The Apollo Victoria Theatre celebrated its 80th birthday in style, with a charity gala performance on Sunday 10/10/10, featuring the cast of Wicked and a host of musical theatre stars, including a very special reunion of performers from Starlight Express. Produced by Wicked's UK Associate Director, Petra Siniawski and UK Dance Captain, Adam Murray, the Gala Performance featured a showcase of songs which have been performed on the theatre's stage over its 80 years. All excess proceeds from ticket sales were donated to Cancer Research UK. There was also a raffle in support of the Entertainment Artistes' Benevolent Fund.
As well as the stars of Wicked (past and present), the Gala Performance featured many performers from across the West End and from casts of previous Apollo Victoria productions, including an amazing reunion of past Starlight Express cast members.
It was a fabulous evening but the main reason I was there, of course, was to see Lee Mead (left) who gave the first solo performance of the night, honouring the Rolling Stones who performed there in 1961 and giving us a tantalisingly brief snippet of 'Satisfaction' followed by the Stones number from his debut album, 'Paint It Black'.
I Can't Get No Satisfaction / Paint It Black
The programme included a lot of detail about the theatre's history, fascinating reading ... clicking on the flyer above/right will take you to scans of the sections relating to the show itself.
Lee's full concert schedule (including past appearances) can be found at - CONCERT DATES
Last updated: 17 April 2017