Why I Think 'Vision Of You' Deserves To Win The West End Wilma Award for 'Best Cabaret'

This year marks the sixth West End Wilma Awards. West End Wilma are made up of a mother and son duo and is a popular name in London’s West End theatre scene. Their awards celebrate UK theatre and last week a shortlist of nominees for various categories was released to the public; with voting opening on Friday.

One of these categories is ‘Best Cabaret’ and one of the contenders is ‘Vision of You’ by the delightful duo Rob Fowler and Sharon Sexton and, trying to stay completely unbiased, I’m going to talk through a few reasons highlighting why I think ‘Vision of You’ is worthy of this award.

Keeping the Bat Out of Hell Legacy Alive

Bat Out of Hell musical fans were thrilled when they discovered that we wouldn’t have to say a complete goodbye to the beloved show at the beginning of the year when Fowler and Sexton announced they would be doing a string of shows with their ‘Vision of You’ album – which is an ode to their characters from the musical. The cabaret nights acted as a mini show in themselves and told the story of ‘Finding The Falcos’ through carefully selected songs, artwork and voiceovers all put together by an array of talented people. We’re all used to shows closing and the emotions it brings, so having something that acted as a prequel to Bat definitely made the pain of closing easier.

A Rare And Unique Show

It’s not often that we as audiences are blessed enough to have the actors that originated roles in our favourite musical take us on a journey to discover the backstory of their characters. This is exactly what Rob and Sharon’s cabaret show provided to their audience – a glimpse into what they think the backstory for Falco and Sloane would be. Who better than the two that originated the roles to take us on this journey? Fowler and Sexton moulded the characters and worked carefully to tell us their stories through the ‘Vision of You’ shows and it’s so rare to see a cabaret show like this - that it definitely deserves to be awarded for this. The passion and hard work that went into these shows is reflective of how much the show and characters meant to the pair, and it’s safe to say that they told their back stories beautifully.

It Brought People Together

‘Bat Out of Hell’ had such an impact on people in the few years it was playing, and many lifelong friendships were formed. When it ended in January, people naturally had to go back to their lives and whilst the friendships still existed, it became harder for everyone to come together again. ‘Vision of You’ provided a chance for Bat fans from across the world to reunite whilst enjoying a show put on by some of our favourite performers (the show even reunited some members of the cast of ‘Bat Out of Hell’ when various cast members would join Fowler and Sexton on stage for special appearances). It whisked audiences back to Obsidian and provided us with the escape from reality we all so desperately missed from when ‘Bat Out Of Hell’ was on.

One of the main reasons ‘Vision of You’ deserves this award is down to the two people responsible for it. The duo are two of the most humble, genuine and hard-working people I’ve had the privilege of knowing. Their talent and passion leaves audiences erupting into thunderous applause and everyone was left with a full heart and huge smiles after a ‘Vision of You’ show. The cabaret shows not only provided a good night of music and entertainment but it brought people from all walks of life together, formed unbreakable bonds and allowed us all to come together to wave goodbye (for now we hope) to ‘Bat Out Of Hell’ whilst we came together to Find the Falcos…