Announced by Westway Music (and by Lee on his socials) on Friday 15 November, a new run of the Westway Sessions takes to the stage at the Vaudeville Theatre in London's West End from March to June 2025 - featuring four leading stars of the West End and Broadway including, most importantly for readers of this site, TV and West End star Lee Mead who opens the series on Monday 10 March by bringing his latest show to the West End following its sell-out run around the UK in Autumn 2024.Wind forward four months and that first show is now behind us, its soundtrack still playing in my head, bringing a beaming smile to my face at the most random moments. With 'celebrating the very best talent of musical theatre' as their stated aim, Westway Music could not have asked for a better start to this year's Sessions, nor Lee for his own 2025 The Best Of Me tour kicking off in May. The reviews are glowing (read them here) and I offer my own unashamedly biased thoughts on the evening not so much as a review but a fan view...
I've started to write this several times and each time life has got in the way ... so it's now over a week later and while the immediate buzz has calmed (I wouldn't have slept if not!), the memories are as vivid as ever. For me, they start a few hours pre-show... rounding up a few friends on route to London, arriving early enough to enjoy a bite to eat as we catch up on each other's news. Other friends stopping at our table to say hello in passing - it was very reminiscent of the 'Joseph days', over fifteen years ago now, when it was impossible to eat anywhere within a half-mile radius of the Adelphi, without bumping into fellow fans.
Anyway, I digress... seats taken, greetings exchanged, obligatory photo of empty stage taken, and it was time. The audience hush and the air of expectancy heightens as the band take their seats. I murmur "what's he starting with" just as their first chord tells me exactly what... and we enter another timewarp as we flash back to Week 8 of Any Dream Will Do and the first time we heard Lee sing Paint It Black.Arguably the defining moment of the entire competition, that performance launched Lee on a path that led not only to winning the role of Joseph, which he played to packed houses for 18 months, to ongoing stage success in the West End and around the country, to TV roles including Casualty and Holby City's much-loved Lofty Chiltern, but also to this moment (and many before it)... where he takes to the stage not in character but as himself, backed by a brilliant band, and delivers a delicious blend of musical theatre classics and contemporary hits with the same passion and exquisite story-telling that made that first Paint It Black so special. I'd have included 'vocal prowess' in that list, but I can't in all honesty claim that to be the same as it was back in 2007... no, as good as it was then, it is better now - in range, in power, in tone and expression - just sublime.
I love the balance of this show, it really is The Best Of Lee - the first half taking us from its dramatic opening to an equally iconic close - Close Every Door in fact - via new (for Lee) songs Walking In Memphis, An Englishman In New York and stunning versions of Will Young's All Time Love and George Michael's A Different Corner (which features on Lee's The Best of Me EP), a return to his roots with a Grease medley in tribute to schoolboy Lee's first role in a musical - the lead of course - accessorised with leather jacket, shades and full T-Bird attitude, coming back up to date with a wonderfully over-the-top, wild-eyed Seven Seas of Rhye from his 2023 turn as We Will Rock You's Khashoggi (his first baddie role, I can only hope there'll be more!), with nods too to possible future roles with From Now On from The Greatest Showman and Bring Him Home from Les Misérables - the former finally lands on a UK stage in Spring 2026, while the latter remains firmly on my personal wishlist.
The second half brings more musical theatre magic, opening with All I Care About Is Love and I Could Be That Guy from Lee's recent roles as Billy Flynn in Chicago and Eddie Souther in Sister Act, and continuing with the remaining tracks from his The Best Of Me EP, including the beautiful, self-penned Let The River Flow, written with his MD Adam Dennis and Steve Balsamo.I'll refrain from listing the entire setlist, which you can see for yourself here, to talk instead of his surprise guest... landing that morning from holiday in Barbados to find a message from Lee checking she was still good to join him later, his good friend Brenda Edwards, co-star from Chicago (very briefly, until a broken ankle intervened), panto in Wimbledon and We Will Rock You, brings jetlag, sass and her incredible vocals to the party as she joins Lee for a fabulous reprise of their We will Rock You duet A Kinda Magic, following that with the wonderfully apt Get Here (If You Can).
The show finishes, of course, with the song that Lee swears will be carved on his tombstone ... Any Dream Will Do, with full audience choir, bringing to a close two hours of sheer joy. As the lights come up and the cheers fade, I am SO glad there are more chances to see this fabulous show as The Best Of Me tours the UK from 16 May to 6 July - heading to parts of the country his tours have never reached before, including a long-awaited first solo show in Scotland (Ayr, 5 July). Before that even, he is touring with new show The Phantoms - "a spellbinding night of music, featuring former Phantoms direct from London's West End and celebrating the most beloved musicals of all time" - from 2 April to 10 May and again later in the year from 24 September to 26 October. Check for dates near you!I have mentioned in passing Lee's band but they deserve far more attention. Brilliant musicians one and all, they play with passion and supreme skill and while I might disagree a tad with Lee's oft-claimed 'without them I'd be nothing', I agree wholeheartedly that with them, the show is taken to another level! They are Adam Dennis - MD and keys, George Millard - woodwind, Tim Rose - guitar, Dan Francis Owen - bass and Jonathan Atkinson - drums. Thanks too to Simon Jayes - drum tech and Andy Johnson - sound engineer and no doubt countless others who worked behind the scenes to bring this show to the stage.
I only raised my camera twice the whole night - as borne out by the meagre offerings above - however an official photographer was present and Elliot Franks' excellent photos are available to view (and purchase!) here. I particularly like the Danny Zuko section!
The Westway Sessions continue with Olivier Award winner Cassidy Janson (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, & Juliet) on 7 April, Kerry Ellis (Wicked, We Will Rock You) with her much talked about show Queen of the West End on 21 April, and Aimie Atkinson (SIX, Pretty Woman) returning to the West End to perform songs from her new album, as well as career-defining hits, on 23 June. Tickets here.
Lee's full concert and events schedule (including past appearances) is at CONCERT & LIVE EVENTS
Published: 18/11/2024; last updated: 20/03/2025