which opened Act 2 with a real bang, if there were a few more of these types of numbers peppered throughout then this would have created even greater variety across the evening.
Whilst this may be Shanay Holmes first solo concert, she performed it with the vocal assurance of someone who had been headlining them for years. More than simply showcasing an exceptional voice the evening offered an insight into her experiences, people and productions that have shaped her career. With the release of her debut solo album just around the corner this felt less like a celebration of everything Holmes has already achieved and more like the beginning of a new chapter.
Shanay Holmes’ debut album is out in October. You can find out more about it and pre order it here.
If you like this review you might also like my review of Jesus Christ Superstar, Hercules and Hadestown.