Barrowman Brings The Razzle Dazzle

For the last couple of years, John Barrowman’s Hollywood-perfect, sparkling-white smile has rarely been off of our television screens. Despite having been fully-fledged in the West-End and Broadway show scene for the past 22 years, Barrowman’s role as the ‘flexible’ (*wink wink*) time travelling conman, Captain Jack Harkness, in the revival of ‘Doctor Who’ back in 2005, drove his name and his chiselled good looks to become Mr. Saturday Night Entertainment. Starting in 2008, it’s become an annual tradition for John to take his talent on tour, performing in huge concert halls all across the UK and Ireland. 2011 is no different, with an impressive 29 venues in 36 days, and I had tickets for Leicester’s DeMontford Hall on Sunday 23rd October. To say I was excited is a little bit of an understatement I think.

John Barrowman the show is exactly like John Barrowman the man. Backed by a fine eight-piece live band and four superb dancers (known as the J4’s), the musical journey John took us on was pure genius. The evening consisted of about 20 show-stopping numbers ranging from Rod Stewart to Katy Perry, from Barry Manilow to Gary Barlow, and a decent mixture of heartbreakingly beautiful ballads such as ‘You Raise Me Up’ and ‘Winner Takes It All’, alongside bouncy medleys of classic Eurovision entries and vigorous dance routines to ‘YMCA’. Yes, the songs were very self-indulging, but with the ability to transform them with a voice as powerful and simply perfect as his, well who can blame the guy!

One thing’s for sure, the crowd adores him. Everything the man did or said elicited a deafening mixture of screams and cheers that threatened to blow the roof. As described by the showman himself, he’s doing what he was put on this planet to do and he loves it. He loves the crowd, he loves the stage and he loves performing. That much is crystal clear. Scattering his anecdotes with innuendos and cheeky charm, he knows exactly how to work his fans. What was surprising to me was actually the diversity of the audience demographic; young girls and boys, older men and women, couples of all varieties and family groups. Granted, there were a vast number of 40/50-something women who get a little too hysterical and embarrassing (screaming “I love you John!” every time the poor man pauses for breath gets little infuriating after a while).

Besides his frankly phenomenal vocals in every number, what I was extremely impressed with was that despite the sell-out 2200 concert hall capacity, Barrowman managed to turn the show into a very intimate and personal experience for each audience member. Very much focussing on ‘John the individual’, he punctuated the flow of songs with countless stories and tales from his childhood and personal life, often collapsing into fits of giggles right there on the stage. Projecting photos from his 70’s childhood and various family holidays, the overall message that he was putting across was one of family and friendship, love, acceptance and toleration. Barrowman was so utterly genuine and humble the entire evening; nothing felt forced or fake and I really believed that the man I was watching up on the stage in front of me meant every single word he said. One popular criticism of Barrowman is how relentless and overly-energetic he is all the time, but honestly, it was refreshing to hear him talk so frankly about the ups and downs of his life as if he were talking to a dear friend, and as he quoted in his finale encore of the night, ‘I am what I am’ (which incidentally brought the house down in a well-deserved standing ovation lasting a good few minutes after John had reluctantly left the stage). As cheesy and as sparkly and as camp as the night was, on a chilly October evening when money is tight and work is piling up for all of us, a little Barrowman glitter and jazz has turned out to be the perfect remedy. Not a single person in that concert hall left without a smile beaming across their face. Excellent value for money and truly a night to remember. Now that’s what I call pure entertainment.