In January as a birthday gift i was lucky enough to see one of the biggest west end and Broadway stars.
Ramin Karimloo,
Famous for starring in shows such as the launch of Andrew Lloyd Webbers Love Never Dies, Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables and at the moment he is in New York starring in the new musical Anastasia ( I'm sure some of you saw this movie as a child).
Before he embarked on his new venture he did a tour of the UK with his broadgrass group.
I saw this amazing show at the Leeds City Varieties a unique old school varieties theatre with a quaint and vintage style and intimate venue.
The broadgrass idea started in a dressing room while he was in Love Never Dies and made a journey to what i was presented on this January night.
So firstly what is broadgrass i hear you ask.?
Well, its songs brought down to its raw foundations. As Ramin said "A good song should work with just a guitar". Its basically a mix of bluegrass and Broadway in its acoustic element.
This made the most amazing show.
The vocal abilities were laid bare and did not disappoint and the instruments playing from guitar to banjo just brought such a magical element.
See above for his accompanying artists Matthew Harvey's vocals with Ramin were amazing when he sang on his own and with Ramin such a lovely sound
There were some well known songs sung from the amazing Til i hear you sing from Love Never Dies which made me cry and the hairs stand up on my neck it was so raw and at its purity as Ramin nailed effortlessly those strong powerful vocals. Bring him home from Les Miserables which was as heartbreaking as the first time you herd it and well delivered as usual by Ramin.
And the then a few songs where the bluegrass really complimented those Broadway classics Oh what a Beautiful Morning from Oaklahoma and Edelweiss from The Sound of Music which Ramin and Matthew sang together but Matthew took more of a lead.
This is to name just a few from the set and there were also Ramins own original songs too!
If you go on you tube you can hear some of his broadgrass compositions and he has albums for it too which are geat
If ever he tours with this again i would highly recommend if you love him, Broadway, west end, musicals or just good music!
