UK Theatre Network

Encore – The Customs House, South Shields

 Once again, the phenomenon that is ‘Encore’ makes a welcome return to The Customs House, bringing with them a large crowd of loyal followers. Indeed, each and every time the group play the venue, they virtually sell-out the theatre for the entire week’s run!

With an entertaining combination of comedy, music and song, ‘Encore’ takes their audience on a whistle-stop tour of the world of musical theatre’s biggest box office record-breakers  – encompassing hits from the stages of both the West End and Broadway. As usual this is done in the format of individual sketches and vignettes.

Unlike less adventurous groups, ‘Encore’ dares to take risks and incorporate material from newer shows into their repertoire. Alongside numbers from well-established musical theatre favourites, including ‘Me and My Girl’, ‘Guys and Dolls’, ‘Calamity Jane’ and ‘West Side Story’, are excerpts from more contemporary offerings such as ‘Miss Saigon’, ‘Sister Act’, ‘Spamalot’ and ‘Jekyll and Hyde’. As is always the case, ‘Encore’ is expertly backed by a brilliant four-piece band which never misses a beat.

Comedy is central to any show staged by the group and the current production is no exception. There’s a hilarious sketch set in a church, complete with camp clergymen and nymphomaniac nuns, which is both original and clever. There’s also a marvellous rendition of Victoria Wood’s comedy number, ‘Things Would Never Have Worked’. However, I felt that the Irish ‘50p Flights’ routine missed the mark somewhat. The accents were not consistently good enough to carry off the word-play on ‘feckin’ and, a number of times, it did sound rather more like the expletive they were trying to circumnavigate. I also sensed some unease from certain sections of the audience, which was predominantly made up of senior citizens.

Nevertheless, there is much to enjoy in the latest production from ‘Encore’ and they are to be commended for their talents, enthusiasm, exuberance, energy and sheer entertainment value.

Reviewed by Ian Cain on behalf of Steve Burbridge.

Runs until Saturday 19 November 2011.

The Lady Boys of Bangkok: Fur Coats and French Knickers Tour – The Sabai Pavilion, Newcastle

Amongst a myriad of marketing and a plethora of publicity, The Lady Boys of Bangkok are back on Tyneside for the eighth year in a row. So, get set for a fantastic fun-filled evening of frivolity, right? Wrong!

The diamante still dazzles and the sequins still sparkle but all that glistens is not gold and the performances and material are distinctly lack-lustre in the dubiously entitled Fur Coats and French Knickers. Having been an annual fixture on the revue circuit for thirteen years now, it seems that the lack of luck associated with the superstitious number has rubbed off on this poorly-conceived and disastrously-executed production.

Billed as ‘an irresistible mixture of comedy, cabaret and raunchy capers’, it couldn’t be further from the mark. The ‘comedy’ is more akin to the sort of smuttiness that would usually be associated with the seaside postcards of Donald McGill or the ‘Carry On’ films and sexual innuendo is laboriously employed in the hope of getting a cheap laugh from the sparse crowd.

As usual, well-known figures are lampooned by the Lady Boys in an effort to keep the show topical, contemporary and fresh. This year saw Peter Andre and Katie Price get the treatment but, rather than being satirical, it was contrived and banal. And, I have to say, I have never seen a worse ‘homage’ to Marilyn Monroe – complete with five o’clock shadow and underarm hair!

For those who don’t know, most of the entertainment comes in the form of the cast miming to well-known girlie anthems from some of pops biggest divas. However, the lip-synching was embarrassingly adrift and many of the group didn’t seem to even know the lyrics of the tracks they were performing to! What’s more, the ‘performers’ – and I use the term in the loosest sense of the word – lethargically walked-through the choreography with barely an ounce of effort or enthusiasm.

In comparison to the slick and stylish blend of burlesque and Broadway that is being delivered by Betty ‘Legs’ Diamond, just across the road at Boulevard, The Lady Boys of Bangkok look nothing more than a troupe of tacky Thai transvestites in a tent. Not so much Lady Boys as Lady Bores!

Steve Burbridge.

Runs until Saturday 8th October 2011.

For the past couple of months Janie Dee has been treading the boards as the Countess Roussillion in All’s Well that Ends Well at Shakespeare’s Globe.

She’s still there until well into next month, but being the multi-talented woman she is she is also managing to fit in a week’s cabaret at the Pizza Express’s latest live venue, The Pheasantry.

Think Janie Dee and multi-award-winning performances come to mind. She turns her hand to anything, having worked with the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company, and performing everything, from Chekov to Alan Ayckbourn, and Harold Pinter to Noel Coward – and The Calendar Girls.

But she is also an accomplished singer, dancer and comedienne, with several West End musicals and performances with Opera North under her belt, plus her own cabaret show.

Janie sparkles when she’s on stage. She appears to be completely at home, relaxed, happy, and having fun. And it’s catching. She knows just how to draw in her audience and make them feel part of her show, and the intimate space that is The Pheasantry is an ideal venue for this.

Some may say it’s too intimate. It’s an awkward space to work, but Janie makes the most of every square metre, using the curved stairway as a point from which to launch into song and even tap dancing down the stairs.

Her range is incredible, and I don’t just mean that her voice can soar from operatic soprano to deep and sultry. Her repertoire is just as diverse. Her programme ranges from comedy numbers to The Beatles and the Rolling Stones, songs from the musicals to an unaccompanied Amazing Grace, and a duet on the piano with composer, lyricist and broadcaster Alexander S Bermange before accompanying herself in a moving rendition of Imagine and then launching into a tale about the West End gala she once organised for peace.

Janie is at The Pheasantry (which has taken over from Pizza on the Park as a live music venue, was once home to Eric Clapton and housed a ballet school where Dame Margot Fonteyn trained) until Sunday, July 10, but if you like the sound of all this you don’t need to go there to experience it – as part of the Windsor Festival, on September 29 she will be in cabaret with Kit Hesketh Harvey at the Theatre Royal Windsor.

www.windsorfestival.com

www.pizzaexpresslive.com

I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not thinking.  

Adapted from Christopher Isherwood's semi-autobiographical Berlin Stories, playwright John Van Druten's I Am A Camera focuses on the detached narrator and the hedonistic lifestyles of those around him during the collapse of the Weimar Republic. The play itself went on to inspire the musical show and film Cabaret. Cooke Productions revive this forgotten work in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the death of Christopher Isherwood.

The action takes place in the bed-sitting room of Fräulein Schneider's lodging house in 1930s Berlin. Christopher Isherwood, an aspiring writer, teaches English to make a living. His friend Fritz, a gold digger, is interested in one of his pupils – Natalia Landauer, the daughter of a Jewish department store owner. Soon the capricious night club singer Sally Bowles is moving in and together Chris and Sally struggle with poverty, drink, love and sex under the gathering clouds of Nazi Germany.

Vicky Campbell is wonderful as the volatile Sally Bowles who wears her heart on her sleeve. Her high-energy performance alone is worth the price of the ticket. Mark Jackson gives a definitely un-camp portrayal of Isherwood who was one of the best known homosexuals of the world at that time. Caroline Wildi impresses as Sally’s mother, blaming Chris for Sally’s eccentricities and determined to bring back her daughter to the Home Counties. Erika Poole is very good as Fräulein Schneider, the landlady with a heart of gold who will support her lodgers in any possible way but, representing the simple German people during that time, believes the Nazi propaganda and turns against the Jews whilst supporting Hitler on his rise to power.

Amy Yardley’s set beautifully evokes the Bohemian atmosphere of the time. 

Until 29^th May

7.30pm Tuesday - Saturday
2pm Thursday, 3pm Saturday & Sunday

Tickets: £14 / £12
All Tuesdays £10

22nd & 29th May - Special £15 tickets available which include a post-show talk on 'Isherwood and 1930's Berlin' with Dr Geoffrey Hicks from the University of East Anglia.

Box Office: 020 7704 6665

The Rosemary Branch, 2 Shepperton Road, London N1 3DT

The Lady Boys of Bangkok: Fantasy & Feathers Tour

Sabai Pavilion, Times Square, Newcastle

They’ve returned to the ‘toon’ for the seventh successive year and are proving more popular than ever before. Yes, The Lady Boys of Bangkok are back by public demand and entertaining audiences with their own unique brand of burlesque, cabaret and revue.

The Fantasy and Feathers production encompasses sexy space-themed numbers, sensuous Latin rhythms and pulsating pop hits by Tina Turner, Madonna, Lady Gaga and The Saturdays. There’s even a side-splitting Britain’s Got Talent/X-Factor sketch, with appearances by Jedward, SuBo and Cheryl Cole (who waves the red card at her wandering ex, Ashley!). A tongue-in-cheek tribute is paid to the late great prince of pop, Michael Jackson, too.

A hallmark of the show is the traditional element of audience participation and, as usual, the artistes descended into the auditorium to locate an unsuspecting male . . . or three! It’s all done in a good-humoured style and the guys seemed to enjoy their moment in the limelight.

With just about a million quids worth of absolutely stunning costumes, painstakingly-applied make up and show-stopping choreography, it’s difficult to believe that the gorgeous ‘girls’ on stage are actually all men.

The show is two hours of terrific entertainment, performed with perfect precision and plenty of panache. It’s an irresistible, irrepressible evening that guarantees a great night out!

Steve Burbridge.

Runs until Saturday 9 October 2010.

Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance

Darlington Civic Theatre

 If you love Lloyd-Webber, go ga-ga for Gershwin, or sing-along to Sondheim, then Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance is the show for you! In a nutshell, it is a celebration of all things musical – be it from the West End, Broadway or the Silver Screen.

Seven sensational singers and dancers take the audience on a memorable musical journey that encompasses seven decades in a mere two hours. Well, what’s not to like about that, eh?

You’d be hard-pushed to think of a show that is not included in this terrific, toe-tapping treat. Without leaving the comfort of the Civic’s plush red seats, you are transported to the American Wild West (Annie Get Your Gun, Oklahoma!), Olde Worlde London (Oliver!, Mary Poppins and Sweeney Todd), the streets of Liverpool (Blood Brothers) and the magical land of Oz (Wicked).

The cast work their socks off throughout and are backed by a band that never hits a note out of tune. Numbers are choreographed with panache and precision and executed with energy and enthusiasm.

Certain sections are used to pay homage to the best in the business, including Lord Lloyd Webber and Stephen Sondheim, whilst others celebrate the increasingly prolific ‘juke-box musical’ or provide a fast and furious four-minute round-up of the productions that ate currently wowing the West End.

Only a couple of minor irritations detracted from this production. One was a couple of old codgers at the rear of the stalls who talked incessantly throughout the performance, whilst the other was some sloppy production standards that resulted in a polystyrene beam that fell from the stage into the auditorium and projection images being shown out of synch with the musicals they were designed to illustrate.

If, like me, you’re a self-confessed musical junkie then you will want to ‘Put On Your Sunday Clothes’ and head straight for the theatre. If not, then you’ll want to yell ‘Tell Me It’s Not True’.

Steve Burbridge.

Runs until Saturday 18th September

TODD GORDON & TINA MAY SING
 
FRANK & ELLA

DARLINGTON ARTS CENTRE

There’s something about the sound of jazz and swing that makes my spine tingle – I love it! Add the smooth, silky quality of Todd Gordon’s crooning, the dulcet tones of the sultry, sophisticated, sassy Tina May and the hit recordings made famous by Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald and, in my opinion, you’re in for a pretty spectacular evening.

On Saturday night, Darlington Arts Centre played host to Mr Gordon and Miss May in their tribute to Ol’ Blue Eyes and the First Lady of Song. After Todd Gordon opened up with a set that included You Make Me Feel So Young, S’Wonderful, Hard Hearted Hannah and The Summer Wind, Tina May stepped into the limelight and wowed the audience with her renditions of A-Tisket, A-Tasket, Night and Day, Black Coffee and Someone To Watch Over Me. The duet numbers, Manhattan and They Can’t Take That Away From Me demonstrated that these performers go together as well as champagne and caviar.

In a corner of my mind, I was transported back in time to an old ‘speakeasy’ in Prohibition-era New York. Perhaps I was born in the wrong place and time?

The evening continued with many more classic standards from the American songbook, including I Get A Kick Out Of You, It Was A Very Good Year and How Long Has This Been Going On? The vocalists were accompanied by a truly talented trio of musicians in the form of Gordon Kilroy (percussion), Brian Shiels (bass) and David Patrick (piano).

The evening was rounded off with a playful and quirky duet of The Lady is a Tramp and, after two delightful hours of wonderful musical entertainment the audience, and this reviewer, left the theatre and entered into the warm, dusky night air humming those fabulous tunes.

Steve Burbridge.

The Lady Boys of Bangkok: Mile High

Although it may seem hard to believe, a tiny slice of Bangkok’s exotic nightlife has been transported from Thailand to Tyneside. Nestled in the heart of Newcastle city centre is the Sabai Pavilion, the venue that, for the next four weeks, is playing host to The Lady Boys of Bangkok.

Back to wow the crowds for a fifth year, the show is sassier, sexier and more sensational than ever before. Inspired by the world of aviation, the Mile High show even boasts its own plane.

The cabaret show encompasses elements of burlesque, revue and variety and is performed by sixteen of the world’s most beautiful showgirls – all of whom just happen to be men.

It is a raunchy, risqué and riotous party night that is packed full of the feel-good factor. Where else could you expect to see divas including Shirley Bassey, Kylie Minogue, Girls Aloud and the Nolan’s sharing the same stage?

The thing that puts this drag show above all others is the sheer professionalism that is evident throughout. From the show-stopping choreography to the stunning costumes, the painstakingly applied make-up to the well-drilled routines, the Lady Boys are masters of their art and know just how to give their audience exactly what they want.

The atmosphere is electric, particularly during the numbers that are performed to disco anthems including ‘It’s Raining Men’, ‘Dancing Queen’ and ‘I’m In The Mood For Dancing.’

The production is, quite simply, a dazzling display of glitz, glamour and great entertainment that has the crowd whooping, screaming and cheering their appreciation.

‘The Lady Boys of Bangkok: Mile High’ runs at The Sabai Pavilion in Newcastle upon Tyne until Saturday 10^th October 2009.