You may have thought the place to be last night was at the Grosvenor House Hotel where this year's Olivier Awards were being hosted. However just down the road was an equally hot ticket to be had at the Soho Revue Bar for the cabaret Mum's The Word.
It is organised by Amy Nicholson and Laura Costello who have turned personal tragedy into something positive. Amy lost her mother, Linda Nicholson to meningitis and Laura lost her mother, Jean Violet Costello, to ovarian cancer. A desire to raise awareness and money for The Meningitis Trust and Ovarian Cancer Action resulted in Mums' the Word and allowed the girls to celebrate the lives of their mothers - and what a celebration it was!
Host by Nicole Faraday, recently seen in Bad Girls The Musical the evening was a delight for any fan of musical theatre. Faraday was charming and entertaining as she joked about the competition a few streets away as sadly some artists promised for Mum's The Word had double booked themselves. This did not matter in the slightest though. It was still a fantastic line up with West End performers such as Julie Stark (We Will Rock You), Shona White (Wicked) and Peter Eldridge (Rent) who all generously volunteered their night off for these two great charities.
Under the musical direction of Peter White, songs were performed from both the world of pop and, of course, musical theatre. Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" and Eva Cassidy's "Fields of Gold" were just a few of the classics performed along side of hits from Wicked, Footloose and the lesser known The Last Five Years. The highlights of the evening came from the tiny Julie Stark and her power-house voice and Shimi Goodman with his performance of Little Mary Sunshine from Chicago.
As well as an auction of musical theatre memorabilia and a raffle there were also a few words from representatives of both charities, reminding us all why we were there and allowing us to appreciate the difference that an evening such as this makes to these organisations.
Completely packed out, the Soho Revue Bar, which donated its premises for the evening, was the perfect space for this intimate occasion. With £6000 already raised for the two charities the girls are not stopping there. The plan for the next cabaret is to move to one of the larger West End venues and really make Mum's the Word a date that every musical theatre lover has in their diary.