Katherine Jenkins: Daydream
Symphony Hall
*****
MAKING her second visit to Birmingham this
month, Welsh diva Katherine Jenkins hinted at the heartbreak over her
recent split with fiancé and TV presenter Gethin Jones, and the healing
element of her tour.
“This is the happiest I have been in a long time,”
purred the 31-year-old mezzo soprano who thanked her fans for the many
letters of support she had received.
Ms Jenkins proceeded to deliver a superb concert of
classics and songs from the shows, backed by the National Symphony
Orchestra conducted by the dynamic Anthony Inglis, who shared one brief
dance with her.
She even staged an amusing question-and-answer
session early in the second half of the programme. One written note
mentioned a 90-year-old father, with a request for her to sing Time to
Say Goodbye, and an 18-year-old offered to take Katherine out for a
meal….at Greggs, while inquiring about her favourite pasty!
Down to business, she performed some of her favourite
songs from her debut album, Premiere, and the latest album, Daydream,
and sang a moving duet – Tonight, from West Side Story – with American
singer-songwriter Nathan Pacheco.
Later Pacheco earned one of the biggest cheers of the
night for the show-stopper, Nessun Dorma, and the couple sparkled in All
I Ask of You, from Phantom of the Opera.
Ms Jenkins wore a range of stunning full-length
dresses during two performances of the concert, on Sunday and Monday at
the ‘gorgeous Symphony Hall’, one of her favourite venues.
A class act.
Paul Marston
A touch of old-fashioned class
Let’s do it
Anton and Erin
Symphony Hall
****
AS if
Strictly Come Dancing in town, sweeping through the NIA, wasn’t enough,
Symphony Hall is also providing a treat for Birmingham ballroom fans,
with Anton Du Beke and Erin Boag’s Let’s Do it Tour.
Let’s Do It, should be thought of
as the older relative of Strictly. It is wiser, less brash, with more
variety and a dose more class.
The Symphony Hall is the perfect
setting to experience what is effectively an old-school variety show
with Anton and Erin at the heart of it. Whilst the shallow stage
necessitates some effective dance choreography as the dancers attempt
not to find themselves engulfed by the live orchestra, the surroundings
perfectly reflect the nostalgic feel of the night.
With Anton and Erin, singing from
Lance Ellington - himself a singer on Strictly - as well as group dance
routines and instrumentals from the orchestra - it is Anton and Erin who
are undoubtedly the stars of the show.
When freed from his Widdecombe
shaped shackles, Anton proves that he is a worthy partner for the
graceful Erin.
Even off the floor and on the mic,
both are charming and witty - sharing experiences from Strictly and
hosting a second half Q & A which was both endearing and honest (maybe
too honest for the 47 year old female questioner, whom Anton declared
‘must have had a hard life!’)
Let’s Do It may not have the
budget of Strictly but it does match the heart of it and does so with
the glamour of a bygone age. I
If you can’t make Strictly, you
want to pay less for your dancing fix or you’re a fan of Anton and Erin
then this show is highly recommended. Even if none of the above apply,
you would still have a enjoyable night with Anton and Erin.
Theo Clarke
Now for the two-step
****
IT might have seemed like overkill to have
this show running at the same time as the Strictly tour across the canal
in Brum, but having seen both in a 24 hour spell my own doubts were
removed.
For one thing, it is a totally different format in a
much different setting, and the wonderful dancing of Anton Du Beke and
Erin Boag takes some beating.
A large audience enjoyed the Saturday night
performance which included superb music from the London Concert
Orchestra and a range of great songs from Lance Ellington whose
silk-smooth voice was particularly impressive in What Kind of Fool Am I
and Don't Rain on my Parade.
Early on Anton joked that Erin had about 4,000
frocks, a point which she later clarified by stating that the actual
number was 564. She wore a dozen of them in this show, and they were
magnificent.
During the interval the pair invited the audience to
fill in forms for a question-and-answer session during the second half
of the programme, and that proved a real hoot, with the spotlight
picking out one John Green in the choir stalls who wanted to know if his
wife would find him more sexy if he took up ballroom dancing.
Anton replied: "It would do you the world of good",
as the spotlight switched to the amused Mrs Green.
Oh, and Anton can sing as well as dance. Could
he be the successor to Bruce Forsyth?
Paul Marston
Getting in step for a sequined tour
Strictly Come Dancing Live
Birmingham
****
HE was champion of the smash hit BBC TV show
before Christmas, and McFly drummer Harry Judd completed a memorable
double when he and partner Aliona Vilani swept past six other couples to
win the exciting first night of the tour on Friday.
Judges Len Goodman, Craig Revel Horwood and Bruno
Tonioli marked them top dancers before the audience of over 9,000 gave
their deciding vote, and there was no real argument.
At the start of the tour, this was our first
opportunity to see how the spectacular show would transfer from TV
screens to a big arena and enjoy the dancers in the flesh...and there
was plenty of that on show.
It worked well, and if the customers on the back row
needed a close-up of the performers, they were able to glance at two
giant screens either side of the stage on which the band played.
Former Birmingham City striker Robbie Savage, dancing
with Katya Virshilas, was first out and warmed up the audience by asking
how many Blues and Aston Villa fans were present, and at one point in
the show tough-tackling tattooed terror repeated that infamous leap onto
the judges desk, girating in front of 'Queen of Mean' Revel Horwood.
Somehow Savage kept his balance, but no such luck for
the lovely Kristina Rihanoff who took a tumble with her partner, Jason
Donovan.
The real 'fall girl', though, was the controversial
Nancy Dell'Olio who modestly describes herself as Italy's finest export.
Partnered by Artem Chigvintsev, she received the usual 'stick' from the
panel, but there's no doubt she is an entertainer, and near the end of
the show popped up in a white coffin for a glass of champers.
Waterloo road star Chelsee Healey, with partner Pasha
Kovalev, was as cute and popular as ever, finishing runner-up again, and
veteran actress Anita Dobson, with Robin Windsor, won plenty of fans for
her performances on the stunning, beautifully lit set.
The seventh couple were former Olympic swimmer Mark
Foster and Natalie Lowe.
Dancing and costumes were superb, and the usual
knock-about banter between the judges and the contestants - particularly
the formidable Nancy - was a joy.
This three-date show has got off on the right foot
before leaving Birmingham to entertain fans around the country. It
proved that even without the legendary Bruce Forsyth, Strictly Come
Dancing can manage very nicely.
Paul Marston
The Sound of Musicals
Symphony Hall
****
THE ‘flying phantom’ joined four other
superb singers on stage at this concert and amused the audience with a
story about his early days in the West End.
One of the first men to play the title role in Andrew
Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera, James Graeme was guiding the boat
in that dramatic scene in tunnels below the opera house when the craft
suddenly jammed and he somersaulted over the back, losing a shoe then
falling on top of Christine as he clambered back on board.
Graeme immediately had to admit the ‘curse’ had
struck again at the Symphony Hall when he forgot the name of the song as
he was introducing Deborah Myers to sing Love Never Dies, from the
sequel.
A minor hitch in a sparkling evening of entertainment
with music from some of the great Broadway and West End shows and a
rousing finale featuring the medley from We Will Rock You and the
stirring You’ll Never Walk Alone, from Carousel.
Alison Jiear, Tim Howar and Jessie Buckley completed
the quintet of soloists. Buckley, runner-up in BBC’s I’d Do Anything,
has matured considerably since her last appearance in this city and was
outstanding with The Trolley Song, from Meet Me in St Louise and The Man
that Got Away, from A Star is Born.
Conductor David Shrubsole and the London Concert
Orchestra played their part in a memorable concert.
Paul Marston
Last Night of the Christmas
Proms
Symphony Hall
****
IT was flag day at the Symphony Hall on
Tuesday, with a near capacity audience excitedly showing their colours
at this joyful concert.
Hundreds of Union flags were waved after the interval
when the London Concert Orchestra played such classics as The Dam
Busters March, Jerusalem, Rule, Britannia and Pomp and Circumstance
March No 1.
If anyone entered the hall suffering from economic
depression they must have left feeling uplifted after this remarkable
display of pride in Britain . . . past and present.
It was two for one night. Buy a £3 programme and get
two free paper Union flags. Business was brisk, but many people –
including a surprising number of children - had taken their own flags
and even bunting. Vocalists Philip O’Brien (tenor) and Simon Thorpe
(baritone) were draped in red, white and blue for the display of
loyalty.
The pair received terrific ovations when O’Brien sang
Nessun dorma from Turandot and Thorpe delivered a
memorable Largo al factotum from The Barber of Seville,
plus that favourite male duet from The Pearl Fishers.
Right at the start conductor Stephen Bell noticed
that a woman almost opposite him, in the choir stalls, was
enthusiastically going through the motions of conducting the orchestra
with him. Most impressed, he almost invited her down to conduct the rest
of the concert! She took a bow.
Ravel’s Bolero was brilliantly performed, and Land of
Hope and Glory closed the show in great style.
Paul Marston
Christmas Eve Classics
Symphony Hall
****
HAS there ever been an encore quite like
this at the magnificent Symphony Hall? It was provided by the audience
who promptly gave themselves a standing ovation!
Conductor John Pryce-Jones split the customers into a
dozen groups, then drilled each into singing a section of The Twelve
Days of Christmas, leaping to their feet and miming, too, with lines
like Eight Maids a-Milking.
Only a few people slipped away before audience
participation reached a new level and provided a heart-warming end to a
fine concert.
There had been superb contributions from Crispian
Steele-Perkins, a trumpet soloist who has played for some of the world’s
finest singers.and in James Bond film music. His performance with
Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto (final movement) and Stanley’s Trumpet
Voluntary, with clever variations, was memorable.
Tenor Ed Lyon excelled in Panis Angelicus, O Holy
Night and Ave Maria, with strong support from the Birmingham Choral
Union and London Concert Orchestra.
Top marks, too, for the Warwickshire County Girls
Choir and their soloist Eliza Self. The audience also chipped in with
several carols, spread through the programme.
Paul Marston
Christmas Carol Concert
Shelfield Male Voice Choir
Shelfield Methodist Church
***
MUSICAL director Harvey Boucher made his
final appearance at the annual festive concert by the choir he founded
more than 40 years ago.
He is retiring as MD in the new year, but
intends to continue singing in the choir, and his wife, Sheila, is also
leaving her post as accompanist.
Nearly 50 members sang an entertaining range of
Christmas music at two performances and there was an outstanding solo by
one of the younger choristers, Lee Gilkes.
Michael Smith proved an amusing and informative
compere for the choir who have raised thousands of pounds for charity
and six times appeared at the Royal Albert Hall.
A cheque for £2,000 was presented to the Walsall
branch of Parkinsons UK, another £400 to Walsall Samaritans, and next
year’s fund raising will be in aid of the Prostate Cancer Support Group
based at Good Hope Hospital, Sutton Coldfield.
Joe Dyke, secretary of the group, who was diagnosed
with prostate cancer 12 years ago, attended Wednesday night’s concert to
thank the choir for their efforts.
Paul Marston
Alfie Boe
Symphony Hall
****
HOW appropriate that
Alfie Boe should wind up his programme with that emotional number,
Bring Him Home,
from the hit musical Les
Miserables.
He was, after all, back in Birmingham where it could
be said the Lancashire tenor’s career really began 20 years ago with a
place in the D’Oyly Carte company’s chorus for a Gilbert & Sullivan
operetta.
So the casually dressed Alfie had been ‘brought
home’, but this time as a big star with a tremendous following and
regular appearances on TV chat shows.
He really turned on the style with an impressive
programme of songs, some from the great musicals, after stating that the
stage lacked a festive appearance, partly resolved by him nipping off to
collect a Christmas tree.
At one point, when Alfie sang In My Daughter’s
Eyes, a screen at the rear of the stage showed him playing with his
young daughter, and he explained that he hadn’t seen his family for over
two months.
He even invited two seven year old girls, Bethan and
Florence, whom he had met in the Green Room, on stage to join him
in singing The Impossible Dream, from Man of La Mancha.
Alfie provided a touch of panto during the concert by
tossing chocs to the audience.
Now we know what Alfie’s all about!
Paul Marston
Hooray for Hollywood
The John Wilson Orchestra
Symphony Hall
****
THIS superb concert was billed as a
celebration of the Golden Age of the movie musical, and the
near-capacity audience surely went home thinking 'hooray for Hollywood'.
John Wilson and his handpicked orchestra, in a sequel
to their smash hit 2009 Prom on MGM music, were in sparkling form with
classics from the inception of film musicals in the late 1920s to the
1960s. More of not quite the same, is how he described it.
Wilson, who admitted they were performing in their
favourite UK concert hall, has taken tunes from some of the greatest
American films, lovingly polished them, with a few clever tweaks here
and there, and given them the kiss of life.
Four outstanding vocalists - Kim Criswell, Matthew
Ford, Annalene Beechey, and Noah Stewart - were on stage to sing the
likes of 42nd Street, Top Hat, The Man That Got Away, The Way You
Look Tonight and Put On Your Sunday Clothes, to name but a
few.
And tenor Stewart enjoyed one of the biggest
receptions for You Stepped Out of a Dream (Ziegfeld Girl) and
Serenade (The Student Prince).
The orchestra earned a standing ovation, too, for
their thrilling performance with the overture from the 1964 Warner Bros
movie, Gypsy.
How the USA would love John Wilson. But he's ours!
Paul Marston
Best of Bond
CBSO
Symphony Hall
***
SCORES of 007 fans - some of the men
immaculate in tuxedos - helped pack the Symphony Hall to hear the
exciting music that has accompanied master spy James Bond on his
spectacular filmed missions.
Next year is the 50th anniversary of the iconic
movies, so it was appropriate that veteran conductor Carl Davis could
announce that the audience included Michael and Barbara Cartwright, from
Wolverhampton, who were present on their golden wedding day!
As soon as the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
opened with Monty Norman's James Bond Theme you felt a tingle of
expectation and anticipation, but at times in the first half of the
programme the vocalists, Mary Carewe and Lance Ellington, struggled to
be heard above the music.
Between numbers, Davis mentioned the actors who have
played Bond over the years, particularly Sean Connery of course, and
hits like Goldfinger, From Russian With Love, Diamonds Are Forever
and You Only Live Twice were particularly well received, as was
the orchestra's superb performance with John Barry's All Time High,
from Octopussy.
The legendary conductor also took time to thank
corporate guests in the audience, without whom the concerts could be in
peril.
The concert was designed to leave the audience
'shaken and stirred', but it fell a little short of previous Friday
Night Classics.
Paul Marston
A Night with the Phantom
Symphony Hall
****
THIS was a night when the Phantom was
unmasked, and Ramin Karimloo was revealed as a great singer in his own
right.
The Iranian-born star, a former rock band singer in
Canada, thrilled a large audience with a performance simply oozing
talent.
Karimloo, whose voice has such a special quality, has
played the lead in a string of musicals and was the masked villain in
the 25th anniversary presentation of The Phantom of the Opera at the
Royal Albert Hall.
More casually dressed in suit, open-neck shirt and
black scarf, he was given a rousing Symphony Hall welcome when he first
appeared on stage, and several standing ovations as the concert
progressed....especially for Bring Him Home, from Les Miserables, and,
when the customers demanded more, Music of the Night, from Phantom, as
an encore.
Karimloo also impressed with hits from other
musicals, including Some Enchanted Evening, from South Pacific, and If
Ever I Would Leave You (Camelot).
Supporting the main man superbly was the lovely Celia
Graham, who played Christine opposite him in the Phantom, and she earned
a standing ovation for Love Never Dies, from the show of the same name.
Sixteen year-old Olivia Jade Archbold, who wowed 'em
on Britain's Got Talent, made a confident appearance, along with the
Capital Voices, and the Manchester Concert Orchestra, enthusiastically
conducted by David Shrubsole, helped make it a great night.
Paul Marston
Classics at the Movies
CBSO
Symphony Hall
****
THE latest Friday Night Classics featuring
the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra focused on music for the
movies and had something to live up to when the programme boasted "It's
even better without the pictures".
Not a silver screen in sight, but the superb
musicians, impressively conducted by Michael Seal, certainly made up for
that with the quality of their performance in a range of classical tunes
that have played their part in such memorable films as 2001: a space
odyssey, Death in Venice and the controversial A Clockwork
Orange.
But if the audience were looking for some visual
entertainment, too, it surely came with brilliant pianist Ben Dawson
playing - either side of the interval - Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue
(Manhattan and Gremlins 2: The New Batch) and Rachmaninov's Piano
Concerto No 2 (second movement), used in the black and white movie,
Brief Encounter.
Watching his hands dancing across the keyboard was
enthralling, and you could also build a picture in your mind of American
helicopter gunships swooping over fields in Vietnam when the orchestra
played Wagner's powerful The Ride of the Valkyries (Apocalypse
Now).
Birmingham-born radio personality Simon Bates added
to the enjoyment with his knowledgeable and laid-back introduction of
the various pieces.
Paul Marston
One Enchanted Evening
***
THIS talented amateur company have never
lacked drive, and they move up a gear in one of the key numbers at their
40th anniversary concert.
During the selection of songs from Chitty Chitty Bang
Bang, they produce a near life-sized model of the famous flying car
which members had made using a range of materials, including recycled
mirror plastic, wood, coffee jar lids and even deodorant sticks!
The car is cleverly assembled on stage as Paul
Bailey, Kathryn James and others from the chorus sing the title song,
fixing the last wheel bang on the final note.
Various numbers from eight musicals are used in the
show which opens with Kate Rock and the company - many wearing animal
headgear - singing Circle of Life from The Lion King, and it closes with
sparkling contributions from Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, featuring
Chris Allen, David Anderson, Sarah Haines, Lizzie Civil and Richard
Haines.
Katie Shuck excels in 'Sister Act', while Karen
Cockitt and Pete Smith impress with Wouldn't it be Loverly and I've
Grown Accustomed to Her Face, from My Fair Lady.
At times, however, the music from the on-stage band is rather too loud, particularly in the first act of an otherwise fine show. To 29.10.11.
Paul Marston
Friday Night Classics
Pink Martini
Symphony Hall
*****
THIS was an intoxicating concert featuring
the remarkable 12-piece American band, Pink Martini, supported by the
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and performing music from around
the globe.
The group have sold over a million albums in the
States and 150,000 in the UK, and it's easy to see why. They are unique,
talented, clearly love what they are doing, and quickly develop a
special relationship with their audience.
Brilliant lead singer Storm Large, for instance, had
to learn ten languages to cope with classical, jazz and pop tunes
plucked from all over the world, and at one point she invited three
young Turkish ladies from hall - including Ekin Kaptan, who is studying
at the Birmingham Conservatoire - to join her onstage and sing the
traditional Turkish song, Uskudara Giderken.
Founder and excpetional pianist Thomas Lauderdale -
is he America's answer to Elton John - was working in politics and
launched the 'little orchestra' in 1994 because he was dismayed by the
lacklustre tunes at fundraising events.
Now on a UK Symphonique Tour, they earned a standing
ovation and cheers from the delighted Symphony Hall audience....six of
whom went on stage for the finale to sing Brasil, one young lad called
Crispin even playing the conga drums!
There were wonderful individual contributions, too,
from Gavin Bondy (trumpet), Timothy Nishimoto (vocals and percussion),
Nicholas Crosa (violin) and Jeffrey Budin (trombone), but Storm Large
(sporting a shoulder-to-shoulder tattoo on her back) was the undoubted
star of a great concert.
Paul Marston
The Bobby Dazzlers
Prince of Wales Theatre, Cannock
***
BAGS of Black Country humour shone through in
this lively variety show which had the audience calling for more.
Wednesbury's Chris King led the way with a
string of gags but also proved he has a fine singing voice in solos and
duets featuring Michael Johns.
The pair gave some amusing Elvis impressions and
eventually closed the programme with several Frank Sinatra Classics,
peaking with My Way and New York, New York, when they were joined by
Rugeley's Viva Girls dancing group.
Soprano Nicky Moran, from Cannock - billed as
the girl with the voice of an angel - sparkled with her version of
Nessun Dorma before being joined by her husband, Cliff Thomas, in a
special tribute to The Carpenters.
From Tipton, Black Country wordsmith Dave Bartley delivered a range of amusing tales to rhyme, and Cannock's Ricko and Amies provided a clever magic act.
Paul Marston
West End Story
The Old Joint
Stock Musical Group
Old Joint Stock
***
BIRMINGHAM’S latest musical theatre group took to the boards for the
first time with a more than competent two hour concert of show tunes.
Musical Director
Karl Steele brought together some well known names from West Midlands’
amateur companies, along with a bit of professional experience, for the
launch of what is hoped will become a community-based,
fund-raising group.
Theatre manager Ian Craddock wants
to attract newcomers to musical theatre as well as established
performers and eventually to stage full-blown small-cast musicals with
proceeds going to charity – in the case of this concert, Birmingham
Childrens’ Hospital.
Pick of the singers was Karen
Cockitt who showed some nice comic touches in The Girl in 14g , a
song written for Kristin Chenoweth, and real quality with When I look
At You from The Scarlet Pimpernel and In His Eyes from Jekyll
& Hyde, a duet with the equally impressive Kate Rock.
Kate had the dubious honour of
being the first voice to be heard from a new company but any butterflies
were quickly sent packing with a powerful version of Stars and the
Moon from Jason Robert Brown’s Songs for A New World.
Brown is a much under-rated
songwriter, hardly known in this country who deserves a wider audience.
Kate and Karen also produced
another highlight of the show with the duet In His Eyes from
Jekyll & Hyde, and, with the excellent Helen Norgrove, in I Wish I
May, from The Witches of Eastwick.
Most of the duets worked well such
as Movie in My Mind from Miss Saigon with Kate and Helen.
Helen was also involved in How
Deep is Your Love the Bee Gees 70s disco track, with Richard
Haines, the one duet that really didn’t work
or fit in.
Both redeemed themselves though in
other songs with Haines showing not only a good voice but a nice sense
of comedy.
Roger Shepherd was another of the
cast with professional experience and gave a good rendition of the big
band number Ain’t That a Kick in the Head, and a powerful
I am What I am from La Cage Aux Folles.
Steele himself is an assured
performer showing humour in Mister Cellophane from Chcago and
power in Martin Guerre from the show of the some name. His duet
Sun and Moon from Miss Saigon with Kate was a memorable version.
There were also contributions from
Hannah Fennel and Kate Mulvey and the line-up of 11 included a few
newcomers such as Anthony Morgan Granner and
14-year-old Evie Georgeson in what was an enjoyable two hour show.
Anyone interested in getting
involved should contact the Old Joint Stock on
oldjointstock@fullers.co.uk
Roger Clarke
Puttin' on the Ritz
CBSO
Symphony Hall
****
A NEAR-capacity audience were taken back to
the golden age of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in the latest Friday
Night Classics concert put together by master conductor John Wilson.
One of the soloists, Kim Criswell, beamed from the
stage at the scene before her and said: "What a great turnout! You are
very lucky to have this glorious hall."
Still in his mid 30s, Wilson is best know for
concerts with his own, hand-picked orchestra, but he must have been
delighted with the way the magnificent City of Birmingham Symphony
Orchestra responded to his baton and spectacular arrangements.
It was breathtaking at times, from the opening
number, Flying Down to Rio - Astaire's first on-screen pairing with
Rogers - on to They Can't Take That Away From Me which was used in their
last film together, and there was a fitting encore at the end with
That's Entertainment.
Criswell's distinctive voice sliced through the
Symphony Hall like a laser beam, and she had the perfect partner in Gary
Williams (Mr Smooth). The pair performed some outstanding solos and
duets like A Fine Romance and Steppin' Out With My Baby, the latter
featuring a stunning performance by the orchestra.
Paul Marston
Michael Ball's Heroes Tour
Symphony Hall
*****
BACK in action after cancelling a Nottingham
concert through illness on Wednesday night, Michael Ball delighted his
adoring fans with two stunning performances at a packed Symphony
Hall. What a hero!
The Bromsgrove-born star was off stage for only about
ten minutes in a breathtaking show which over-ran by a quarter of an
hour on Friday, giving the audience an extra bonus, and he was in
cracking form throughout.
In addition to his wonderful voice, which has made
him Britain's leading musical theatre performer, Ball displayed bags of
energy and charm, particularly near the end of the concert when many of
his excited female fans left their seats to gather front of stage.
He touched outstretched hands and even dropped to his
knees to plant a kiss on a thrilled young lady as he sang the Elvis hit,
Falling in Love with You.
Having mentioned his delight at being back in
Birmingham, his favourite city, Ball explained that the concert was
designed as a tribute to some of the great artists who had inspired him
to become part of the music business, and the string of hits began with
Long John Baldry's Let the Heartbreak Begin before gliding
through such super stars as Neil Diamond, Barry Manilow and our own Tom
Jones.
He even picked out one city for hero status - New
York, and sang appropriate songs.
Good as Ball was, it was never a one-man show. He had
five superb backing singers - stars of the future, he insisted - plus a
magnificent 12-piece band, directed by Callum McLeod, and he was only
too pleased to offer them fullsome praise.
Inevitably he included numbers from Les Miserables
and, after being handed a bag of chocs, sang his own special, Love
Changes Everything.
Ball has appeared as the loveable Edna Turnblad in
Hairsprary, and he mentioned that his next role would be the vastly
different Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street at Chichester's
Festival Theatre in September, and from that musical he sang
Nothing's Going to Hurt You.
Michael, you were on the ball.
Paul Marston
A Night at the Oscars
CBSO
Symphony Hall
*****
VETERAN conductor Carl Davis has been a
prolific writer of music for films in his long career, so he was the
perfect man with the baton at this superb concert.
As the official programme pointed out, no movie is
complete without a memorable soundtrack, and the maestro used all his
skill in taking the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra through a
range of classics from the silver screen.
There were love tunes and scary tunes, soothing tunes
and others, like Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darlin', to remind you
of such black-and-white greats as the wonderful old Western, High
Noon, featuring Gary Cooper.
You felt a chill in the air, for instance, when the
orchestra played John Williams' shark theme from Jaws, and was
that a look of terror on Davis's face when he briefly glanced over his
shoulder at the audience. Great stuff.
There was an added bonus, too, with the charismatic
performance of vocalist Lance Ellington, son of legendary band leader
Ray Ellington. From Breakfast at Tiffany's, he sang Moon River
beautifully, and brought a spectacular show to a fitting end with an
encore, Come Fly With Me, a song written by Jimmy Van Heusen and
Sammy Cahn for Frank Sinatra.
Once again the musicians of the CBSO were
outstanding, particularly in Lara's Theme, from Dr Zhivago,
and Burt Bacharach's Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head from
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
A truly magical Friday Night Classics concert,
enjoyed by a large and enthusiastic audience.
Paul Marston
Shelfield Male Voice Choir
Walsall Town Hall
***
CHOIR officials faced an unexpected problem
before this annual concert when guest artists The Staffordshire Men had
to pull out after two of their members were involved in accidents.
But at short notice local group Chase Mist agreed to
step in, and the five musicians delighted the audience with an extremely
entertaining range of songs that have earned them a big reputation on
the folk club scene since their formation in Burntwood.
The choir, which raises a considerable amount of
money for charity, once again performed at high level with tunes like
The Power of Love, made famous by Jennifer Rush, Serenade, from The Fair
Maid of Perth, Sweet Lass of Richmond Hill, The Rhythm of Life, and the
traditional spiritual, Jacob's Ladder.
Last October Shelfield MVC performed at a major
concert in the Royal Albert Hall, and although seriously ill, Ken Joseph
completed an ambition by taking part. He died two weeks ago, and in
tribute to him, the choir inserted in the programme his favourite song,
the Welsh hymn Nazareth.
Harvey Boucher was musical director, his wife Sheila
the accompanist, and there were important contributions from Alan Taylor
on the town hall organ, while Mike Smith proved an informative compere.
Paul Marston
Friday Night Classics
CBSO
Symphony Hall
****
MANY people in the packed Symphony Hall
audience had spent the day watching the royal wedding of Prince William
and Kate Middleton on television, but you can't get enough of a good
thing.
So, having paid tribute to the happy couple,
gifted conductor Stuart Stratford led the superb City of Birmingham
Symphony Orchestra into the overture from Mozart's The Marriage of
Figaro. It was an inspired choice.
The latest of the hugely successful Friday
Night Classics concerts featured A Night at the Opera and a programme
bursting with opera-house favourites...love, flirtatious ladies, and
'gentlemen' with one too many conquests.
Three world class soloists - Portuguese soprano
Susana Gasper, Korean tenor Ji Hyun Kim and British baritone Daniel
Grice - turned on the style with some of those much loved arias, and the
orchestra impressed with the Trumphal March from Verdi's Aida.
Gaspar, who replaced Ana James at short notice,
excelled in Dvorak's Rusalka - Song to the Moon, while Kim and Grice
thrilled the audience with the beautiful duet, Au Fond du Temple Saint,
from Bizet's The Pearl Fishers.
Then all three brought a stunning concert to a
happy ending with the Brindisi from Verdi's La Traviata.
Conductor Stratford, full of humour and
information, handed his end-of-show flowers to one of the female
musicians in the orchestra. Well, it was a special day for the ladies.
One in the audience was 90.
Paul Marston
A window on a wonderful new world
Stravinsky’s Rite
of Spring, 3D performance
CBSO, Symphony
Hall
*****
ANY
visit to a theatre or concert is an experience but this is a theatrical
experience that really means it. I defy anyone to leave at the end
unscathed. Once in your mind you will never
forget
it.
Most of us have
seen 3D before
at the theatre. It is popular these
days at pantomimes and we all know what to expect.
People ducking and kids laughing
and screaming as spiders, snakes, ghouls, and things that go bump in the
night fly from the screen and stop at the end of your nose. All good
clean fun.
This takes 3D into whole new
realms though, way beyond the fun and novelty stages. This 3D is a thing
of art and beauty, of disturbing images, of despair and darkness, light
and hope.
It is astounding, fascinating,
enthralling, stunning stuff - a new art form has been discovered.
Classical music and ballet meets virtual reality.
The imagery is set to Stravinsky’s
ballet The Rite of Spring. The piece has the distinction of being
at the centre of a riot at its premiere in Paris in 1913 with the
Ballets Russes choreographed by the legendary Vaslav Nijinsky.
The music is full of raw power and
primitive rhythms but despite its position in the Premiership of
classical music in this piece it becomes merely background music –
felt rather then heard - the modern version of
the pianist in the silent movie fleapit
providing explanatory accompaniment to guide
the emotions seen on screen.
And what a screen, filling much of
the back wall of Symphony Hall, with
Her actual performance, in
the flesh, is one to be noticed rather than
watched on her tiny stage in the corner, her real performance is on
screen captured by nine stereoscopic cameras, which reproduce the
binocular view of the human eye.
Here we see her surrounded first by strange symbols she has created in her box, terror, escape, flight all pass through the mind until wewe see her reach out to us, literally, with a hand inches from our face; we see her explode, become a million stars and, disturbingly, become strange creatures with two feet or two hands.
Nothing
unusual about that you might say - except one foot
or hand
is where
the head should be in the world outside computers.
Her apparently limited movement,
for the benefit of the cameras, perhaps masks the great skill and
precision required of her to create the virtual world she lives in on
screen.
The electronic wizardry behind the
project comes from Austrian media artist and musician Klaus Obermaier
and the Ars Electronica Futurelab. Apart from the cameras which create
real time computer generated effects from a single dancer the team also
use eight instruments miked up and linked to the computers to add a link
in terms of musical timing and rhythms to synchronise screen and sound.
Pulling it all together musically
is Israeli conductor Ilan Volkov with the City of Birmingham Symphony
Orchestra in sparkling form.
The work premiered in 2007 and
cost and complexity of staging it limits performances. Once seen though
it is an experience you will never forget.
The next performance, again with
the CBSO, is tomorrow (23-04-11) at the South Bank Centre in London.
Also in the programme were Edgard
Varèse Tuning Up and György Ligeti’s Lontano. 21-04-11.
Roger Clarke
A masterclass high in emotion
Chris de Burgh
Symphony Hall
*****
TO some, three
hours of Chris de Burgh would be classed as cruel and unusual
punishment.
They also have another thing in common – they have
all been around for years, 36 years since 62 year-old de Burgh’s first
CD, but they can still pack them in to arenas and concert halls and they
all put on superb live shows. None of your starting half an hour late
and self indulgent music selections here – it’s give the people what
they want and de Burgh did just that for a shade short of three hours
On a set that looked like a cross between Treasure
Island and Star Wars he mixed songs from his new CD, Moonfleet and
other Stories such as Have a care and the ballad My
Heart’s Surrender with blasts from the past.
Moonfleet is about pirates and Blackbeard’s gold in
the 17th century, hence the bits of galleon with drummer Tony
Kiley sitting atop one and keyboard player Nigel Hopkins on the other.
Bass player Dave Levy and lead guitar Al Vosper just
had to make do with the stage. Added to the set was some brilliant
lighting, which gave us everything from rings of light sweeping the
audience to geometric shapes and even rigging on a ship along with two
giant video screens. Always interesting rather than distracting.
The concert opened with Have a Care and ended,
28 songs later with Go Where Your Heart Believes.
In between we had old favourites such as Missing
You, Ship to Shore, A Spaceman Came Travelling, Spanish Train and,
of course, Lady in Red.
For that de Burgh appeared at the back of the
hall and slowly made his way back to the stage embracing and dancing
with ladies in the audience – never have I seen so many women wearing
red in one place before by the way – eveb stopping for photographs with
his arm around fans. This boy really knows how to work a crowd. He was
back out among the fans as well for his final number.
It is a trait of Michael Bolton concerts except he is
surrounded by no-nonsense, built like brick wall, security men. De burgh
did the job alone with a single security man yards away keeping an eye
on things.
Perhaps the most moving and best applauded items
though were de Burgh’s songs about freedom and war such as Borderline,
a song he sang at a concert in Berlin in 1989 just after the wall came
down, the bitter Leader Trilogy, the sad Road to Freedom
and People of the World, a song of hope written in memory
of Neda Agha-Soltan, the 26-year old musician and innocent bystander
shot dead in the 2009 Iranian election protests in Tehran.
The song drew a shout of “I love You” in Persian from
an Iranian in the audience. In 1979 de Burgh was the first Western pop
star allowed to appear in Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution –
whether he would be welcome now, at least by the authorities there, is
open to question. Freedom and anti-war sentiments are a recurring theme
through his work and show him as a much finer songwriter and musician
than is required for pop songs.
He ended with a long finale with the audience on it’s
feet throughout songs such as Don’t Pay the Ferryman, Lake Geneva
and High on Emotion. There is a reason artists are
still going after 36 years - and this was a masterclass in how to put on
a concert.
Roger Clarke
Friday Night
Classics - CBSO
The Music Of
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Symphony Hall
*****
THE magic of Andrew Lloyd
Webber was there for all to hear in this brilliant concert with the City
of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra delivering the masestro's music at its
best.
It seems incredible that one man -
arguably the finest composer of our time - could create so many hit
musicals that are still thrilling thousands of people around the globe,
and a sell-out audience loved every moment of the latest Friday night
spectacular.
So this was a banquet from the
Lord of the songs and a special occasion for conductor Nick Davies who
introduced "wall-to-wall Webber" by pointing out that it was his
first visit to the Symphony Hall and first time with the 'wonderful
CBSO'.
Well, they performed splendidly
together, and the four vocalists - Jacqui Scott, Robyn North, Tim Rogers
and David Shannon - were simply superb too.
The programme listed hits from 11
of Lloyd Webber's shows, and when the audience demanded more at the end,
the fab four sang Love Changes Everything, from a 12th musical, Aspects
of Love.
The orchestra opened with The
Jellicle Ball, from Cats, before the singers joined the action with A
Pharaoh Story and Any Dream Will Do, from Joseph and the Amazing
Technicolor Dreamcoat, and the pace never dipped.
The second half of the concert was
even better, Robyn North excelling with Love Never Dies from the sequel
to Phantom, and four numbers from the latter brought the concert to a
classical close after even more show-stoppers.
Oh, and yes. The two female
soloists caught the eye with a range of stunning posh frocks!
Paul Marston
An Evening of
Chamber Music
Forest Arts Centre
Walsall
WALSALL'S got talent! And
this concert offered plenty of proof that young people are prepared to
work hard to achieve their aims in the field of music.
Twenty violin students, aged
between eight and 18, came together for the first time in a public
concert and impressed a large audience with their developing skills.
Pupils of music teacher Ali Milnes,
they played a range of pieces from such composers as Bach, Mozart,
Dvorak and Brahms, as well as the more modern John Williams and
Piazzaola.
Miss Milnes herself joined Ella
Cormack for Concerto in D minor for two violins, and the junior ensemble
from Cooper & Jordan Primary School, Aldridge, played Autumn & Spring
(Vivaldi) then a selection from Harry Potter.
A senior ensemble performed well
with Songs My Mother Taught Me (Dvorak), one of the younger children,
Lottie Robinson, sparkled in Valse Lente (Bohm), Lucy Earl had the feet
tapping with Benjamin Calypso (Joseph) and Ella Cormack delighted the
audience with Theme from Schindler's List before all the youngsters
joined together in Mamma Mia to close the show.
The accompanist was John Gough.
Paul
Marston
Last Night of the
Spring Proms
Symphony Hall
****
DO we love our country? Oh
yes we do, judging by the reaction of a packed Symphony Hall bristling
with hundreds of Union flags as the London Concert Orchestra played Land
of Hope and Glory to close the show.
Even Portuguese soprano Susana
Gaspar wrapped herself in a giant Union Jack as she and tenor Jonathan
Stoughton led the singing which followed the emotional Dambusters March,
Jerusalem and Rule Britannia.
This Saturday night concert was a
cracker, with great credit due to Jae Alexander, a brilliant musician
who proved much more than a charismatic conductor. He was the two
Ronnies rolled into one, leaping from his rostrum to perform an
impromptu Morris dance and then to kiss a woman in the front row,
teasing the audience....and praising the Symphony Hall, 'particularly
now it has a canal'.
There was a serious side to the
evening, too, with violinist Ruth Palmer playing Messenet's Meditation
from Thais and Monti's Czardas superbly, and Stoughton and Gaspar
singing the duet O Soave Fanciulla from Puccini's La Boheme.
Action Man Alexander took just one
break, when he left the stage while the string section played
Pachelbel's Canon in D Major.
What a night!
Paul Marston
The Meeting of Ways
Lichfield Methodist Church
***
BASED on the life of St Chad, this thoughtful
new play by Lichfield author David Titley attracted large audiences to
three performances.
A joint collaboration between Lichfield Mysteries
and Lichfield Methodist Church, it contains action from the time when
the 7th century monk settled in the district 1,342 years ago and without
whom, it is said, there would have been no cathedral in what is now
a city.
Told that he was being sent to Lichfield, Brother
Chad commented:
"I've never heard of it", to which Archbishop
Theodore (John Phillips)
replied: "No-one has".
While delving into the past from time to time, the
play also came up to date with Doctors Ace Donnolly (Dickie
Bannister-Lowe), Diane Newton (Fiona Willimott) and Pete Brown (Stefan
Dufaye) carbon dating bones believed to be the saint's, and there was a
bit of un-saintly language in their exchanges!
That also provided an opportunity for a modern-day
spot of drama, with a Lichfield woman, Grace Bowers (Annette Phillips)
tracing Dr Newton as the daughter she gave birth to after being raped
and was forced to release to adoption.
Stuart Goodwin gave a strong performance as Brother
Chad whose bones now rest in a shrine at St Chad's Roman Catholic
Cathedral in Birmingham.
An excellent contribution, too, from Alan Bateman
(King Oswy) in a play which deals with sacrifice and ends in joyful
reconciliation.
Paul Marston
The Pirates
of Penzance
Symphony Hall
*****
A BUNCH of cut throat
pirates, with a soft centre, took over the Symphony Hall on Sunday and
captivated a large audience in a concert version of this Gilbert &
Sullivan classic.
Their shortcoming? They never
fight a weaker foe or rob other sailors who are, or claim to be,
orphans! They do, however, love their Queen, though even that good point
hastens their downfall.
Famous master of mimicry Alistair
McGowan is a keen environist and has never owned a car, but at the helm
of this 'ship' as the Pirate King he steers his crew of Savoyards and
members of the London Concert Chorus to a humorous triumph.
McGowan may not have the best
singing voice on the circuit but he gives his all in the role, ably
supported by a splendid cast.
It was a bonus that the key
performers donned some aspects of pirate uniform....bandanas and
cutlasses, or swords, and even Bruce Graham, the Sergeant of Police,
sported a cop's badge and waved a truncheon.
David Curry (Frederic) and Rebecca
Botonne (Mabel) sang beautifully in the lead roles, Simon Butteriss
cleverly performed I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General at
machine-gun speed, and Alison Jiear proved an amusing Ruth.
Presented by Raymond Gubbay, the
concert also featured the London Concert Orchestra conducted by Richard
Balcombe and illustrated what quality British humour is all about.
Paul Marston
Elaine Paige in Concert
Symphony Hall
***
WHEN
Elaine Paige returned to the stage for the inevitable encore, it was
entirely appropriate that she chose Memory from the long-running
musical, Cats.
The little lady with the big voice
has gathered many memories in a star-studded career stretching back
decades, and she is still in good shape at the age of 63 - though she
admitted, with a smile, after popping up and down a flight of stairs on
stage, it was easier in her 20s.
Singing with an impressive
eight-piece band, Elaine began strongly with Don't Cry for Me Argentina,
from Evita, in which she was joined by one of her support singers, John
Robbins, a young man with a voice so clear you could hear every word.
Although the pace dipped slightly
- and at one point she mentioned a problem with the sound equipment -
some members of the audience were on their feet cheering before the
interval when she sang We Never Said Goodbye, from Sunset Boulevard.
Elaine mentioned her NBF (new best
friend) in the States, Barry Manilow, before moving into a spot of jazz,
then she sang I'm Still Here, a sure hit from the new production of
Stephen Sondheim's Follies in which she will play Carlotta Campion at
the Washington Kennedy Centre later this year when her UK tour closes.
That's the next big move in her
long and successful career. Fittingly one of her best numbers in this
concert was I Know Him So Well, from Chess. Ms Paige certainly is still
here.
Paul Marston
Friday Night Classics
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Symphony Hall
****
THE John Lennon Songbook was the choice for
the CBSO's latest Friday night spectacular, and, conducted by master
musician John Wilson, they delivered a fine tribute to the famous
Beatle.
It helped having a Lennon lookalike and soundalike in
Mark McGann playing such a key role in the concert. He acted as narrator
but also sang solos and duets with the other vocalists, Curtis Stigers
and Claire Martin.
After a fairly low-key opening, the programme soon
went through the gears until it arrived at the interval with the trio
joining together in All You Need is Love. That had the pulses racing,
and the orchestra played the final notes as they walked from the
stage...last man to go playing a tiny triangle.
McGann frequently addressed the near-capacity
audience as if he was Lennon, mentioning important events in the
Beatles' story, and on to the great love affair with Yoko Ono.
Stigers, an accomplished jazz singer, also
demonstrated his skill on saxophone, while Martin's performance
reflected why she has been described as England's most impressive female
jazz artist.
The concert, which moved from the swinging 60s
Beatle-mania to the heights of Lennon's solo career, closed with sharp
taps on a drum to indicate his assassination, then McGann, Martin and
Stigers sang the emotional classic, Imagine. The encore demanded by the
audience came with a repeat of All You Need is Love. What a finish!
Paul Marston
Anton
& Erin - Puttin' on the Ritz
Symphony Hall
****
WITH no
Strictly-style judges present to put the boot in, this was an
undisturbed evening of grace and glamour starring Anton Du Beke and Erin
Boag who have been dancing partners for fourteen-and-a-half years.
Effortlessly the perfect pair
glided through a string of beautifully choreographed dances to the music
of such legends as Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Irving Berlin and
Richard Rodgers.
During the interval people in the
capacity audience were invited to write questions which Anton and Erin
later answered with a fair degree of humour, and one man asked -
tongue-in-cheek - if he could have one of Erin's stunning dresses for
his daughter's wedding.
No doubt to his amazement, she
replied: "Which one? How about the white Viennese waltz dress? It's
yours."
Erin seemed to appear in a
different dress for every dance, but the tiny mini skirt she donned for
Me and My Baby raised a few eyebrows...and temperatures!
Inevitably Anton - fresh from his
stint as tugboat to Ann Widdecombe's Titanic on Strictly Come Dancing -
danced superbly and even sang a duet with the impressive Lance
Ellington. But if he wants to be the next Bruce Forsyth he needs to
avoid the tendency to mumble into his mic when addressing the customers.
Four other dancers - Francine
Cornell, Lisa Dent, Ben Campbell and Tom Goodall - took part, Richard
Balcombe conducted the excellent London Concert Orchestra, and the show
was directed and choreographed by Alan Harding.
Paul Marston
A gradely night fer cloggin', son
An Evening Of Music & Dance
Birmingham Royal Ballet & Sinfonia
Symphony Hall
****
THIS is a chance for a few party pieces from
Birmingham Royal Ballet but perhaps more importantly, a chance to let
their excellent Sinfonia out from the cave under the Hippodrome stage
into the light.
For most of the time the Sinfonia is little more
than a soft glow beneath the footlights with the occasional illuminated
baton seen flashing above the heads of the front row.
So after the troglodyte existence imposed by the
orchestra pit it must be quite a novelty to actually appear on stage in
the light and prove what a fine orchestra they are.
The programme gave us alternating orchestral and
ballet pieces opening with Dance for the Followers of Leo from
Constant Lambert’s Horoscope, a ballet lost in the frantic
build-up of the Second World War.
That was followed by the Clog Dance and Lily of
Laguna from Hobson’s Choice (apparently the world’s first
singalong ballet – and why not?) with the brilliant Robert Parker and,
on her debut in the role, Gaylene Cummerfield.
The full BRB ballet based on Harold Brighouse’s 1916
play, with music by Paul Reade and choreography by BRB director David
Bintley, is off to Hong Kong later this month for the Hong Kong Arts
Festival.
David Bintley, by the way, took over as compere for
the evening, a role which in the past has gone to Alan Titchmarsh. Sorry
to say Alan, you were not missed one little bit.
Bintley was informative, authoritative, above all
friendly and with an immediate rapport with the audience and he was
genuinely funny with some insights only those who had been there could
relate.
As for the clog dance? Clog dancing is making a
comeback it seems although growing up, as I did, among the mills of
Lancashire, it never seems to have gone away and I remember professional
clog dancers and competitions at the annual wakes and fairs in my youth.
For those yet to sample its delight clog dancing is a
sort of industrial tap dancing and in the hands, or rather feet, of
Parker, and later, Rory Mackay, along with Arancha Baselga, Laëtitia Lo
Sardo, Angela Paul and Andrea Tredinnick in an excerpt from La Fille
mal Gardée, it is raised once again to an art form. La Fille al
gardée, by the way, opens at Birmingham Hippodrome on March 2 and
runs until March 5, by the way.
Clogs, incidentally, were common footwear in
Lancashire and universally worn in cotton mills where they normally had
wooden soles shod with clog irons (a bit like horse shoes) and were
remarkably comfortable to wear.
Wood was used for the soles as floors were kept damp
in spinning mills to keep humidity high so leather would not have
lasted.
A delight for youngsters and apprentices was to slide
along pavements and cobbled streets in iron shod clogs in a shower of
sparks. Just a thought Mr Bintley . . .
The programme also included Irmelin Prelude
by Frederick Delius, the Spitfire Prelude and Fugue by William
Walton, Sound and Vision March by Eric Coates, The Swan of
Tuonela by Jean Sibelius and Marche Slave by Tchaikovsky.
Dances included the Rubies pas de deux from
Carl Davis’s Aladdin, danced by Tyrone Singleton and Ambra Vallo,
the pas de deux from Felix Mendelssohn’s The Dream danced by Chi
Cao and Natasha Oughtred and the pas de deux from Leon Minkus’ Don
Quixote with Nao Sakuma and Cesar Morales.
Finally, back to the future, so to speak, 24 pupils
from Elmhurst School of Dance delighted with Jardin de la danse
from Malcolm Arnold’s English dances.
Among them could be some of the dance stars of
tomorrow and their performance did not disappoint.
These evenings may serve as an introduction to
ballet, or show a mix of classical music and dance, but whatever their
purpose they provide a thoroughly entertaining and relaxing evening.
Roger Clarke
For anyone interested in
having a go you can by dance clogs (I kid ye not) from firms such as
Walkley’s among others
http://www.clogs.co.uk/cat_danceclog.htm
Meanwhile pars de deux
****
ANY newcomers to ballet might have been
surprised on Friday night to see that the programme
included two performances of clog dancing!
But what a treat they were, starting with Robert
Parker and debutant Gaylene Cummerfield performing a very humorous and
skilful piece from Hobson's Choice, to Lily of Laguna, which had a
contented audience humming along.
Later came the clog dance from La Fille mal gardee,
featuring Rory Mackay, Arancha Baselga, Laetitia Lo Sardo, Angela Paul
and Andrea Tredinnick, which was a clattering delight.
Later this month the BRB will be performing Hobson's
Choice in Hong Kong, and in March they are back in the UK with La Fille
mal gardee at the Birmingham Hippodrome. Clogs and all.
So this was the perfect taster for both dates, and a
large Symphony Hall audience loved every minute. Other outstanding items
included a beautiful pas de deux from Aladdin by Ambra Vallo and Tyrone
Singleton and another with Natasha Oughtred and Chi Cao dancing The
Dream.
A very special evening closed with a magnificent
performance by Nao Sakuma and Cesar Morales dancing the pas de deux from
Don Quixote.
The legendary David Bintley acted as compere, and
while the dancers caught the eye, the Royal Ballet Sinfonia, conducted
by Paul Murphy, played superbly, and there was enthusiastic applause for
youngsters from the Elmhurst School for Dance.
Paul Marston
Definitive Divas
CBSO
Symphony Hall
****
AT end of a week in which sexism on television has dominated newspaper headlines, three female vocalists singing with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra delighted a large mixed audience.
The official programme told us that the word Diva meant Goddess, and Mary Carewe, Grainne Renihan and Emer McParland lived up to that billing with an awesome performance that drew long applause and cheers.
After the interval they arrived on stage in different
posh frocks - how many tenors could manage that - and Mary even had a
new matching sling supporting her broken left wrist. Attention to
detail.
The latest Friday Night Classics concert was a
celebration of divas through the decades, and the trio sang hits from
such legends as Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, Whitney Houston, Barbra
Streisand and Tina Turner.
The Best, When You Tell Me That You Love Me, Don't
Rain On My Parade, Memory, I Say a Little Prayer superb and many more,
the first half closing with all three vocalists joining in a
superb Garland medley.
If anyone was looking for a hint that women sometimes
rely on men to foot the bill, though, it came with Diamonds are a Girl's
Best Friend, from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, while any departing TV
anchor men might have winced at Cole Porter's Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye.
Conducted by Gareth Hudson, the CBSO excelled
throughout, with a particularly impressive performance of My Heart Will
Go On, from Titanic.
Paul Marston
The Nutcracker
St Petersburg Ballet Theatre
Symphony Hall
****
THEY say Christmas is not quite the same
until The Nutcracker arrives in Birmingham, and while this stunning
version was a shade late it proved well worth the wait.
Anyone who feared the famous Tchaikovsky ballet might
lose some of its impact on the more restricted stage of the Symphony
Hall was soon able to relax and enjoy a truly spectacular production.
Although the scenery or even the costumes couldn't
match the splendor of the Birmingham Royal Ballet in the vast spaces of
the Hippodrome, it was still a delight as one of Russia's leading
classical ballet companies thrilled large audiences at three
performances.
The story of how teenage Clara awakes on Christmas
Eve clutching her nutcracker doll and is whisked by magician
Drosselmayer (Dymchik Saykeev) to the Land of Sweets, was impressively
told.
Although inevitably looking a shade old for a
teenager, Irina Kolesnikova danced beautifully as Clara, with Dmitry
Akulinin proving the perfect partner in his role as the Nutcracker
Prince.
The Spanish, Arabian, Russian and Chinese dances were
cleverly choreographed, while the corps de ballet had moments of sheer
magic.
The shoulder-length male wigs in the early scenes
looked rather lank and out of place, but that was a minor blip on a
memorable experience from Russia with love-erly dancers.
Full marks, too, for a fine orchestra conducted by
Vadim Nikitin.
Paul Marston
Symphony Hall
****
HE'S known as the master of mimicry, but
even Alistair McGowan found it difficult to look like a Mikado of Japan
while wearing a navy blue pinstriped suit.
That is the problem with semi-staged concert
performances when there are no costumes at all, only a couple of props
and not a stick of scenery.
The 25 gentlemen of Japan were in lounge suits, while
the 21 ladies wore dresses they could have popped on for a night at the
cinema or the local bingo hall.
Perhaps in future it would be better to have at least
the principals of the Savoyards in traditional costume to give the show
a bit of colour.
Having said that, the singing in Gilbert & Sullivan's
most popular operetta was superb and thoroughly enjoyed by a large
audience.
McGowan didn't appear on stage until two hours after
the concert started (how did he keep himself amused backstage?), but he
soon got into the spirit of the thing with his version of My Object So
Sublime....to let the punishment fit the crime. And he had instant,
warm rapport with the audience.
Richard Suart was a superb Ko-Ko, the Lord High
executioner, particularly when revealing the contents of his list of
people who never would be missed - including surrogate mothers who give
their babies to gays, certain wandering footballers, including Wayne
Rooney, Ann Robinson of the Weakest Link, a leading MP, and texters.
Fine performances, too, from Oliver White (Nanki-Poo),
Bruce Graham (Poo-Bah), Rebecca Bottone (Yum-Yum), Sophie-Louise Dann (Pitti-Sing)
and Jill Pert (Katisha).
A full-of-fun Saturday night show also featured the
London Concert Orchestra, conducted by Richard Balcombe.
Paul Marston
Symphony Hall
****
GUEST singer Jessie Buckley celebrated her
21st birthday at this Wednesday night concert and proved she is really
coming of age as an entertainer.
She delivered a range of songs from a string of great
musicals with aplomb, showing how she has blossomed on the professional
stage since finishing as runner up in the BBC TV show I'd Do Anything.
On a couple of occasions Jessie seemed to be
overtaken by emotion as her right hand, holding the microphone, visibly
trembled, perhaps understandably in As Long as He Needs me, from Oliver.
There was also a bit of a fashion blip with her short
skirt at the start of the second half, but she soon changed into a more
flattering crimson full-length gown when she sang, with great feeling,
As If We Never Said Goodbye, from Sunset Boulevard.
Another Raymond Gubbay concert delighted a packed
audience, and there were outstanding contributions from Deborah Myers,
James Graeme and Tim Howar (Howar), the latter enjoying an amusing
moment when conductor David Shrubsole, making the introductions,
momentarily forgot his name!
An excellent performance, too, from the London
Concert Orchestra who sparkled in the programme of songs from more than
20 musicals. What a night!
Paul Marston
Silent Heroes
CBSO
Birmingham Symphony Hall
ON a bitterly cold night, the latest Friday
Night Classics concert saw the clock turned back and forward with a trip
to the silent movies that proved a heart-warming experience.
A giant screen was erected on the stage, with the
orchestra below, and a weather-hit lower than usual audience sat back
and enjoyed the black-and-white film epic, the Iron Mask, featuring
Douglas Fairbanks.
But this time the action was given an extra gloss
with the stunning music written composed by maestro Carl Davis who was
there to conduct the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, once
again in sparkling form.
It was extraordinary how Davis's music suited the
various scenes, gentle for the loves scenes, violent for the sword
fights, sinister for the plotting and murders, jubilant with the
exploits of D'Artagnan (Fairbanks) and the Three Musketeers, who all
eventually and bravely bit the dust - 'For the Glory of France' -
before a celebratory reunion en route to Heaven.
The 1929 version of the story had many amusing
moments for a 2010 audience, with Fairbanks bouncing over walls to find
a private spot where he can cuddle his lady love, hurtling through a
closed window and heroically taking on a bunch of blood-thirsty
swordsmen - no stunt men in those days.
The remarkable Carl Davis emerged from the orchestra
pit at the end to acknowledge an impressive standing ovation, and you
had the feeling some of the applause was meant for Fairbanks, too.
Paul Marston
A Celebration of Classic MGM Film
Musicals
Birmingham Symphony Hall
*****
THIS concert celebrating the 75th
anniversary of MGM film musicals was a huge hit on the BBC proms last
year, but it was even better seen live by a sell-out audience in the
magnificent Symphony Hall.
Prolonged applause, cheers and a richly deserved
standing ovation at the end was no more than acclaimed conductor John
Wilson, his stunning hand-picked orchestra and the five superb vocalists
deserved.
Wilson's passion for the musicals of Hollywood's
golden age made him tackle the enormous task of reconstructing lost
scores, and the result was two hours of sheer joy with his arrangements
from such memorable movies as The Wizard of Oz, Seven Brides for
Seven Brothers, Brigadoon, High Society and Singin' in the Rain.
After the concert opened with the Jubilee Overture,
Kim Criswell gave a hint of things to come with a rousing version of
The Trolley Song, from Meet Me in St Louis, and jazz singer
Curtis Stigers followed her with Steppin' Out with my Baby from
Easter Parade.
Soprano Sarah Fox delighted with Wonderful,
Wonderful Day then joined veteran baritone Sir Thomas Allen in a
lovely duet, Stranger in Paradise, from Kismet.
Seth MacFarlane, on his first appearance in
Birmingham thrilled them with You're Sensational and, partnered
by Stigers, in the duet Well Did You Evah? from High Society.
The full company closed a great show with a
blistering encore - That's Entertainment. How fitting was that?
Paul Marston
Live shows are Bolton's natural habitat
Michael Bolton
NIA Arena, Birmingham
****
WITH 18 studio albums and 53 million sales
you got to be doing something right and when it comes to concerts
Michael Bolton can do no wrong.
He starts on time (a novelty in pop) engages with
his audience from the off, poses for pictures, shakes hands with the
front row, appears singing in the aisles and gives the impression he is
genuinely pleased to be there entertaining his friends.
It all seems effortless and with his excellent six
piece band Bolton eases his way through two solid hours as if it is the
most natural thing in the world.
In short he is a polished performer, a supreme
showman who is master of his craft but there is a lot of substance
behind that homely charm and style. He doesn't rely on funky videos or
spectacular light shows this is WYSIWYG performing. A stage, a band and
a singer and that is it.
He might be 57 now but he is still one of the best
balladeers around who is just as happy belting out rock as soul -
remember he started as a singer with heavy metal band Blackjack -and can
even throw in a touch of opera.
To sing Nessun Dorma is brave but he gets away
with it in much the same way the likes of Pavarotti got away with
singing pop. He also has the advantage that Puccini’s aria from Turandot
is perhaps one of the most emotional and evocative - and well known - in
opera, particularly after the 1990 World Cup.
Welsh National Opera will be bringing Turandot to
Birmingham Hippodrome in June next year if you are interested.
Meanwhile Bolton provides something for everyone from
big band numbers such as That’s Life and New York , New York
to his own anthem How can we be lovers, Gershwin’s
Summertime to Dock of the Bay.
And unlike many artists he doesn’t use tours to
openly promote his latest album. His latest One World, One Love
was mentioned for just one track, Hope Its Too Late.
The rest is a sort of Michael Bolton songbook though
the ages with When a Man Loves a Woman being the cue for Bolton
to suddenly pop up on a box in the middle of the audience. The audience
love it even if the security men go pale.
He even delivers tracks he has never recorded, his
second ever performance of Cohen’s Hallelujah for example in an
encore almost as long as the concert. Jeff Buckley produced the
definitive cover but Bolton’s version certainly has some merit and no
doubt will appear on a future album.
He still fills stadiums, still sells albums and still
sounds good.
Liking Bolton might not be hip but it is certainly
satisfying.
Roger Clarke
Friday Night Classics - Remember
Remember
CBSO
Symphony Hall
*****
THIS Bonfire Night blockbuster was much more
a celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain than an
acknowledgement of Guy Fawkes' failure.
And the magnificent City of Birmingham Symphony
Orchestra won hands down with a remarkable performance, opening with
Walton's Spitfire Prelude and Fugue and closing with Elgar's
Pomp and Circumstance March No 1, with a rousing Land of Hope and
Glory.
"Makes you proud to be British," said charismatic
conductor Stephen Bell, who brought the best out of the musicians, and
the large audience couldn't agree more.
Lovely mezzo-soprano Juliette Pochin - whose
grandfather fought in the Second World War - had them gasping with
emotion with that wartime classic, A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley
Square, then As Time Goes By, from the famous film
Casablanca, and in the second half of the programme the customers joined
in as she sang We'll Meet Again and There'll Always be an
England.
Goodwin's 633 Squadron and Battle of
Britain Suite were beautifully played, while Handel's Music for
the Royal Fireworks, which followed the interval, was the only vague
link with November 5.
Pianist Ben Dawson impressed with the Warsaw
Concerto, and other highlights included Nimrod from the
Enigma Variations and a Battle of Britain selection.
Paul Marston
Wolverhampton Grand
****
THE Three Tenors might not have invented Popera at Italia 90 but they certainly made it mainstream and as an added boost to the genre Pavarotti’s recording of Nessun Dorma became an instant football anthem.
I am sure more people can tell you the World Cup where it was used as a theme than the opera it is from but just a few were probably interested enough to discover it was Puccini and from Turandot and a few of those might just have discovered an interest in opera or classical music.
Since Italia 90 we have had the likes of Il Divo, G4, Amici, All Angels, Mediaeval Baebes and so on along with the crossover artists such as Katherine Jenkins - who are all pretty much derided by opera and classical music purists.
But they are popular with audiences and if such groups manage to raise interest in classical or even decent modern music all power to their elbows.
Latest entrant is The Sopranos who not only have the two essential attributes of a Popera group of being being both young and attractive and having excellent voices but also the advantage of weight of numbers with eight sopranos who can sing soaring operatic arias, swing or modern standard solos or intricate close harmony which sounds like an Andrews Sisters convention.
After auditions in the USA and London the group was formed with a New Zealander, an American and the rest from Britain, including three from Yorkshire.
Backing them is a band put together for this tour with the Neil Brown trio and an all girl string quartet, the Glam Rocks, in the manner of the likes of Bond and it is almost a given that such a girl quartet will give you Karl Jenkins’ Palladio. I suspect there is a law somewhere that it must be included. That being said the Glam Rocks not only did it but did it well.
But back to the Sopranos who opened with a Simon and Garfunkel selection with Scarbroro Fair, Sound of Silence and Bridge Over Troubled Water before moving on to Judy Garland, with Over the Rainbow as the highlight before the first opera of the evening with a selection from Carmen.
MUSICAL STANDARDS
We had the theme from Titanic then selections from West Side Story, Madame Butterfly and South Pacific finishing with musical standards such as Memories, People and Funny Girl’s Don’t Rain on My Parade ending what had been an up and down first half with John Miles Music. Not that the girls or the orchestra could be blamed.
The problem was the sound or rather the balance of the sound. Doing a sound check and setting the levels in an empty, strange theatre is not the easiest task especially when you have new challenges every performance on a series of one nighters on a 17 date tour before heading off for Germany and Scandinavia.
A few tweaks in the interval and the sound balance was much improved in the second half where we had a Bond section, Evita and Cats, Nella Fantasia based on Gabriel’s Oboe theme from The Mission whioch got deserved cheers as did Queen’s Who Wants to Live Forever and Nessun Dorma. Throw in Flashdance, Abba and Gloria Gaynor ending with Time to Say Goodbye and the audience had had a flair selection of music as well as an ever changing array of costumes and choreography which managed add interest rather than irritation to numbers.
It all ended with a standing ovation and a queue in the foyer to buy their CD. A group to keep an eye on.
28-03-10
Roger Clarke
Encore
***
EIGHT beautiful women brought a touch of glamour and glitz to
the Black Country with this Sunday afternoon concert.
A visual treat with their movement and stunning array of long and short
dresses, but unfortunately the voices suffered in the first half of the
show when something was amiss with the sound.
The balance was all wrong, which meant the music played by the
seven-piece band tended to drown the singers, making it appear,
erroneously, that the eight Sopranos were miming.
Fortunately, after a few complaints from irritated members of the
audience, the necessary corrections were made and the girls were able to
deliver a superb second half which, in the end, earned them a standing
ovation.
It seems the difficlties of moving from place to place for
one-performance concerts may have played a part in the problem. Needs
avoiding in future.
The girls, three of whom recently gave a taster performance at a new
Italian restaurant called Sopranos, just round the corner from the
Grand, delivered a remarkable range of songs from the world of musical
theatre, pop and opera.
And they received a special ovation for Nessun Dorma, the brilliant aria
usually performed by tenors. Very impressive.
Paul Marston
The Rat Pack - Live from Las Vegas
Symphony Hall
****
YOU half expected a posse of Health 'n' Safety police to arrive on stage and make a few arrests as the the three star singers smoked and drank their way through this great show.
But the 'excesses' were all part of the act, with the legendary trio Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jnr and Dean Martin showing Midland audiences just why they were such a hit at the famous Sands Hotel in the gamblers' paradise.
Tam Ward proved very convincing as Ol' Blue Eyes, sounding very much like the Master in all those wonderful songs, including My Kinda Town, New York, New York and The Lady is a Tramp.
Interesting that one of the biggest cheers came with the arrival on stage of Mark Adams, playing marathon drinker Dean Martin. He had the women swooning with That's Amore and Volare and, glass in hand, said: "I drink to forget". Sinatra then asked what he had to forget, and the reply: "I forgot".
Matt Henry, originally from Birmingham, sang and danced well as Sammy, and there was a huge contribution in several big numbers from the three gorgeous Burelli Sisters.
A fine concert ended, inevitably, with Sinatra singing My Way, and a standing ovation from a large section of the audience who were also hugely impressed by the 12-piece band. The fourth and final performance is on 20-3-10
Paul Marston
Sean Lock
Birmingham Hippodrome
***
IT is hard to imagine, but apparently some people still do not know who comedian Sean Lock is.
His longstanding stint as one of the team captain's on Channel 4's 8 Out
Of 10 Cats, as well as increasingly regular appearances on the Stephen
Fry-hosted QI on BBC, have made him into a household name.
Certainly that was the view of comedy fans who almost made it a sellout crowd at Birmingham's Hippodrome theatre on Sunday night as he returned to his familiar stand-up territory.
Sean has ended a three year absence to return to the road after all his previous television commitments.
He has produced a brand new two hour show, entitled Lockipedia, but his comedy remains refreshingly original as well as sharply surreal at times.
Sean proved that he can be topical when needs be by starting with a couple of Mother's Day related gags, and then proceeded to get the audience on his side by talking about the birth of his third child.
But his insightful imagination is also prone to wander over to the darker side, which most stand-up performers would regard as taboo subjects for comedy.
These include the issues of ethnic cleansing, paedophiles, the death of pop legend Michael Jackson, and the leader of the far right British National Party, Nick Griffin.
But the former British Comedy Award winner, who has also appeared on TV series' 15 Storeys High and TV Heaven, Telly Hell, also successfully finds humour in more everyday settings, ranging from shopping at low budget supermarkets and wearing his trademark spectacles to the time when he used to work on a building site.
STREET COLLECTORS
Sean also takes on the likes of pop star Madonna, street collectors who he titles "charity muggers" and people who are wheat intolerant following previous complaints he received following a TV comment.
But Sean has also built in an element of audience participation to allow his brain a chance to rest between bouts of stand-up.
Unfortunately his brand of audience battleships, in which he calls out seat numbers for fans to choose a letter and word for him to play on, is more miss than hit.
Unimaginative subjects from the audience, such as football, sweets, rabbits and zebras, offered very little room for comedy.
In fact, the funniest response was caused when one battleship call found a rare empty seat, before a hugely popular put-down to silence a tiresome heckler.
Sean Lock Lockipedia Live will be available on DVD from 15 November, but Midland audiences can also see him again live at Wolverhampton Civic Hall on Thursday 8 April.
Tony Collins
The Mikado
Symphony Hall
****
THERE wasn't a Japanese costume or stick of scenery in sight for this special 125th anniversary performance of Gilbert & Sullivan's masterpiece operetta, but it was as bright as a button.
The semi-staged production made up for the lack of colour with the quality of the singing and acting by the cast and the London Concert Chorus as a large audience revelled in the fun of this tale from Titipu.
Over the years the opportunities for poking fun at politicians in The Mikado have been much appreciated, and now footballers and the world's top golfer are also fair game for these gentlemen from Japan, this time wearing lounge suits.
Simon Butteriss, playing Ko-Ko, the reluctant Lord High Executioner, was superb. Slightly built and wearing a pair of National Health specs, he was a bundle of fun throughout, especially when he sang about his little list of people who never would be missed....footballers scoring more than a goal, and a certain American golf star with a new handicap, too. Even Toyota cars got a mention!
And though he didn't appear on stage until nearly two hours after the show started, that master of mimicry, Alistair McGowan, the Mikado in a pin-striped suit, made a big impression. His desire to let the punishment fit the crime roped in footballers and balls. The customers loved it.
Terrific contributions, too, from David Curry (Nanki-Poo), Rebecca Bottone (Yum-Yum), Bruce Graham (Pooh-Bah), Jill Pert (Katisha) and Sophie-Louise Dann (Pitti-Sing).
Richard Balcombe conducted the London Concert Orchestra in this Saturday night special.
Paul Marston
Richard Digance
Lichfield Garrick
RICHARD Digance is a bit of an institution these days with his
humorous songs and poems, amusing stories and engaging personality.
Classifying him is a bit difficult. He started out as a folkie, trekking
his way around the clubs, moved on the TV and even became a regular on
Countdown. He is a comedian but he doesn’t tell gags or even have punch
lines, just amusing anecdotes and observations.
His songs are often clever, usually funny and have some very obvious
lines which audiences are expected to fill in themselves. All in all an
evening with Richard Digance is great fun.
He also has the ability to engage with an audience form the moment he
walks out. With some artists it is the second half when an audience
reserve has been loosened by the interval libation before there is any
response beyond polite applause.
With Digance the first song involved enthusiastic audience participation
and he had been on stage for just seven minutes. The seven minutes had
been taken up with a rant about the M40 being closed and the M1 being
packed followed by a trip down memory lane - or at least the A5 - and
the places he had passed on his way to Lichfield where he used to play
on the folk circuit.
He manages to keep that folk club atmosphere in his shows, with plenty
of asides among his songs most of which are funny and silly but there
are a few sad ones in there including a first public airing for I’m
Coming Home, a song written as a favour for a squaddie to his
wife during a trip by Digance as an entertainer during the Falklands War
in 1982.
With a real live vicar, from New York no less, in the audience it was
only natural we had the real story of Noah and his Ark which has the
propensity to upset both men of the cloth and Amiricans in one fell
swoop - or sweep in this particular case.
There was another airing for the poem Eric the Elephant, which involves
not only sound effects from the audience but also actions and we also
had the story of how Digance was sacked on Pebble Mill at One. All good
fun.
Roger Clarke
Town Hall, Birmingham
Not for nothing is comedian Tim Vine widely known in
entertainment circles as the king of the one-liner.
Tim, who starred alongside fellow comic Lee Mack
in BBC 1 comedy series Not Going Out, clearly lives up to his reputation
as he
For reasons best known to himself, he has labelled
his new show the Joke-amotive tour. And he duly commences with a number
of
In keeping with the best traditions of the likes of
the late Bob Monkhouse, Tim has an incredible collection of classic
one-liners at his disposal.
He delivers more than an hour of gags,
briefly telling the packed Town Hall audience that "you can do most of
this act at home, to be honest."
But while this sort of non-stop barrage can leave you
groaning at times, Tim manages to stop the constant, and
mainly silly one-liners,
He helps achieve this by using props ranging from a
boxing glove torch and a family tree scribbled on a piece of card to a
pair of ears on a stick.
Tim also adopts regular musical interludes to break
up the routine, and also picks up a guitar to perform humourous songs.
One of the funniest moments came when a
joke backfired after the audience mistook Warsaw in Poland for Walsall,
while other hilarious spots
The encore included a number of familar favourites,
including the (eventually successful) pen behind the ear trick, and his
Alarm Bells and Family Holidays
Class act battling the numbers
Sean Hughes
Wolverhampton Grand
****
SEAN Hughes came to the Wolverhampton Grand with an impressive CV. He won the Perrier in 1990 for his debut show A one Night Stand With Sean Hughes and was the youngest performer to ever do so.
In the 20 years that have passed he
has proved himself talented in many areas, from appearing on Never
Mind the Buzzcocks to his extensive literary works of poetry and
prose to appearing in Miss Marple and Coronation Street.
Comedy is hard, of that there is not doubt. You would not think that this was the case, given the number of people claiming to be comedians, but good comedy is hard; great comedy is an art form few have mastered, the entire city of Liverpool being a case in point.
For that reason this is not going to be one of those reviews where punchlines are taken out of context and thrown in to pad the piece out or merely to prove that the reviewer was listening.
It is all too easy to listen but to actually hear what a comic is saying can sometimes be a different thing altogether Mr. Hughes has worked hard to craft these gags and deserves better than to have them hacked at by those he sets out to entertain.
And crafted they are. Hughes knows that he is working on levels that others may not appreciate openly admitting that “...some of this is very very clever.” as he revels in mixing the thought provoking with the gasp provoking. He is not afraid to tackle sensitive issues either, Haiti, Catholic child abuse and 9/11 all get mentions, but then there's also something about the music hall act about him with musical interludes and bits about his parents and his new found portly figure.
Sadly for him and the audience the impressive venue was only half full. Hughes himself seemed to rue the decision of others to charge £19.50 for the show. This undoubtedly had an effect on Hughes in the first half. Without the large crowd the laughter, no matter how good the jokes, is bound to be fragmented and jokes do not have the time to develop around the room, instead they find themselves suffocated by the speed at which the sporadic laughter dissipates.
That said, Sean Hughes is a class act and was more than happy to face the issues of audience numbers head on. There is an honesty and integrity which cannot be faulted and is in fact rather endearing.
BRAVE PERFORMER
That said he is a brave performer who seems to enjoy a verbal duel with as many people as care to take up the verbal mantle he casually throws at their feet. And yet there is no malice in his actions, he seems to genuinely like to talk to people, to suss them out and if needs be give them their just desserts.
Such was the case with one heckler for whom comedy just seemed an excuse to show the world how rude she could be, which is a strange attitude to take with someone you have paid to see.
Hughes in his early days was often compared to Bill Hicks, and you can see why. All the characteristics are here, the intelligence that accompanies even the dirtiest of jokes, the sense of injustice at the corporate world and the apathy of others, but most of all there is the quality of the gags. For when all is said and done a comedian lives and dies by their material, it can be as worthy or as savage as it likes but its got to be funny.
SOME GEMS
In the first half it was a bit hit and miss. There were some gems in there but they were a little sparse, but in the second half there were call backs galore, there was improvisation, yes he was somewhat cuddlier than in recent years but there was steel behind the smile. This was the Sean Hughes that I had heard of and came to see. However these moments of magic were fleeting and one felt Hughes was left as frustrated as the audience by their brevity. He seemed weary and yet there was a warmth there that was displayed none better than when he thanked each audience member he had conversed with individually, even those who did not deserve the courtesy.
On his day he is still a class act, and the varied demographic of his audience is testament to his wide appeal, but its not quite enough to make this the show it could or should have been.
It was three and a half but close to being much more.
Christian Clarke