Monday 8^th June 1998. Lyceum Theatre.

This special one-off performance, which rapidly became a two-off, was to celebrate the birthday of the Royal National Institute for the Blind, which coincided nicely with everyone's favourite producer, Cameron Mackintosh' 30 years in the biz. On paper, the array of stars who had agreed to perform was amazing. Virtually all my heroes were billed. I couldn't wait! 

The day came around too quickly, and soon it was time to meet up with the rest of my party for our day of days. The weather had let us down, and it was raining. In June. Still, this is England, what do you expect? We arrived in good time at the Lyceum. Our tickets had stated that we should be seated by 7.15pm. We waited excitedly outside amongst several people who perhaps I should have recognised, but didn't. I saw Alain Boublil arrive, though, so I was happy. 'JOHN BARROWMAN', screamed an excited lady behind us. We turned rapidly to see her pointing out his name on the poster outside. Oh, well, can't win 'em all!! By then time was moving on and we were ready to go inside to our seats. We got to the top of the stairs and then had to wait for what seemed like ages, but was infact only about 10 minutes. Everyone seemed relaxed and chatted to each other. The programme seller came amongst us to save us queuing when we finally were allowed inside - for some reason best known to me, I got the job of buying several programmes, with a combined weight of about 4 tons. What seemed like a good idea at the time soon became a trial, but I won't hold it against you, Kaoru!!  

So, finally inside and seated, we waited for our Royal patrons to take their places in the box. The Queen and Prince Philip came in and we all stood up again for the National Anthem. And then the show began.......... 

First on stage, we had the eight-year old Cameron represented on the set of Salad Days, the first production he ever saw. Followed by the boys from Oliver singing Food Glorious Food. Then a selection from My Fair Lady with Liz Robertson, Jonathan Pryce and Peter Bayliss, a rousing few choruses of Get me to the Church on time. Julie Andrews appeared on stage to a rapturous reception to introduce the clips from the shows Cameron has produced in his first 30 years. '30 years - hasn't it been too long?' Which leads us nicely into the first instalment - John Barrowman singing One, Two Three from the Fix, as regular readers of this page will doubtless be aware! He did a magnificent job of the shortened lyrics (all songs were slightly edited) and was dressed in his Cal outfit of check shirt, white t-shirt and jeans, but still looked great.

Next it was Nicer in Nice with Jasna Ivir who is currently playing Carlotta in Phantom, followed by Jimmy Logan and the Scottish Power Pipe Band and I Love A Lassie. This evening was catering for all tastes. 

Then a real treat - a couple of songs from Five Guys Named Moe with Clarke Peters and Richard D Sharpe, for anyone still following the Fix links! Then another selection from Oliver with Adam Searles as Dodger and Russ Abbott as Fagin. His statement of 'There's rich pickings in here tonight' had the audience laughing, and his rendition of Pick a Pocket or Two got some feet moving. Then Sonia Swaby sang As Long as he Needs Me which got some eyes watering. 

Next, it was our chance to hear two new songs written for Martin Guerre. First one was I'm Martin Guerre, which tonight was sung by David Campbell. It's the same tune as the old 'Martin Guerre' but the lyrics are different. The backdrop of trees was a nice touch by the set designers, and Maria Friedman came out to sing Bertrande's new song, How Many Tears. Not so sure about this one, especially if it will replace When Will Someone Hear, because it's not nearly so good, and in my opinion, Maria was not the best person to sing it. She is a great singer, but she just doesn't hit me as a Bertrande.  

Next onto the stage was the company again, for a selection from Miss Saigon - The Heat is on in Saigon, The Wedding, and then the Last Night of the World, with David Campbell rapidly changing from French peasant to American GI for his duet with the wonderful Lea Salonga. Company again for This is the Hour and then Jonathan Pryce sang American Dream, much to the audiences delight. The staging of this was a real bonus - a bridge with the Statue of Liberty (well, a model dressed up, even Cameron can't do everything) and assorted high-kickers. 

Then, to close the first half, we had Phantom. Colm Wilkinson reprised his role as the masked one, and Lisa Vroman made a wonderful Christine. Raoul was none other than Michael Ball. They sang Phantom of the Opera, Music of the Night and All I Ask of You, complete with smoke and boat. Colm sounded suitably anguished, and Lisa was just superb. I'm not a fan of the show, having only seen it once, and this trio made it all sound actually likeable. What more could you want? Act 2 possibly?  

The second half opened with Broadway Baby from Follies and then a Rogers and Hammerstein selection, beginning with Hugh Jackman singing Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'. Oklahoma will be opening at the National soon, and I would guess that Hugh will have sold a few advanced tickets. Then we had a ballet sequence from Carousel, and You'll Never Walk Alone led by Joanna Riding and Hal Fowler.

Next was the Stephen Sondheim collection! The company sang Side by Side and then Lea began You Could Drive A Person Crazy, to be joined by Millicent Martin, Maria Friedman and Ruthie Henshall. Judi Dench, while hardly a singer, managed to get across a great deal of feeling on Send In The Clowns, and prolonged and deserved applause from the audience. 

Then one of my favourite songs - Losing My Mind. And who better to sing it than Michael Ball? Then another of my favourite songs - blimey, have they secretly raided my CD collection?. This one was Being Alive. Now, my favourite interpretation of this is Anthony Warlow, but tonight it was sung by Bernadette Peters. She brought the house down - she's amazing. I must check out some of her recordings.  

Next on the agenda, it was time for some fun! You've Gotta Have a Gimmick from Gypsy. The three girls chosen for the gimmicks were Bernadette again, Julia McKenzie and Ruthie Henshall. Bernadette blew her trumptet under, over and between every orifice!!, Julia had a light-up underwear set and Ruthie appeared with wings.  

Then the man himself, Stephen Sondheim appeared on stage to yet another rapturous reception to introduce the next segment, marked in the programme as Duelling Pianos. What I thought was probably going to be two pianists turned out to be...........two pianists. Not ordinary pianists, mind. These two were none other than Andrew Lloyd Webber and Stephen Sondheim, in a recorded piece projected onto a giant screen. They sent themselves, and Cameron, up something rotten and it was hilarious! To the tune of Send in the Clowns, Stephen sang 'Isn't he rich' to which Andrew replied, conspiratorially, 'Richer than me'. The audience roared and the send-up was obviously warm-hearted and generous! Then Andrew came on stage to say a few words and introduce the next item.  

Tom Lehrer, an old Summer Camp friend of Stephen Sondheims, gave us two amusing ditties - Poisoning Pigeons In the Park and one very topical number about the bomb. He also waxed lyrical about Cameron's production of his own show, Tom Foolery, which opened just before Cats. He reckoned that it was the *combined* profits from both shows that put Cam well on the way to his first million!  

Then it was time for Cats. The eyes logo flittered around the auditorium and several Cats came on stage, along with Brian Blessed and Paul Nicholas and the Cats overture then Jellicle Songs. Then came, or me, the first blow-you-away moment. Elaine Paige. I'd seen her in the list of people scheduled to appear, and to be honest, I'd seen so many stars on stage I'd forgotten she was still to come! And then there she was in full costume. Of course, she sang Memory. There are no words to describe it, but when it comes out on CD and video later this year, you'll know what I mean.  

How could you follow that? Easy!!! 

The music started, clouds rolled over the backdrop and the audience burst into a spontaneous round of applause (or was it?!!) and not a little wild screaming. OK, that might have been only me, but the expression saving the best for last sprang to mind. Of course, it was the moment I'd been waiting for.  

And that was it. Speech by Cameron, nice little finale, ending where we started with Cameron singing (yes, singing!) from Salad Days, and then everyone on stage for the applause. I'm writing this a week later and my hands are still sore.

The CD and video will be out in the Autumn. I can't wait that long. I want to see it again NOW. Please don't make us wait another 30 years for a show like this, Mr. Producer. Oh, and thanks, not only for your invaluable contribution to everything worth seeing over the last three decades, but also for assembling this concert, the cast, and the most memorable three hours I've ever spent.