Milton Keynes singer wins musical theatre competition

Earlier this year 21-year-old Jessica auditioned for the competition and was chosen to go through to the next round performing by former West End stars.

She sang ‘No One Else’ by Natasha Pierre and the ‘Great Comet’ of 1812 to an audience full of friends, family, industry professionals and our panel of judges.

The judges included Jamie Lambert (Britain’s Got Talent winner in Collabro), Sam Mackay (Usnavi in In The Heightsand Game Of Thrones) and Lauren Samuels (Scaramouche in We Will Rock You, Jules in Bend It Like Beckham and one of the Dorothy’s in BBC’s Over The Rainbow).

Only 13 contestants, all aged between eight and 21, performed in the final at The Ambassadors Theatre in the west end.

Jessica took home the senior winner award whilst Jaynie Awcock (15) won the junior award.

As part of her prize, Jessica will be receiving singing lessons from West End vocal coach Nikki Mae, having headshots with west end photographer Alishia Love and got to perform at the West End Big Busk alongside performers such as Oliver Tompsett, Preeya Kalidas, George Maguire and The Barricade Boys.

Jessica said: “After entering the competition last year and seeing all the fantastic talent I had to apply again..

“It’s so inspiring to perform alongside such incredibly talented people and I was delighted to be in the final.

“The exposure to audiences and feedback from the West End judges has been very rewarding and I would recommend this competition to anyone interested in musical theatre as no where else do you get such exposure in such an exciting and supportive environment.”

Judge Dan Buckley added: “Jessica has brilliant comedic timing and demands the space beautifully. She is bold and resilient, showing great use of vocal acrobatics.

“Her voice is stunning and I have no doubt she’ll go on to great things in the future.

“When we were deliberating on the winners, we all said ‘Jessica’ straight away!”