With phenomenal West End and Broadway credits, Rachel Tucker is a star most commonly known for her tremendous performance as Elphaba both in London and New York. Teaming up with Kris Rawlinson from Parallel Productions, Rachel has taken her new album On The Road on tour.
Only popping up as a live music venue in the last few months, Pizza Express Live in Brindley Place is a fantastic space where you can enjoy food, drink and incredible music. Upstairs a large room is set up with a stage surrounded by tables, where you are encouraged to have a bite to eat before the show begins and enjoy a few drinks whilst basking in all the musical theatre glory Rachel Tucker has to offer.
Rachel herself not only has a sensational voice but a phenomenal stage presence. She brings character and charisma to the stage as she talks about her life and her experience in the musical theatre industry.
Highlights included Rachel’s beautiful performance of Dear Evan Hansen’s Waving Through A Window, Disney’s When She Loved Me, and a jazzed up performance of Oliver’s Where Is Love. Rachel took us right back to her childhood, recalling her childhood memories of singing with her dad at the age of just nine.
Interacting with the audience members, Rachel really knows how to work the crowd and consuming every person in the room. Alongside some Broadway and West End classics, Rachel delved into some older and more unknown numbers that were refreshing to hear. I was particularly impressed with her performance of If You Ever See Me Talking To a Sailor from The Last Ship which made me keen to listen to the rest of the numbers from the production.
Showcasing her outstanding versatility, Rachel impressed with the breadth of her material. With slow emotional ballads such as Waitress’ She Used To Be Mine, to an amazing rendition of Tina Turner classics – I wondered, is there anything she can’t do? She throws herself into each number with every inch of her body, whether it is rolling her jumpsuit up to whack out her Tina Turner moves or really immersing herself in the role of Roxie Hart in Chicago’s Roxie, Rachel pulls out all of the stops and it’s obvious she doesn’t need the huge production values of a musical to entirely become a character.
Finishing of course with the iconic Defying Gravity from the musical Wicked, Rachel Tucker gave her absolute all to this production. Her stellar vocals are strong, and whilst other ex-Elphabas tend to stick to a more stripped back version of the song, Rachel stuck to her powerful rendition of the song.
With an encore of Ed Sheeran’s Castle on a Hill, she had everybody up singing and dancing. It truly was a night to remember. With it being the last night on the UK tour, Rachel now heads over to perform in New York. I hope to see her return to the UK for another spectacular night again soon.
★★★★★ Five Stars
