What was on at the musical con?! Here’s everything you need to know about the hugely successful Musical con 2022, lasting the weekend of 22-23 October at Excel London, with over 10,000 musical theatre fans attending, and tickets completely sold out. One of its kind, and a first in the UK.

Musical Con was produced by Chris Steward and Shanay Holmes for West End Musical Productions, supported by the Society Of London Theatre and sponsored by Official London Theatre and Stagecoach. Attendees enjoyed thrilling performances, exciting meet and greets, photo and signing opportunities and epic cast reunions, interviews, Q & A's, discussion panels and show spotlights, cosplay, fan meets, lip-sync battles and sing-alongs. The list is long! The setup included; Main stage, Backstage theatre, a Theatreland area in the Exhibition hall, and much more!

On the Main Stage, the beating heart of musical con! Spotlights included a number of shows:

  • &Juliet ‘Making A New Musical’ + Miriam Teak Lee, Tom francis
  • Back To The  Future with the writer of the original film and musical + Bob Gale, Roger Bart, Ben Joyce
  • Heathers The Musical with the producer + Paul Taylor Mills
  • Get Up! Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical - the music 
  • Celebrating 50 Years of Cameron  Mackintosh +  cast & creatives from Les Misérables, Hamilton, Phantom Of The Opera and Mary Poppins. 

On the Backstage Theatre, where the more intimate, detailed and deep conversations followed: 

  • Disney puppetry demonstration
  • Talks with Gary Jordan (Zazu from The Lion King) & Mikayla Jade (Sven from Frozen)
  • Talks on Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, bringing the film to life with musical’s theatre and film director + Jonathan Butterell
  • ‘Writing a Hit Musical’ with the writer of SIX the musical + Toby Marlow
  • Costume - ‘Behind The Seams’
  • Choreography - ‘Moving A Musical’,
  • West End’s leading vocal team -  ‘Vocal Health’
  • ‘Destigmatising Mental Health on the West End’
  • ‘Why Representation Matters In All Areas of Theatre’
  • ‘The Alternate and Swing Superstars of the West End’
  • ‘Black Lives Matter West End’  
  • ‘LGBTQIA+ On The West End’

Fans also got sneak peek of following new shows:

  • Cinderella (Hope Mill Theatre) + Grace Mouat
  • SuperYou + Aimie Atkinson
  • Footballers Wives + Alice Fearn 

Special Performances with Q&As:

  • Sondheim and Me + Jenna Russell
  • British musical theatre supergroup SVN
  • Thrilling opening and closing ceremonies presenting Musical Con Ambassadors Alice Fearn, Trevor Dion Nicholas, Aimie Atkinson, Ben Forster, Shanay Holmes and Layton Williams. 
  • Game Show event - ‘Show Off’

Premium activities to immerse into the wonderful world of musical magic:

  • Stage Door Experiences - had exciting autograph & professional photo opportunities + over 20 different stage favourites; Adam Garcia, Hannah Lowther, Cassidy Janson. In addition, 30 workshops & masterclasses were taught exclusively by West End creatives.
  • Fan-orientated content - competitions including; Cosplay, Lip Sync Battle, Star Of Musical Con, (finalists on the main stage!) + Fan Meets for Hamilfans, The Queendom, Corn Nuts, Phans & Rentheads, where fans could join and engage with other fellow fans.

Not only all of the above, Theatreland also featured exhibitors displaying a variety of merchandise, fan art, schools and colleges and more exciting social media opportunities to splash out on.

Whether attending the event or not, everyone can agree that this experience was enthusiastic, joyful, one of its kind and full of musical mayhem. As a sponsor of Musical con, Stagecoach Sidcup students from south east London had the incredible opportunity to perform a dance to ‘...Baby One more time’ from &Juliet the musical! Ella King says, “It was a really amazing and exciting event and I would definitely participate again”. The spirit and number of people attending truly showed how much the event was loved by all.

That Sunday evening, a wholesome crowd within the musical con fandom broke out into songs (including Seasons of Love) on congested train platforms and  spread musical cheer at the custom house DLR station! What a way to end the first ever musical theatre fan convention!