Kerry Ellis – live in concert, the third of the Westway Sessions, a series of Monday night concerts with leading stars of the West End and Broadway at the Vaudeville Theatre.
On Monday 21 April, Kerry Ellis will be looking back at her illustrious career, performing songs and telling stories of her journey to become the Queen of the West End.
Kerry’s West End set list includes some of her favourite songs from her performances and shows, such as Kings and Queens, On The Street Where You Live / I Could Have Danced All Night, Tomorrow, I Dreamed a Dream, a Queen medley, Defying Gravity, a Greatest Showman medley, and The Way We Were. Her concert follows her incredible 20-year journey, which she shared in her recently released a memoir, also named Queen of the West End.
Kerry says: “I am so thrilled to be bringing my newest show, Queen of the West End, into London at the beautiful Vaudeville Theatre, home to six other West End Queens! We had such a great time last year playing at over 40 venues across the UK, and now I can’t wait to be singing and chatting about my life and career with you all. I am so proud of my book, and now I get to actually tell the stories and sing those songs that have shaped my theatre life live on stage.”
Kerry is widely recognised as a leading lady of West End and Broadway musicals, with a number of starring roles in London, New York, and around the world. She has achieved chart-topping success as a recording artist signed to both Decca Records and Sony Music.
Kerry originated the role of Meat, in Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’ and was the first British Elphaba in the worldwide smash, ‘Wicked’, for which she won the 2008 Whatsonstage.com Award for ‘Best Takeover in a Role’. She then headed to Broadway to play Elphaba at the Gershwin Theater, where she won the Broadway.com Audience Award for Favourite Female Breakthrough Performance, before returning to London in the role.
Her other leading West End credits include Grizabella in ‘Cats’, Nancy in ‘Oliver!’, Eliza Doolittle in ‘My Fair Lady’, Ellen in ‘Miss Saigon’, Fantine in ‘Les Misérables’, Sara in ‘Murder Ballad’ and Alice in ‘Wonderland’. In 2022 Kerry played Reno Sweeney in ‘Anything Goes’ at the Barbican to huge acclaim, toured arenas across the UK with Queen Machine and headlined a huge concert in Japan on their biggest TV network.
Kerry continues her long-term working relationship with Brian May. They have toured the UK and Europe extensively. They released their album ‘Golden Days’ to great acclaim and continue to work and record together. She is one of the most sought-after singers in the UK, and also performs her concerts all over the world. She has now released 4 seasons of her highly successful podcast Keep Calm and Kerry On, and recently released her autobiography, ‘From Bumpkin to Broadway’.
Her new album of brand-new material, ‘Kings and Queens’, was released in 2023 to great critical acclaim, and Kerry held a concert to launch the record at London’s Adelphi Theatre. She recently completed a run in her first Shakespeare play, playing Titania in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’.
Kerry has recently performed an extensive 60 date tour of the UK to promote her new book, ‘Queen of the West End’. Following this she played the role of Cruella in the new musical adaptation of ‘101 Dalmatians’. She started 2025 with the starring role in ‘If / Then’ at The Savoy Theatre, before headlining a new solo concert in Shanghai.
Kerry’s performance follows the first Westway Session by Lee Mead in March, then Cassidy Jansen on 7 April, and is followed by Aimie Atkinson on 23 June, with further details to be released.
Photo: Ollie Boito
