Someone Like You: The Adele Songbook at The Playhouse, Weston

Well, this was to prove to be a show that does not easily write it’s own review, and I have to start by saying that it had a lot of the right elements to make it sparkle.

Katie Markham is one of the Adele tribute singers who appeared on “Adele at the BBC” in 2015, when several singers were joined by the lady herself disguised as “Jenny” and, as a group, they were very convincing in their renditions.

Armed with this prior knowledge, I was sure that I would enjoy Katie’s voice, which I undoubtedly did, in common with the rest of the audience; surprisingly most in a more senior age group than I would have expected.

She has a very powerful voice, and her pitching was faultless, but what her performance supplied in quality of tone, it rather lacked in heart; the songs were well executed, but the lyrics were not felt, and I wasn’t emotionally engaged during most of the show.

Add to this the fact that the staging was a little bizarre, with the accompanying female vocalists dressed in black off one shoulder catsuits which smacked of the 80’s, and the background comprised of large pulsating images of grasping hands, candles or waves, and you can probably understand why I felt that this show might be better off on a cruise ship rather than touring provincial theatres.

Katie tried very hard to engage the audience in certain sing along sequences, which sadly fell rather flat, but as she gave us so many of the most well loved Adele songs during the evening. I have to report that she got a standing ovation at the end of her performance, so it may be that I was hoping for too much on this occasion.

I have no doubt that many people left the show that night feeling that they had had a great evening but, sadly, I was not one of them.

See what’s coming up at The Playhouse, Weston