“On The Street Where You Live” Cabaret in the House, Jon Robyns – Lauderdale House, London 16.02.2014

So Yes as you are all aware that I love the west end performer Jon Robyns, who seems to be a regular on my blog, whether I am talking about him or a photo of me with him!

But what can I say this man is an amazing actor, and his voice I will never get bored of! So of course when an opportunity arrived to go and see Jon Robyns perform a solo mini concert at the Lauderdale House in Highgate London, my bank account was £13 cheaper! It was really worth it!

This Cabaret in the House is a series of performances/concerts performed by many actors/actresses of the west end stage,  showing every Sunday for the duration of 6 weeks, each performing various songs from musicals or films to an audience.

Jon was supported by a female west end actress named Annie Kirkman, who performed brilliant numbers from different musicals, some of which I had never heard of. Annie sung them beautifully, and i was drawn in not taking my eyes of her and how she brought each song to life and made them her own, especially one song (which annoyingly I cannot remember the name or musical!).  I was based on a woman who fell in love with a man, who always told her that he would be with her through and through, the song goes on to say about their relationship, when they got engaged, married, and then on there first year anniversary, her husband went to work for a few hours. Awaiting his return the woman goes to buy some bread, while there she hears on the radio a terrible event that had happened in the area of where her husband worked, and when she returned home she heard her voice mail of the last time she would hear his voice… Now I am not going to lie but I had to try and stop myself from crying and was fixated with the is song, Annie brought it to life, and you could tell that even she was tearing up, at the end of the song it was a happy ending though because the girl goes on to find a new man, and although she is anxious she hears her husband say its OK, and in doing so she is happy, and knows that even though she will move on, he would still be there and with her.
Annie was a brilliant warm up for Jon, and I hope to see her one time performing on the West End!

After a few minute break, it was time for Jon to come out, myself and my friend were positioned front row of the small concert, which was great because when Jon included the audience it would either be me or my friend he was singing to at times!

Jon chose some songs that he sings which are on his solo album “Open Book” available on ITunes, and on his website http://www.jonrobyns.co.uk/index.shtml its an amazing listen, and to hear the songs Il Mondo era Vuoto, On the Street Where You Live, and You’ll Never Walk Alone live now makes the album a bit second class, but I still enjoy listening to it! that’s for sure.

Not only did Jon sing the classics, but he also brought in some up to date songs, and got his guitar out to perform Say it to Me Now from the musical Once, which is one of my favourite musicals (and ironically had watched it on valentines day with my other half) because of the music from it, and yes Jon needs to be Guy in the stage production, so yes I did a cheeky record cause to have his version to listen to, was something I couldn’t bypass. It was also great to hear Jon playing the guitar again having seen him play it in Dicken’s Abridged and how good he was, it was nice to know that he wanted to continue to play, and we also got to hear again a song from Dicken’s Abridged which was one of my favourites called “Its a Far Far Better Thing ” so yes again I had to have a cheeky record cause annoyingly they did not do a soundtrack for that show, so I had to have something from it! Along on the guitar, Jon performed a song which he had written for his Daughter, which was beautiful and very sweet, and you could tell he was a lovely dad!

After his set with his guitar had finished Jon turned his back to put it down, to which the piano started, and Jon on cue, turned to begin an amazing reprise of Rod from Avenue Q (The character Jon had originated for the original London Cast) I Wish You Could Meet My Girlfriend…well this set those that know the song, and Jon in hysterics throughout, and were loving every moment. though as this was a small concert there were some faces that were unaware of this particular song, and did not entirely know what it was about, and to those who don’t, well then the last line of this song…is one of an explicit one…and during this performance myself and my friend were sat next to two elderly ladies, you can kind of tell where im going with this…I did think to myself no he might not say the line for this, and then BAM “and I can’t wait to eat her P**** again” came out of Jon’s mouth, I could not look at the couple, but was giggling in my hands! It was one of the highlights to say the least, and to hear him sing Avenue Q again was great, and gave me more excitement for again I would be seeing him perform with the puppets once again in two weeks time…but that’s another blog!

After the embarrassment had passed, Jon’s closing numbers were again influenced by his daughter and his love for Disney, with the first number being A Friend Like Me from Aladdin, in which a lot of audience involvement was given, including some tasty snacks, he then sang an amazing rendition of So Close from the film Enchanted one of his daughter and mine favourite films, I couldn’t help but mouth the words which I could defiantly tell Jon noticed! He said his thanks during the end of this song, but that wasn’t the end, for his finale, and encore was none other than another personal favourite of mine but Out There from Hunchback of Notre Dame and again I was mouthing all the words which entertained Jon!

It was great to see Jon perform some amazing songs, but this time as himself not as someone playing a character, and loved how much you could tell he was loving what he was doing! When the show had ended Jon kindly stood and chatted with those who were fans, and it meant that me and my friends and had made some new friends as well as new followers on Twitter. Its great to have a performer who really enjoys talking to us, and isn’t bothered to give advice which he has done on a few occasions now, and have a laugh.  it made me laugh when the man came up to us all and asked if we were interested in buying the album to which we all replied Already got it!

As I said earlier I did get the chance to see Jon perform again 2 weeks after this small concert, and at the moment there is no sign of when he is returning to the stage performing in a musical, but im sure he will announce it on twitter when he is, or if he is involved in anything, cause I don’t think I will get bored of seeing him, which i’m sure he is getting of seeing me, and im sure that i will be buying tickets to whatever he is in! I still think he should try for Guy in Once cause he would be brilliant.

http://youtu.be/xkuimV-Ucew for those who want to get a glimpse of what I watched then watch his recent showreel….at the end are small clips from this particular show!! Amazing!