Hayden Tee is one of those musical theatre performers that you go out of your way to see. His Javert in the recent Australian tour was a tour de force, and watching him perform The Smell of Rebellion in his new cabaret show, I wish to heavens that I’d seen his Miss Trunchbull in London recently.

He gives powerhouse performances of a number of musical theatre numbers in his new cabaret Hayden Tee – Up Close and Personal, but the show – which coincides with the release of his third album Face to Face – is about much more than that. It’s to do with his recent journey of self-discovery, about trying to find out who he really is and being true to that, about wanting to be “my complete self” as he puts it, and publicly acknowledge the things that make him happy.

Hayden Tee. Photograph © Sean Sinclair (Forespoke)

Last seen in Sydney in 2017 in the Australian musical Only Heaven Knows at the Hayes Theatre Co, Tee appears onstage wearing makeup. He is a makeup artist – something he has done professionally for even longer than perform on stage – and...