Lucie Jones brought musical theatre to Glastonbury Festival for the first time in the festival’s 50-plus-year history.
The singer’s roles have included both Cossette and Fantine in Les Misérables, the lead role of Jenna in Waitress and Elphaba in Wicked – all in the West End – as well as performances in We Will Rock You, Legally Blonde, Rent and Ghost the Musical.
She attracts a bumper crowd to the packed Astrolabe Theatre for a high-energy set showcasing songs from across her career and musical theatre more widely.
Ahead of the shows, the former X Factor contestant and Eurovision entrant had said that “to represent the musical theatre genre at the festival will be an amazing experience and honour for me.” Certainly, being in the audience was an amazing experience too, as she kicked off with the Queen hit We Will Rock You before moving through theatre hit after theatre hit.
I Dreamed A Dream (Les Misérables), Defying Gravity (Wicked), Somebody to Love (We Will Rock You), Time Warp (The Rocky Horror Show), and So Much Better (Legally Blonde) are all phenomenally delivered by Jones in a pitch-perfect performance.
Between the theatrical turns, we get a performance of her Eurovision entry Never Give Up on You, with Jones thanking the handful of people in the crowd who know the words, and a Stevie Wonder medley in honour of Jones’s first visit to the festival in 2010, when the Motown legend headlined. Jones’s love for the festival is clear. She ends with a medley of ABBA tracks from Mamma Mia! The Musical and sends us out into the night buzzing for more.
Later this year, she is set to originate the role of Jenna Rink in a new musical based on the film 13 Going on 30 at Manchester Opera House, but this performance is so slick and well-rehearsed that you can’t help but wonder if there is life beyond Glastonbury for Jones’s musical showcase.
