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Choir warms up for Royal date
A CAPACITY audience of more than 200 attended
Shelfield Male Voice Choir's annual summer concert at Pelsall Community
centre on Saturday night,
The choir's music for the evening was chosen by
the ladies' group and included Stout Hearted Men, Bohemian Rhapsody and
This Old Man, plus items from Les Miserables and Sweet Charity.
In October the choir will be singing at the
Royal Albert Hall, so they treated the audience to numbers for that big
occasion - The Song of the Jolly Roger, Nazareth and The Impossible
Dream from Man of La Mancha.
Special guest artists at Saturday's concert were Alison Room (vocalist) and her husband, Ian (keyboard) who gave a superb performance. Alison sang songs from Crazy for You, Mack and Mabel, Evita, Chicago, Porgy and Bess and Hello Dolly
Friday Night Classics
Symphony Hall, Birmingham
*****
BROADWAY stars Kim Criswell and Brent Barrett lit up the stage with a string of great Rodgers & Hammerstein songs in this thrilling concert featuring the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
A packed audience showed their appreciation at the end after the pair delivered an encore with a number from the first part of the show - It's A Grand Night for Singing. How very apt.
And controlling the whole programme was the brilliant young conductor-arranger John Wilson who brought out the best in the CBSO. Wilson and Criswell were together last year in the superb televised Proms concert of MGM music which is due to go on tour and will be at the Symphony Hall, with the original cast, in November. Not to be missed.
Inveitably Friday's show included items from The Sound of Music, and in the stalls was the delightful Jean Bayless, the original Maria when the musical opened in the West End many years ago. She took a bow.
Wilson was out of breath after the effort he put into conducting the powerful opening number, the Carousel Waltz, and another choice from Carousel, the duet, If I Loved You, ended with Criswell and Barrett sharing a lingering kiss.
The first half closed with Some Enchanted Evening, from South Pacific, and there were cheers for Barrett when he sang My Boy Bill later in the concert.
After the interval Criswell appeared in a more flattering full length dress while Barrett caught the eye in a sparkling white tuxedo. The glamour matched the music.
Paul Marston
Jane McDonald in Concert
Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton
*****
IT was a particularly emotional occasion for singer Jane McDonald when she performed in front of a sell-out audience at this one-nighter in the Black Country.
She admitted to her fans that, after the sad breakup of her marriage to Danish-born Henrik Brixen in 2002, her first public appearance was at the Grand, and the love she received then helped her career on the road to recovery.
Jane rewarded her fans on Sunday with a brilliant performance which proved she is not a distant diva, or even just a singer. She's entertainment with a capital E.
This Yorkshire lass hasn't lost the common touch. She clearly loves close contact with her audience, and they love her to bits. I can't remember attending a concert where there were so many enthusiastic standing ovations.
The former cruise ship cabaret singer is now flying high, and her programme included a lovely range of songs which she delivered with panache, and two which she wrote herself dealing with personal heartbreak.
Jane, now also a star on the popular TV show Loose Women, chatted about her life and loves - even amusing references to ex boyfriend from Birmingham, Jarek Pyc, now musical director and keyboard player in the excellent seven-strong orchestra.
The three backing singers were impressive, Joanne Boyne once taking centre stage for a solo before Jane snatched back the mic to roars of laughter from the customers.
Jane McDonald is cruising again. But this time on dry land.
Paul Marston
Are You Experienced? The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Lichfield Garrick
****
Are you
experienced? do exactly what it says on the tin – pay tribute to the 60s
psychedelic band The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
Even diehard Hendrix fans won’t be
disappointed; the performance is 95 per cent Hendrix - unfortunately
missing that five per cent which is the unique magic of the late legend.
John Campbell has a relaxed confidence and his talent
is undeniable. He looks uncannily like Hendrix playing the symbolic
white Fender Stratocaster with his teeth and behind his head, but his is
a right-handed mirror image of Hendrix - not quite the real thing.
The small audience was treated to crowd-pleasing Hendrix classics such as Hey Joe, Purple Haze (magnificent) and The Wind Cries Mary, Little Wing, All Along the Watchtower, Voodoo Chile, Foxy Lady, Red House. Some lesser known tracks such as Axis: Bold as Love were also covered.
EFFORTLESS
Campbell’s Star Spangled Banner was excellent
and seemed effortless. Mark Arnold is one with his bass and Kevin
O'Grady on drums, holds the band together. Particularly enjoyed the
rapid fire of ‘Machine Gun’ which was dedicated to our troops.
Campbell was amusing and totally
understood his ‘polite’ audience, he knew they weren’t going to play but
still cajoled some participation from them. He tantalised the
crowd, offering favourite tracks then ignoring any requests and building
to what should have been an explosive, head-banging finale. The second
set really showcased Campbell’s incredible skill with
the guitar coming alive; his fingers on fire as he played a breathtaking
Purple Haze. Close your eyes and you were nearly there.
The set ended with Wild Thing and a tongue-in-the-cheek,
Hendrix-style ceremonial burning of the white strat.
Are You Experienced
? take their name from the JHE first studio album in 1967. The band is
in its 11th year and are well-deserved of the title of
No 1 Hendrix tribute band.
2010 is the 40th
anniversary of the death of Jimi Hendrix who was arguably one of the
greatest guitarists of all times. In his honour AYE? will be opening at
the Isle of Wight festival this year.
Would I like to see the show again?
Very likely. 20-05-10
The Bachelors and Shelfield Male Voice Choir
Walsall Town Hall
****
HAILED as Ireland's first boy band, The Bachelors are getting on a bit now but can still deliver those much-loved songs with style and quality.
Now it's just Con and Dec, silver haired and silver tongued, coasting through some of the hits that saw them outsell the Beatles in 1964 and 1965.
A Saturday night audience of 550 at the Shelfield Male voice Choir's annual concert loved it, and some gave the stars and choir a standing ovation at the end.
I Believe, The Wonder of You, Charmaine, My Diane and The Fields of Athenry were particularly well received, and there was the added bonus of some excellent contributions from Dec's stunning daughter, Victoria, who played the keyboard and showed she could sing, too.
Before the Bachelors took to the stage the choir, despite being a few members light through illness, made their usual impressive impact, particularly with Richard Wagner's A Roman War Song, the calypso Jamaica Farewell, Sally K. Albrecht's I Am a Small Part of the World and Andrew Lloyd Webber's I Dreamed a Dream.
Musical Director Harvey Boucher played Arthur Sullivan's The Lost Chord on the euphonium presented to him by members of the choir a couple of years ago to mark his 40 years service.
Sheila Boucher was the accompanist and compere Mike Smith linked it all together nicely.
*Members of the audience were urged to buy tickets for the choir's concert at the new Walsall College of Technology on September 25 to raise funds for Help the Heroes. One American woman present handed over £100 for ten tickets which she immediately handed back for re-sale as she would be back in the USA on that date.
Paul Marston
Friday Night Classics: Silent Heroes
CBSO
Symphony Hall
****
THE silent movies returned to Birmingham in
this entertaining concert - but with a big and beautiful sound.
As the action progressed on a giant screen, the City
of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Carl Davis, played music
that perfectly matched the story being told in Charlie Chaplin's The
Gold Rush and Harold Lloyd's An Eastern Westerner.
A near capacity audience loved it, but it was a pity
some in the lower seats couldn't see the musicians or Mr Davis who were,
on this occasion, in the orchestra pit to make room on stage for the
silver screen.
Davis is a musical maestro who brilliantly adapted
original Chaplin music for The Gold Rush and wrote the score for Harold
Lloyd's shorter of the two films.
Chaplin's wonderful appreciation of comedy was there
for all to see as, wearing his trademark bowler hat, baggy pants and
swinging his cane, he joins the goldrush in Alaska, the black-and-white
film opening with the little man toddling along the edge of a
treacherous, snow-covered narrow path over a huge drop - at one point
followed by a big bear.
Chaplin became involved with rough, tough
prospectors, fell for the pretty Georgia, queen of the dancehall
entertainers, and was caught in a howlingly funny set of incidents when
a wooden hut he shared with Big Jim was blown away as they slept in a
massive storm, ending up balanced precariously on a cliff edge with the
occupants sliding towards oblivion.
They don't make them like that any more!
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
Gerry Cross the Mersey
Lichfield Garrick
THE 60s music circuit is nostalgia pure and simple - a fleeting glimpse of youth long gone.
It
is more than half a century since Gerry Marsden and his brother Fred
formed Gerry and the Pacemakers
The original lineup has long gone but chirpy Marsden, now 67, is still
as cheeky and enthusiastic as ever.
The show started late after the star was caught in traffic travelling
from Manchester after watching his beloved Liverpool lose which meant
the audience, almost all of whom could remember the 60s,, were well
lubricated by the time he started as the Garrick’s bar profits received
an unexpected boost.
The first half saw 12 songs from artists Marsden liked or that had
influenced him such as Elvis, Fats Domino and Roy Orbison.
The second set was of his the group’s singles from the days when they
were the first band to have three No1s with their first three records.
Marsden mixes his songs with chats with anyone in the audience who cares
to respond, even finding someone who knew his mother and grandmother
which was good for ten minutes, and plays with the house lights on so he
can see who he is talking to.
There is also a fair smattering of anecdotes, some very tall tales and a
few jokes including one of the daftest around.
To have lasted so long an artist needs to entertain and Marsden still
manages that feeding on that desire of an audience to feel young again
or at least remember what it felt like.
Marsden is on record as saying he carries on because he loves to perform
and he seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself as did the audience who rose,
a little slowly and creakily in some cases, to their feet at the end for
a standing ovation.
The final song, inevitably, was You’ll Never Walk Alone with
scarves, arms, ties . . . anything to hand waving in the air as a
celebration, if nothing else, of a good night out.
Roger Clarke
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
For One Night Only
Brownhills Theatre
* * * *
TWO long-serving members of Brownhills Musical Theatre Company
came together on Saturday for this one night show which had just about
the perfect mix of songs from the musicals.
Alison Room and Dave Hayward have performed in some of the country's top
theatres during the past 20 years, in amateur and pro-am shows, but this
was their first major event together on home territory.
The 324-seat Brownhills school theatre was packed as they sang with a
five-piece band, and their voices blended well, particularly in Last
Night of the World, from Miss Saigon, and You and I,
from Chess.
Hayward, a former Black Country school caretaker, also excelled with
Mr Cellophane from Chicago, while Room was superb with When
You're Good to Mama, from the same hit musical.
The pair were even more comfortable in the second half of the show,
Hayward impressive with Gethsemane (Jusus Christ Superstar) and
Room with Don't Rain on My Parade (Funny Girl).
Just one slight hiccup when musical director Ian Room's keyboard 'died'
as he was about to play The Man That Got Away (A Star Is Born),
but a few tweaks on cables and plugs quickly restored the sound.
Paul
Marston
Valentine's Day at the Musicals
Symphony Hall
* * *
LOVE was in the air at this concert which featured two young soloists - both single - who had made an impact in popular BBC TV talent shows.
Daniel Boys appeared in Any Dream Will Do, the search for a new Joseph, and Irish singer Jessie Buckley was runner-up in I'd Do Anything which discovered a new Nancy for the West End revival of the hit musical, Oliver.
They sang to music provided by the Manchester Concert Orchestra, conducted by John Rigby, with backing from the impressive four Capital Voices, and while the entertainment was of good quality, at times it lacked a bit of passion....it didn't really set the pulses racing on the night for lovers.
Boys was top man. His voice was distinctive and he connected with the large audience from the word go, particularly in Maria and Love Changes Everything.
At times Buckley - in scarlet gown with a plunging neckline - was a little short on power, though she received a great ovation for her presentation of As Long as He Needs Me, the song that brought her into the public spotlight.
The two B's were strong in duets, opening with Too Much in Love to Care, from Sunset Boulevard, All I Ask of You, from Phantom of the Opera and If I Love You, from Carousel.
A lively finale included numbers from Mamma Mia.
Paul Marston
Friday Night Classics
CBSO
Symphony Hall
****
FILM music for lovers was the title of this concert and it reminded an almost capacity audience just how big a part a great tune can play in the success of a magical movie.
It opened with Max Steiner's magnificent Tara's Theme from Gone With the Wind and you could visualise some of the scenes from that epic as the music flowed from the orchestra, conducted by Michael Seal.
And if anyone needed further proof, along came special guest David Arnold for a couple of short interviews with presenter Tommy Pearson.
The composer for some of the spectacular James Bond films said it was huge pleasure to be in such an amazing hall with one of the sexiest orchestras, and after hearing them perform his work for the hit movie Independence Day, he added: "That was played astonishingly well....I have never heard it played better."
Pianist Ben Dawson made an impressive debut as a soloist with the CBSO, playing the Warsaw Concerto in the first half of the programme, and later Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2 which was used for the classic old film, Brief Encounter.
The evening ended with Maurice Jarre's superb Lara's Theme for the emotional film, Dr Zhivago, and John Williams' music for ET - Adventures on Earth. What a finish....out of this world!
Paul Marston
Town Hall, Birmingham
Folk legend Judy Collins took her adoring audience on a musical
journey of her career.
And what a career it is, which still shows no sign of ending with
another new album due out in April.
Despit hitting the grand age of 70 last year, Judy Collins has lost nothing of the sheer purity of her voice, which remains undimished over time.
She employs only a piano and her own guitar for accompaniment, but
also relies on just her own voice on occasion, such as on the still
moving Amazing Grace which provided a fitting encore.
Judy, whose recording career spans almost 50 years, opens with the
delightful Clouds.
She then takes the audience through those defining early years, singing Where
or When, one of the earliest songs she performed as a child while
learning Mozart on the piano.
But she followed up with folk classic Barbara Allen, which Judy
said she heard on the radio as a 15-year-old and which changed her life.
Amusing stories of her early involvement in the protest movement
followed, such as hanging around with Lingo the drifter on the top of
Lookout Mountain.
But it also resulted in further beautiful folk songs that came her way,
from Anathea and Since You Asked to Open The Door
(Song For Judith) and The City of New Orleans.
Judy revealed that a new album is on the way by performing title track
Paradise and Joan Baez tune, Diamonds and Rust.
It was then a brief visit to the piano for the wonderful Albatross
from pivotal 1967 album Wildflowers and The Blizzard,
written about her native Colorado, before coming back for a
deserved encore that also included Send In The Clowns.
Tony Collins
Beyond the Barricade
Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton
* * * *
THE West End came to the Black Country with
this stunning group whose 10th anniversary tour is proving a big hit.
Four singers and three musicians delivered a string
of songs from the great musicals on Sunday night and were rewarded with
a noisy standing ovation.
Since they were last in Wolverhampton 18 months ago,
Beyond the Barricade seem to have moved up a few notches, and the
addition of a screen at the back of the stage was a definite
improvement.
It was used to show visual images from the shows, and
there was a local bonus with two Midlanders in the group -
founder-member Andy Reiss, who learned to read and play music with the
Hednesford Salvation Army Band, and Sutton Coldfield's Katie Leeming.
She trained at the Birmingham School of Speech and Drama and has played
major rolls in West End shows.
David Fawcett, a former paparazzi snapper, and one
time cruise singer Becci Morrell complete the quality quartet in
delighting the audience with songs from Phantom of the Opera, Miss
Saigon, Blood Brothers, Mamma Mia, Les Miserables and many more.
Having announced, to groans, that Birmingham City had
beaten Wolves in a Premiership match a few hours earlier, the group -
who have performed at 500 different theatres and corporate venues -
attempted to soften the blow by singing Always Look on the Bright
Side of Life.
Paul Marston
Anton & Erin - Steppin' Out
Symphony Hall
* * * * *
TWO of the stars from BBC TV's Strictly Come Dancing thrilled large audiences at two spectacular performances of this cracking show on Saturday.
Anton Du Beke and Erin Boag, who have been dancing together for the past 13 years, produced on stage all the glamour and grace we have come to expect on the small screen. It looked even better 'in the flesh'.
The Symphony Hall's choir stalls were pushed back - a rare occurrence - to create extra space for the pair who received outstanding support from fellow dancers Francine Cornell, Lisa Dent, Tom Dwyer and Tom Goodall.
And there's more to Anton than a pair of twinkling feet! There were cheers when he turned up at one stage, mic in hand, to sing a particularly impressive duet - Me and My Shadow - with vocalist Graham Bickley who also made a considerable impact with a string of memorable songs.
Anton even gave a passable impression of Bruce Forsyth, which made you wonder; could he be the next Brucie?
In the second half of the show the house lights went up for a short question-and-answer session (written questions), and one woman wondered what happened to the magnificent dresses worn by Erin when she had finished with them. She wore a dozen dazzling outfits on the night, and she explained: "I give them back to my sponsor, who gives me some more". Nice.
Great music by George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Henry Mancini and Sigmund Romberg brought the best out of the London Concert Orchestra skilfully conducted by Richard Balcombe. And from Jerome Kern came I Won't Dance.....really?
The show was directed and choreographed by Alan Harding.
Paul Marston
The Sound of Musicals
Birmingham Symphony Hall
* * * *
TRIBUTES were flying round at the start and near the end of this concert, and when it was all over they were probably justified.
Conductor Richard Balcombe began it by saying the London Concert Orchestra were possibly the most important people present, then later insisting they were the best in the country.
Former Phantom James Graeme told the audience he felt humble being on the same stage as award-winning singer, actress, dancer and TV personality Ruthie Henshall who in turn was in raptures over fellow vocalist Deborah Myers and also described the Symphony Hall as "The most beautiful I have ever been in".
Mother-of-three Deborah chipped in with warm praise of Canadian singer Tim Howar, so it was a shade ironic that he went on to give a particularly brilliant performance with Mr Cellophane, the song about a hapless loser, from the hit musical, Chicago!
Maybe all that back-slapping was the reason the first half of the programme was a little disappointing, with Ruthie - currently appearing as Roxy Hart in Chicago - not at her best until she sang All That Jazz from that show.
But, like an under-achieving football team after a half-time roasting from the gaffer, the cast turned on a real, quality performance after the interval to grab the headlines.. Superb with four items from the Phantom of the Opera, the vocalists sparkled in a Mamma Mia medley, and a considerble number in the packed audience were on their feet applauding and cheering after the soccer anthem finale....You'll Never Walk Alone.
Paul Marston
Last Night of the Christmas Proms
Birmingham Symphony Hall
* * * * *
WHO says the days of being proud of Britain belong to the past? Certainly not the packed audience at this superb concert which saw patriotic flag-waving reach a new level.
With the London Concert Orchestra in scintillating form, classic after classic built an atmosphere of euphoria that quickly swept away any post-Christmas hangovers on a Sunday night to remember.
The programme opened with Verdi's Overture, The Force of Destiny, which set the scene nicely before Sousa's The Stars and Stripes Forever had the pulses racing, and Philip O'Brien (tenor) and Owen Gilhooly (baritone) produced the perfect duet from The Pearl Fishers.
To close the first half, talented conductor Stephen Bell chose what he aptly described as the mesmeric Ravel's Bolero, which began with the gentle tap-tapping of a lone drummer, building gradually until the entire orchestra joined in. Lengthy applause and even cheers for that.
It was audience particupation time after the interval, with hundreds of union flags making their first appearance in time with the rousing Dam Busters march and staying in flight for Rule, Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory.
Memorable solos, too, from Gilhooly (Largo al Factotum, from The Barber of Seveille) and, naturally, O'Brien's thrilling delivery of Nessum Dorma. A standing ovation demanded, and received, an encore.
Oh, what a night.
Paul Marston
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Symphony Hall
* * *
THE
final Friday Night Classics of 2009, billed as a sleigh ride into the
CBSO's very own winter wonderland, proved a rather bumpy trip at first.
Whether it was the choice of music, or the fact that some Christmas
tunes can be fairly low key, is open to debate, but it was not living up
to the standard of previous concerts.
Neither the orchestra nor West End vocalists Annalene Beechey and Glyn
Kerslake seemed to move out of first gear with some lesser known songs
which hardly tested their skills, though the pace increased with Little
Drummer Boy duet and when Annalene, who annouced that she was pregnant,
sang Children Will Listen.
However, it proved a game of two halves. After the interval some members
of the orchesta donned Santa hats, the odd pink stetson and bug-eye
headgear, and the magic returned.
Annalene suddenly sparkled in Santa Baby and Winter Wonderland while
Glyn impressed with that old David Essex hit, A Winter's Tale, then the
pair delighted the audience with the duets, Baby, It's Cold Outside, and
White Christmas.
A medley of festive music saw the orchestra, conducted by Gareth Hudson,
at its best in the finale, and the customers headed for home in happy
mood.
Paul Marston
Symphony Hall
Lesley, who proudly reminded a packed Symphony Hall audience that she reached the semifinals of the dancing talent show, still possesses a wonderful vocal range which she demonstated all too well in pre-Christmas show.
Backed by the splendid English Chamber Orchestra under the baton of conductor Philip Ellis, Lesley was full of the joys of Christmas as she returned to the "fabulous" Symphony Hall after a two-year absence.
She left the carols and other festive favourites till after the interval, instead preferring to concentrate on a marvellous range of operatic treats in the first half.
The still glamorous Lesley, who would be many men’s choice to be in their stocking this Christmas, opened with the haunting Alleluia by Bach, and continued to ring the changes, both with her choice of frocks and the music on offer.
Among the many treats were two gorgeous offerings from Puccini’s La boheme, before she turned to some festive favourites in the second half, including Joy To The World and the moving Silent Night to provide a fitting encore.
Tony Collins
NIA
Birmingham
*****
THIS show is an annual 'fix' of nostalgia for thousands of people drawn
from right across the Midlands, with Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and
Glory top of the classical pops.
An emotional sea of union flags were waved with almost frantic
enthusiasm, and conductor John Rigby summed it up when he suggested
there was no substitute for the live experience.
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, superb throughout, provided a
stunning finale with the 1812 Overture, featuring the muskets and
cannons of the Moscow Militia and a dazzling display of colourful
lighting and indoor fireworks.
This year's lighting effects, designed by Durham Marenghi, were
magnificent, beautifully choreographed to fit the music as
multi-coloured beams darted across the orchestra, audience and through
the steel girders of the arena roof.
Pianist Jonathan Scott gave a memorable performance of Gershwin's
Rhapsody in Blue, and the English Concert Chorus excelled in the Chorus
of the Hebrew Slaves, from Nabucco.
At short notice Mark Holland replaced 'flu victim baritone David
Kempster, but he thrilled the audience in the Pearl Fishers Duet with
tenor John Hudson, and when he sang the Toreador's Song, then Hudson
responded to the usual demands for an encore of Nessun Dorma.
The impeccably turned out Band of the Welsh Guards played their part,
too, particularly in Sousa's Liberty Bell March.
Next year is the 20th anniversary of Classical Spectacular. That should
be.....spectacular!
Paul Marston
SMACKEE THE MUSICALS
The Stadium Suite
Banks's
Stadium, Walsall
* * * *
WALSALL Football Club are playing in the third tier of English soccer at the moment, but this sparkling Friday night show suggests they are now offering premier quality entertainment on stage.
Formed by Barry Walker in 1976, Coventry-based Smackee delivered a
two-hour banquet of songs from the shows after their 200-strong audience
had enjoyed a particularly fine three-course meal delivered by the
club's polite and efficient catering staff.
It was slick, visually pleasing, beautifully costumed and so easy on the
ear. Good lighting, too.
Walker, the complete entertainer, was equally comfortable with solos or duets as he combined with blonde Dawn Glenville or dark-haired Laura Hobbs, and to underline his versatility he took over the keyboard near the end to accompany the very talented girls in a pulsating selection from Abba. That saw many people leave their tables and dance to Waterloo, Super Trouper, Thank You For the Music and, of course, Mamma Mia.
Compere Dave Carnall opened the show with a smile, announcing that he
was from a little fishing village called Goscote (actually a district of
Walsall dominated by council housing).
Then Walker, in an all-white suite, took over with Sunset Boulevard
before being joined by the girls for Who Knows, and Tonight, from West
Side Story, the musical about rival New York gangs.
The hits followed at a remarkable rate from Beauty and the Beast,
Chicago, Buddy, Evita, Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera, while
Walker impressed singing the Neil Sedaka lyrics to that famous opera
tune......Nessun Dorma.
And his performance of New York, New York included the amended line "If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere....even at The Bescot!"
Full
marks, too, to the band - Rob Mackenzie (lead guitar), Tom Mollins (bass
guitar) and Keith Liddle (keyboard).
And the name Smackee? It was adapted from the name of the group's
chairman, Scott Mackenzie.
A Journey With Ray Mears
Alexandra Theatre
***
THE magic lantern may been replaced by a Macbook and projector but apart from that you could have been in a lecture at the Royal Geographical Society sometime in the 1880s.
Mears, the explorer, gave an illustrated talk about his latest adventure which produced the current TV series Northern Wilderness – noting ruefully that the audience were missing that night’s episode by being at the Alex.
This was the story of the exploration of Canada which is the story of the Hudson’s Bay Company – which these days it is better known for its department stores than trading posts and beaver pelts.
Mears delighted in the tale of one of his heroes, Samuel Hearne, the first man to really explore Canada in the 1770s followed by David Thompson, who mapped almost four million square miles of North America - and Dr John Rae – the man who discovered the fabled North West Passage to China across the top of the world.
Mears love of his subject shone through but it was Rae who raised the real emotions. This was the man, according to Mears, who was “the finest arctic explorer who ever lived.”
Rae was born in Orkney and is buried there with a memorial inside St Magnus’ Cathedral in Kirkwall. He discovered not only the North West Passage but also something that was to be his downfall, he found out about the fate of a Royal Navy expedition set to search for the passage under Sir John Franklin.
The expedition was lost and pressed by his wife a fortune was spent by the Royal Navy searching for Franklin. Rae came across relics of the expedition held by the Inuit, bought them and returned them to the Admiralty along with information that all the men were dead and there had been reports of cannibalism – proved to have been probably true after graves were examined in the last 20 years.
The result? Rae was pilloried, Franklin’s widow. Lady Jane, recruited high powered friends, including Charles Dickens to condemn the good doctor and Franklin became a hero.
Adding insult to injury he was also credited with discovering the North West Passage which he never even reached. The lie is still engraved on his statue outside the Admiralty and in Westminster Abbey while Rae was quietly forgotten.
It was informative and fascinating stuff with tales of Indians, a massacre of Inuits at Bloody Falls, added protein from eating marble fly maggots from hunted caribou and, just in case, advice not to upset polar bears.
Roger Clarke
Lichfield Garrick
****
WHEN Fascinating Aïda’s Silver Jubilee 25th anniversary tour is actually their 26th year but as Dille Keane tells us: “that didn’t look as good on the posters”, you get an idea of the flavour of the evening.
Keane, along with Adèle Anderson and Liza Pulman, who joined in 2004, produce an evening of wit and sophistication but with bite – this is Noel Coward with a Kalashnikov.
Their songs are irreverent, cynical, satirical, and clever, at times risqué, which is posh for a touch of filth, but above all they are gloriously funny.
It is not just laughs though. Liza Pulman manages a moving, bittersweet love song in I watched two people while the trio leave people in their own thoughts with Goodbye Old Fiends.
No subject is taboo and all are give a Fascinating twist whether it be virginity or Viagra, global warming with the Lerwick Town calypso, dogging in the Asda car park, global finance, Health & Safety and there is even old time religion, with that uplifting financial spiritual Tesco Saves to end the show and redeem the audience to a smile on their journey home.
In between is the Bulgarian song cycle in two parts which pokes its scalpel at anything passing by from MP’s expenses to Michael Jackson, Sarah Brown to Carla Bruni, Arlene Phillips to “vengeful monopod” Heather Mills while the only reason Aïda claim to be out of retirement, Gordon Brown’ s devastation of pensions, was saved for last.
It is a refreshing change to find entertainment which is clever, witty. If you use Spotify http://www.spotify.com/en/ or last FM http://www.last.fm/ you can catch them there.
Brilliant entertainment. 23-10-09
Roger Clarke
Lichfield Garrick
***
NOSTALGIA can only take you so far and without John
Leyton the journey with this show was not going to be a very long one.
The Honeycombs have none of the original line-up
although Paul Green is an accomplished lead guitar and Mac Poole showed
some nice stickwork on drums as they went through hits of the 60s.
Craig Douglas is celebrating 50 years in the
business and was dressed immaculately, looking more like a City
financier than 60s pop star as he cheerily went through his old hits,
with some even older jokes, backed by The Flames,
a band formed in 1988.
The Flames did a set of covers including some
Shadows’ numbers which probably suffered from my having seen the real
thing with Cliff at the NIA a month ago. There is only one Hank Marvin.
But the show was all more than competent and the
memories were flooding back for an appreciative audience of a certain
age who joined in at every opportunity but, to be honest, it reminded me
of the dances I used to organise as a PTA chairman – that is until
Leyton arrived.
He is 70 now but doesn’t look it and, despite a
croaky throat, went though his hits and anything else he fancied from
Presley to Billy Fury interspersing his songs with some interested chat
from his time as an actor in films such as The Great Escape and Von
Ryan’s Express.
He
had them dancing in the aisles and even managed to get pretty well the
whole audience on their feet for a rock and roll finale.
Single handedly he had lifted it from nostalgia to
entertainment.
Roger Clarke