The Greatest Love of All at the London Palladium

I normally approach a tribute show with a healthy dose of scepticism, attending in the hope that it will be an enjoyable night but fully aware that it is rare they live up to the original. The Greatest Love of All, a Whitney Huston tribute show however is the exception to this rule.

Belinda Davids takes on the role of Queen of Pop herself and asides from having more than a passing resemblance to the icon herself her voice really does do justice to the songs Whitney sang. Throughout the evening we were treated to a large number of Whitney’s hits, from the up tempo numbers such as ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ to power ballads including ‘ I Will Always Love You.’ During the up tempo numbers the whole audience were on their feet and the power ballads caused standing ovations at the end! The standing ovation was well deserved and her vocals were incredibly impressive.
Davids was accompanied by the National Philharmonic Concert Orchestra which played Huston’s hits beautifully and added to the electric atmosphere. She also had 4 backing dancers who appeared in a variety of costumes and performing a variety of styles. They were well suited, meaning that the balance between the focus being on the vocals and entertainment was well struck.

The biggest judge of a show is always the audience and this audience were loving life! A slight word of warning in so far as this is not your typical theatre audience, there was a member of audience that even made their way up to the stage at one point (dealt with swiftly by security) but there was more of a concert atmosphere with audience members singing along and recording and photographing the show (don’t worry it was allowed).
The Greatest Love of All is a real tribute to Whitney Huston. Belinda Davids however is a star in her own right and I would happily see her in concert performing a variety of material – she certainty has the charisma and the voice to do so. With all the tribute shows out there this tops them all!

The Greatest Love of All is on a national tour.
If you like this review you might also like my review of The Simon & Garfunkel Story, Emilia and Thriller Live.