Rhapsody 2026, the newest iteration of Live Music Society’s Bloomsbury Theatre showcase, certainly impressed. Throughout the 2 hour 30 minute show, crowds were enamoured by the stunning talent on display from the stage to the tech booth.
Before the show even began, the audience walked into an auditorium misty with haze, with mysterious mirrors hung on the proscenium, an installation which would prove to be the centrepiece of what was perhaps the most impressive lighting display in the theatre in recent memory.
We got off to an energetic start with Paul McCartney’s classic Live or Let Die. The vocals by the ever so impressive Ayushi Bhanja were backed by a powerful orchestral section.
Other highlights from Act 1 included a Daft Punk Medley, Proud Mary by Tina Turner performed by Mary Olatunji, Ocean Breeze by Sam Greenwell performed by Maxwell Reinstein, and Queen’s classic Somebody to Love performed by Molly Hirst.
The bar set in Act 1 was not betrayed by Act 2 which convened with King Crimson’s 21st Century Schizoid Man performed by lead vocalist Oscar Leonov, whose stage presence should be noted throughout the show as he switched between vocals, bass, guitar, and even percussion.
21st Century Schizoid Man, photograph by Frederike Buchanan
This was followed by a mashup of Ice Cube and Lauryn Hill performed by the duo of Mary Olatunji and Thandile Nash, a groovy switch from the powerful chaos of King Crimson.
The highlight of Act 2 and perhaps the show came in the form of the Pink Floyd Medley, performed by the trio consisting of Polina Zhilina, Molly Hirst, and Diana Camba. Zhilina’s vocals were particularly impressive, in full display during the wordless vocals originally sung by Clare Torry in The Great Gig in the Sky.
The show came to a close with a rendition of Jackson 5’s I Want You Back performed by Ilana Chemmarikkat Abraham as the 80 strong cast did their bows to a standing ovation.
The show, while my thoughts were mostly positive, at times felt lacking in cohesion - the setlist at times jumped too much from genre to genre, and perhaps Rhapsody 2026 could have been helped with a stronger central theme.
One area that truly shined, however, was the incredible work by the crew, especially by lighting designer Aran Baskar and sound designer Rahul Kumar.
The myriad of Sharpy lights in conjunction with the aforementioned mirrors created a beautiful symphony of light beams; truly a stroke of genius from Baskar’s Bloomsbury Theatre magnum opus.
Kumar and the sound department ought also to be credited; mixing can often be an unsung hero in theatre, with it not being as overtly in-your-face, but given the sheer number of cast and the sizes of some of the bands, it would be an injustice for it to go unmentioned.
Rhapsody 2026 was, overall, an impressive, fun, and energetic night of music. While there were some points of improvement, they were in the grand scheme, superficial. Compliments ought to be in order for cast, crew, and producers.