Royal Variety Performance 2020

Out of necessity, the 108th Royal Variety Performance played out in a very different format than usual. There was no live audience this year, but this didn’t impact on last night’s broadcast in the slightest.

The venue shifted north for the first time in nine years to the Blackpool Opera House. The crown was represented by the Prince of Wales who, in a break with tradition, delivered his own message of support this year.

Comedian Jason Manford played host for the first time and his Sunset Boulevard opening number reminded us that he is also a musical theatre performer.

Frozen the Musical got its first big outing, with Samantha Barks knocking it out of the park with her rendition of Let It Go.

No slouch as a belter, Sheridan Smith appeared ahead of her role as Cilla Black in Cilla the Musical. Her powerful rendition of Anyone Who Had a Heart and You’re My World bode extremely well for the future UK tour.

West End and Broadway star Marisha Wallace brought the virtual house down singing Tomorrow, the number she famously recorded to help raise funds for those in the theatre industry affected by lockdown.

It was Gary Barlow’s eighth appearance at this event and the singer-songwriter has always delivered a consistently strong set. There were few new performers this year but Brit award winner Celeste was a welcome presence, with her warm, smoky vocals singing the plaintive A Little Love. Ex-Spice Girl and another West End alumni Melanie C was a slick, sleek presence, raising the tempo with her new single Blame It on Me.

Comedians Jo Caulfield and Daliso Chaponda proved a hit but there were bigger laughs for Stephen Mulhern, performing some comedy magic.

No RVP would be complete without a speciality act and Kenyan acrobats the Black Blues Brothers offered some death-defying acrobatics to an upbeat blues soundtrack. When it comes to high energy however, you can’t beat a bit of Steps and their new single Something in Your Eyes was great fun, harking back to the heyday of 1990s dance pop.

It was easy to see why Jon Courtenay won this year’s Britain’s Got Talent. There was a warm thread of nostalgia throughout his song Cosmos at Christmas and a nod to one of the evening’s special, albeit virtual guests, Captain Sir Thomas Moore (’Captain Tom’).

For the finale, Michael Ball was joined by the NHS Choir to perform You’ll Never Walk Alone. And to ensure that there really wasn’t a dry eye in the house, the whole company appeared on stage for a glorious arrangement of Bill Withers’ Lean on Me. It may have been a very different Royal Variety Performance this year, but it has lost none of its power.