On 22nd and 23rd October, ‘Musical Con’ came to ExCel London. Musical Con was the UK’s first ever musical theatre fan convention. It brought all of the musical theatre fans under one roof for the first time ever; the perfect place to celebrate all of your favourite shows: meeting the stars, celebrating the shows and learning from the pros. There were countless things to do and countless things to see. As well as numerous stalls where you could purchase all the musical theatre merchandise you could ever want, Musical Con had meet and greets, special performances, workshops, cast reunions, cosplays, lip sync battles and singalongs.
On the first day, I looked around the countless merchandise booths and bought a mix of bookmarks, stickers and posters from my favourite shows. There were cast members from different West End shows wandering around and doing interviews and saying hello to fans. There were also performances from stars such as Layton Williams on the main stage.
On the second day, I arrived with my friends in a group cosplay; excited and ready for a dance workshop with the incredible Miriam Teak-Lee, the star of the current West End musical “& Juliet”. She taught me and a group of around 30 other fans the choreography to one of the main dance numbers in the show. It was absolutely amazing to learn from the leading star of such a big West End show, and getting to dance side by side with her was an exhilarating experience.
Fans were treated to performances from West End actors on the main stage, including ‘Les Miserables’ and ‘Hamilton’. Other memorable moments were fans doing lip sync battles from their favourite musicals, casts from musicals such as ‘Everybody’s Talking about Jamie’ and ‘Legally Blonde’ playing a game of musical charades, cosplay from fans of ‘Heathers’ and ‘Six’ showing off their handmade costumes from the show and more!
The entire weekend was rounded off when everyone gathered at the main stage. The organiser of the event, Shanay Holmes, came onto the stage in tears and thanked everyone for coming, finishing off with a singalong rendition of “A Place Where We Belong” from ‘Everybody’s Talking about Jamie’.
It was truly a weekend to remember, and I am so thankful I got to experience the joys of theatre surrounded by fans just like me. Here's to Musical Con 2023!
