If anyone looked through my CD collection they would find quite a high percentage of ‘Greatest Hits’ albums in there, because as much as I may enjoy an artist, I do not always like everything they produce.

I do enjoy Musical Theatre too, the CD collection will verify the fact, and do attend live shows quite a lot, however there are still occasionally songs in shows that do not do it for me.

This is where the guys and gals from Beyond the Barricades come in. The two hour extravaganza they have been delivering for the past eleven years is really a Greatest Hits of the Musical Theatre Live!! so I’m sure you will understand why I am a fan.

Originally this troupe was formed for a one-off charity performance, and was made up of performers then currently in Les Miserables, and was put together by Andy Reiss and David Fawcett, who are still the mainstays of this phenomenon. Over the years that we have seen them, there has been a constant procession of very talented female singers, so it wasn’t usually the same girls we saw from one year to the next, but recently there has been a little more continuity with Katie Leeming and Becci Morrell in place for at least two years now.

These talented quartet, ably backed by Russ Kennedy, bass, Dave Williams, drums, Steve Clark and MD Andy Reiss on keyboards produced the very best of West End and touring shows for the excess of two hours, ample time to give all vocalists a chance to showcase their individual skills and to blend together with the true ensemble numbers that are to be found in this genre.

Now for eleven years we have never tired of Messrs Reiss and Fawcett and once again they were up to their usual high standard and although I had previously been impressed by the vocal talents of the lovely Katie and Becci, I thought that this Edinburgh crowd were really lucky as the girls for me were on fire, even more so than usual.

Perhaps I was fortunate in the choice of numbers in the set on offer, well any show that starts with Miss Saigon, journey’s through Phantom, Starlight, Evita, Blood Brothers, Mamma Mia, Chess, Spamalot, Lion King amongst others and then concludes with a huge chunk of Les Mis, well need I say more!

With applause ringing through the theatre, cries for more, at least another two hours at least for me, unfortunately all great evenings have to come to an end.

Still, hopefully it won’t be very long before we have the chance to catch them again as they are always touring somewhere, and the dates together with many splendid pictures and all the info you may need on the gang can be found on their website www.beyondthebarricade.com and until then have to make do with listening to the seven different CD’s we have of various line-ups over the years.

Thanks guys, one and all, and all the best to Katie and Andy for their own special production in the summer.