After a four year break, MAD Trust brought back West End Eurovision to the Shaftesbury Theatre, London last Sunday to a sell out audience. Bringing together Casts from eight Musicals, each take it in turns to perform a former Eurovision entry. This year, The Phantom Of The Opera took victory with “Rise Like A Phoenix”. The other Musicals taking part were:

• Hamilton – “Cliche Love Song”
• Young Frankenstein – “Take Me To Your Heaven”
• 42nd Street – “Boom Bang-A-Bang”
• Kinky Boots – “Warrior”
• Dreamgirls – “Making Your Mind Up”
• Mamma Mia – “Undo”
• Aladdin – “Dancing Queen”

Not only was there a main prize, but the Best Creativity award – chosen by the celebrity judges – Arlene Phillips, John Partridge and Tom Allen – also went to The Phantom Of The Opera.

The other prize was for Best Ident – also known as a Postcard to the average Eurovision fan. This was voted for on the lead up to last Sunday. This year’s winner was Hamilton.

Video: YouTube/MADTrust

Hopefully, this is a return to an annual show for West End Eurovision and we won’t see another break for a number of years. It was a fun, enjoyable and quite frankly very naughty at times – definitely an 18+ production and we wouldn’t want it any other way. Along with the Celebrity Judges, Richard Gauntlett took charge of proceedings well, placing a little dig here and there at each of the Musicals – adding some laughter throughout!

The MAD Trust raises funds to support those that live or affected by HIV or AIDS. There are 36.7 million people living with HIV worldwide, of which 2.1 million are children. In 2014, only 32% of HIV positive children were receiving medication.

Author: Richard Taylor

Source: Eurovision Ireland & MAD Trust