A great Walk In My Own Shoes

by TRE GREAVES tregreaves@nationnews.com

IF THE CAST of Walkin In My Own Shoes set out to bring the house down, they hit the mark.

That was evident by the standing ovations and the rounds of applause that reverberated throughout Frank Collymore Hall on Sunday night.

This year, hundreds of patrons attended the East Point Productions Inc. concert which was co-headlined by singer and vocal coach Kellie Cadogan and Terencia TC Coward.

The event was divided into two acts which were filled with powerful storytelling of struggles and triumphs, great costumes, dancing and above all else great vocal performances.

While TC became a household name for her soca and calypso contributions, she got the opportunity to be shown in a slightly different light during the second act.

During her performance, she was candid about what led her to take vocal lessons with Cadogan at East Point.

She said for some time she struggled vocally and did not want to sing. However, she knew she had to find a way to overcome that challenge.

“This is a story that very few people know. [You] don’t see the little girl who is afraid to sing, who knew she needed to fix a couple of things, but the woman on the other side said ‘Don’t you dare let them see you crumble, don’t let them see you cry’. So I picked up the phone and gave Kellie a call because the best thing that ever happened to me was music and audiences like you,” TC said.

After that explanation, she performed songs such as Gladys Knight & The Pips’ Best Thing, Shirley Bassey’s Never, Never, Never, Roberta Flack’s Killing Me Softly and Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ Die With A Smile.

Her performances of original songs Iron Lady and Paradise truly had the crowd smiling from ear to ear. Some people even rose to their feet to dance along and sing.

The first act was Kellie Cadogans’s time to shine. Her set included inspiring and uplifting songs such as In The Garden, Come Jesus and He Giveth More Grace and The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face which allowed her to showcase her wide range and versatility.

She also performed her original release Walkin’ In My Own Shoes – the inspiration for the concert’s theme.

The original jazz number is about self-discovery and walking in your purpose and that she did.

She owned the stage.

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dynamic performances of hits Iron Lady and Paradise.

(left) and Harmoni Haynes sang Tell Him beautifully.

The stage also belonged to Harmoni Haynes and Shontae Alleyne-Clarke who gave an outstanding performance of Celine Dion’s and Barbra Streisand’s Tell Him which received rousing applause.

While the singers were impressive, the band was critical to the show’s success. Kudos must be given to band leader and bassist Shane Ryan, keyboardist Irvin Belgrave, saxophonist Daniel Harvey, drummer Delano Ifill and guitarist Tristan Haynes, who helped elevate the sound and production of the event.

The East Point cast of performers, which included Sarah Best, Sharon Bourne, Jeliah Boyce, Keelia Clarke, Yohann Haynes, John Hunte, Ashlee Ramsay, Tracy Moses and Katrina Wilshire. Jessica Hunte and Jeliah Boyce, did a fantastic job.

At the end of the night, they were all rewarded for their contributions, as the crowd once again were on their feet as the performers closed the show with a group performance of Praise.