Monday, December 17

QuoFestive, Royal Concert Hall

Try as you might, there's no escaping the infectious sound of this festive offering by some very energetic old-timers.

It was clear from the start this was going to be a night for foot-tapping, boogie in the aisles and plenty of audience participation.

Quo had us all hooked from the start; their lively third number, Hold You Back, had everyone bouncing about in an involuntary response to the crystal clear sound blasting from their banks of speakers.

With more than 60 hit singles to their name it was always going to be a tall order to please everyone all of the time.

But a tried and tested formula saw fit to bring the best of the best out for this pre-Christmas bonanza.

Rock staples such as Caroline, Whatever You Want and Rockin' All Over the World were mixed with some more bluesy offerings including Creepin Up On You.

We enjoyed the 80s sounds of Marguerita Time and In the Army Now. And to top off the performance there was a welcome Christmas medley including Walking in a Winter Wonderland, Rocking Around the Christmas Tree and It's Christmas Time.

Quo may not be the long-haired rockers they used to be. But with their shorn locks they're closer to resembling their audience than perhaps they ever were.

It's always a pleasure to see their posturing and classic stance on stage – even if it is reminiscent of that famous Two Ronnies sketch.

What DO Rossi and Parfitt find to chat about in the middle of each number?

Whether it's choreographed, or extravagant jamming, seeing them clearly enjoying themselves on the Nottingham stage again still sends a shiver down the spine.

Quofestive is part of their frantic seasonal schedule and in Nottingham they were supported by rock and blues performers Bad Influence.

Monday, October 1

W.A.S.P. - Rock City

With some 30 years of talent in the bank this was always going to be a monster of a gig.

A lively set and an enthusiastic crowd at Rock City were the perfect ingredients for a blast in Nottingham as part of the 30 Years of Thunder tour.

Bringing the very best from their past, music from the current album (even if it's now almost three years old) and a taste of things to come, these four accomplished musicians ruled the stage for two full hours.

Classics including I Wanna Be Somebody, Chainsaw Charlie and Blind in Texas reminded us all to dig out he back catalogue and crank the system up to No 11.

Blackie Lawless may finally be looking his age but he's still got the voice and musicianship to lead his troops through classics sounds and more.

A Crimson Idol medley was well-placed in the middle of the set, while the appearance of Blackie's moving mic stand is always a pleasure!

A superb stage show with video backdrops made the event a real occasion, despite the 10pm curfew which led to a rather sudden end after the more than welcome encores.

There was still time for a crashing drum solo from Mike Dupke while Doug Blair on lead guitar showed us of why live music is best. Mike Duda on bass completed the line-up.

Tuesday, September 11

Cabaret - Theatre Royal, Nottingham

Anyone turning up expecting to see Cabaret done Will Young-style will be in for a short sharp shock.

It's clear from this show that the lad doesn't just sing love songs for a living but is a consummate all-rounder, acting - indeed hamming it up - as the Emcee of the seedy Kit Kat Club.

He's loving it so much you could even believe Will Young was born to this role. He even seems completely at ease with his nude scene.

And that's great news for a show that's touring four regional venues before embarking on its big West End run.

 It's a mature performance from the man everyone wants to see, ten years on from his Pop Idol win.

He's perfectly cast, white-faced and manic, resembling one of Hogarth's grotesques as his role brings a chilling reminder of the changes affecting Berlin and Germany in 1931.

Will's clearly enjoying himself and deserves his share of the standing ovation at the final curtain.

His co-star Michelle Ryan has a silky strong singing voice but doesn't quite bring the gusto we'd hope for as Sally Bowles.

She works neatly with Clifford Bradshaw (played by Henry Luxembourg) as we follow their developing relationship through the inter-war years as Nazism slowly rises in Berlin.

We're treated to a string of top-notch well-known numbers as both jump aboard the helter-skelter anything-goes lifestyle of the party set.

Will's The Money Song, Michelle with Cabaret and some touching melodies as we begin to see how Sian Phillips' Fraulein Schneider might have a future with Jewish Herr Schultz (played by Linal Haft, who although he has a string of stage, TV and big screen credits, will be forever Maureen Lipman's son in the BT ads).

As we lose ourselves in the plot and mayhem of the debauched Kit Kat Club, it comes as something of a shock when Ernst Ludwig (Nicholas Tizzard) takes off his overcoat to reveal a swastika armband.

And that's where the lives of both couples begin to unravel.

Monday, August 13

Chicago, Royal Centre

With more midriff on display than in the ladies 200m final, it was more than just the singing and dancing raising the temperature among the audience.

The lovely dancers from this 2012 UK tour were actually matched by their male counterparts in costumes more revealing than a 100m world record breaker to the point that wolf-whistles and whoops could be heard from excitable individuals in the front stalls.

All good fun, and probably key to this rather knowing production where facial expression, a roll of the eyes and subtle moves on stage can reveal as much as the spoken word.

With the cast all-important to Chicago, it was energising to see each and every performer from the chorus to the bill-toppers working effortlessly together to deliver the anticipated pazazz (and All That Jazz).

We all know and love Ali Bastian (Roxie) from her time on Strictly – graduating to the all-singing, all-dancing big musicals from Hollyoaks via The Bill.

The same goes for leading man Stefan Booth (Billy Flynn), whose soap pedigree is identical. Corrie’s Tupele Dorgu (as Velma) must have wowed the casting director with her long legs – perfect for her routines stepping over the chair-backs!

And it was Brookie and The Bill for Bernie Nolan, too, who first rose to fame as lead singer of The Nolans.

Another actor relishing her role, she’s in sparkling form playing Mama Morton in one of her own favourite musicals.

All proved very much more accomplished than the annual soap awards might have you believe.

 The ragtime band permanently on stage looked, sounded and acted as if they were a well-loved fixture.

That must largely be down to their leader Adrian Kirk, hamming it up for the audience as conductors so often do!

Neatly-choreographed by Gary Chryst, based on the original work of Ann Reinking, the nimble leads of Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly found no routine beyond their grasp – with some of their moves mixing it well with the entire company for some of the show-stoppers.

Energetic, suggestive, and full of Razzle Dazzle, they hurtled helter-skelter towards their natural fate in 1920s Chicago.

Neatly juxtaposed in understated style is Jamie Baughan as Roxie’s husband, devoted and gullible but always a Mr Cellophane.

With the West End run drawing to a close this latest tour may be the last time for a while that you can enjoy the back-stabbing, double-dealing would-be Vaudeville stars unravel their web of deceit.

Saturday, July 14

Grandpa in my Pocket, Nottingham Playhouse

The buzz around Nottingham Playhouse for this ‘new’ classic was palpable… with the only question on everyone’s lips: “How are they going to shrink Grandpa?”

The answer was straightforward, clever and fun.

All that was required was a mixture of lively and savvy acting, imaginative stagecraft and an audience more than willing to suspend disbelief.

Nottingham Playhouse itself is the driving force behind this first-ever stage show of the popular CBeebies hit and the hard work pays off in spectacular style.

From the off, this energetic musical is a delight for youngsters and parents alike.

On TV it’s one of the shows the parents love and writers Mellie Buse and Jan Page know which buttons to press.

The accomplished cast, some of whom you’ll know from other children's television programmes (none of Grandpa’s TV cast are here), generate an unquestioning response from the auditorium as if the audience was part of the show. Perfect.

The story is about the relationship between a boy and his grandfather. Grandpa has a magic cap which shrinks him to a matter of inches tall… and that’s where the adventures begin.

We see the townsfolk of Sunnysands tell stories of the family we love from TV – and they use the muse of a dressing up box to help tell stories of Jason, Grandpa and the famous family and friends.

This clever tactic easily gets around any worries around the audience matching cast with characters as the familiar clothes we see week-in week-out are vivid and instantly recognisable.

The scenery is big, bold and ingenious at times – and we loved the use made of each seashore beach hut! Of course, as it’s a magical show it’s all pretend and the recurring fantasy of a shrinking grandpa keeps the kids on the edge of their seats.

With singing, dancing, puppetry and participation the pace of the action seldom lets up.

Tuesday, June 26

Avenue Q - Theatre Royal, Nottingham

If you’ve ever wondered about the hand life’s dealt you or the best way forward, then these wonderful puppets will point the way.

Their – at times – outrageous path through a section of their own lives may reveal the inspiration to help you through a troubled time too.

In that respect they owe an awful lot to The Muppets. Cleverly constructed puppets with carefully drawn characters who are, for the most part, knowledgable, well-meaning and of course fallible.

And it’s that fallibility which makes for such a great story in a comedy musical that’s now a worldwide hit.

From the off the songs tell us how ‘It Sucks to Be Me‘, thanks to new graduate Princeton, who turns up to live on Avenue Q with his new degree but no experience and no job.

One of his neighbours explains to another that he‘d still love to be a friend ‘If You Were Gay’ and then the adult realities of life are hammered home with the delightfully-written and performed ‘Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist’.

Are you starting to get the picture? Maybe not: this is by no means a “right-on” morality tale. It’s an adult show with the F-word just five minutes in. Human actors share the stage with puppets and puppeteers – and the mix works well!

We get a puppet vamp, puppet nudity and even puppet sex. But it’s not as outrageous as you might imagine. Hilarious, yes – but not indecent or even titillating.

There is some outrageous talent among the puppeteers though, with Katherine Moraz, Chris Thatcher and Sam Lupton among the leading lights.

So we witness a tender love story, a tale of true friendship and learn that ‘There is Life Outside Your Apartment’, but find that ultimately, many people never find the purpose Princeton seeks.

Does he find what he’s looking for? Why not give this a whirl and see for yourself? The show runs until Saturday with tickets available at all prices.

Thursday, June 21

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Royal Centre

Who’d have thought Douglas Adams would have predicted wikipedia?

For The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is precisely that, according to the introductory lines of this long-venerated work.

This delectable treat for sci-fi geeks of a certain age made it clear that hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Wonderfully played by a much-loved cast, this stage show recreates what the original radio production may have been like if recorded before a live audience.

Taking material from across the trilogy of five books it brought together the cast from the original radio series from 1978: Simon Jones, wearing well as Arthur Dent, Geoffrey McGivern as Ford Prefect; the lovely Susan Sheridan as Trillian, Mark Wing-Davey perfectly slipping into character as Zaphod Beeblebrox and the voice of Stephen Moore as Marvin, the Paranoid Android. "Life. Don’t talk to me about life…"

So we learn about life, the universe, and everything.

How time is an illusion and lunchtime doubly so; the reality brought to us by guest star "voice of the book", Christopher Timothy.

We embark on a romp through time and space, the history of planet earth, how it all actually makes sense and how Marvin saves us all.

The most famous lines brought a ripple of applause as aficionados lapped up this peculiar genre – although it has to be said that there was a predictable age range in the packed house for a book that’s almost 35 years old.

Is this sort of thing going to happen every time they use the Infinite Improbability Drive? Very probably.

Sunday, April 22

Dancing On Ice, Capital FM Arena

The razzle-dazzle sequined circus that is Dancing on Ice returned to Nottingham this weekend, pleased and proud to be back in the home city of Bolero.

Or as the master of ceremonies put it, “Torvill and Dean’s Dancing on Ice”.

Because it really was their show this time around, with not even perennial host Andi Peters in sight to keep the action bobbing along.

Jayne and Chris themselves were the comperes and anyone who’s ever heard them interviewed will know that it’s perhaps not their strongest role.

Out on the ice, though, they were most definitely in charge, with three spectacular routines to remind us that it was here that the legend began.

Their first set the standard for the rest of the evening while after the break they treated us to two more arrangements, one with Jayne in a Geri Halliwell-style union flag-design dress, paying homage to our sporting summer ahead.

In the contest itself, the ladies in the audience found themselves overexcited at the sight of Dancing On Ice 2012 champion, Emmerdale soap star Matthew Wolfenden – who was definitely a crowd favourite and always destined to be in the final. Singer Chico caused plenty of interest too.

Shirtless, muscular and with the ability to shake the parts you wouldn’t normally look at.

Actor Sam Attwater, Coronation Street’s Andy Whyment and tiny Hollyoaks actress Jorgie Porter made up the five who won through to the final on the night we were there ... but it wouldn’t be fair who reveal who triumphed in a Bolero skate-off.

Suffice to say it was a popular decision and went to the celebrity who so desperately wanted to win.

We were also treated to near-perfect routines from bendable actress Jennifer Ellison, smiley Sugababe Heidi Range and British skier Chemmy Alcott.

The standard was high and finalists were chosen by a text vote from the audience, which was amalgamated with the judges’ scores.

No flying this year, though, and after our local heroes departed the ice to the ovation they deserved, the first few numbers from the competitors seemed a little flat, even when the favourites graced the ice.

With the Arena rather less than filled to capacity, and tickets available in all areas for Sunday’s show, perhaps the public is cooling to Dancing On Ice.

Even the judging panel was slimmed down from five to three this year, comprising former Olympian and TV series coach Karen Barber, 2007 winner Kyran Bracken and comedy actor Christopher Biggins.

Thursday, March 1

The King and I - Theatre Royal, Nottingham

An explosion of colour and sound and two wonderfully cast leads, along with heroic stagecraft and scenery, whisk the audience off into another time and a far-off world.

We're often told that this is the true story of the King (played by the excellent Ramon Tikaram), willing to embrace the best of what the West can offer while fearful that it will take away much of what he loves about home.

It takes the guile and rapport of the British school teacher Anna (Josefina Gabrielle) to help him muddle along – and together their diplomacy and tact wins through.

While Ramon is probably best known for TV roles such as Ferdy in This Life and Qadim, in EastEnders, he's a natural in front of the live audience, subtly working the crowd in a not-too-knowing way.

Double Olivier-nominated stage and screen actress Josefina has scores of theatre credits from the regions and the West End and she breathes life into Anna in a performance that clearly won more than just the King's heart.

Aiko Kato, as Eliza in the performance of The Small House of Uncle Thomas, was a pint-sized star, expressive to the point where we were hard-pushed not to share her anguish, relief and joy during the set-piece ballet from Act Two.

Add 32 locally-cast children to the mix and it's an unforgettable theatrical extravaganza.

One of the great Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, it combines superb music with a strong story and this show boasts some great one-liners from the King which betray his deep wisdom, albeit in a mind constrained by his beliefs and upbringing.

Some of the most colourful stage costumes eased in a traditional Siamese theme, working well with scene changes involving giant golden statues, the all-important throne and a cityscape that made it so easy to lose yourself in the story and its nuances.

The March of the Siamese Children is of course a memorable number, along with I Whistle a Happy Tune and Shall We Dance, all performed with perfect orchestral backing.

The cast are clearly enjoying themselves so much – and their show more than stands the test of time and the rigours of a live performance.

At two hours and 25 minutes long, you'll leave in agreement that it's not over-long, but simply outstanding value and excellent theatre.

Wednesday, February 8

Swallows and Amazons, Nottingham Theatre Royal

Did you have adventures in the wilds of the countryside as a nipper?

Here's a tale of youngsters from a time when you could let your imagination run riot - and it's a feast of music, exploration and piracy for all ages.

And there's ample opportunity for the audience to use their imagination too, as some of the oldest children around prepare to do battle and defeat their enemies in front of a backdrop of clever scenery and props.

Swallows and Amazons is the Arthur Ransome book set in the Lake District and written in the 1930s and this touring production comes from the Children's Touring Partnership whose Goodnight Mister Tom recently visited Nottingham.

Any child who's old enough to read will enjoy this action-packed show. They will immediately appreciate the adult actors playing the children of two families, brought together during school holidays as they sail the lakes and islands of an idyllic era, something that makes it easy to relate to for the grown-ups in the audience too.

After a battle of supremacy between the crews of Swallow and Amazon, the youngsters join forces to take on the barbarian adults who almost succeed in curtailing their fun.

If you were ever a child, this show is a must. If you ever had a den, made weapons from a stick, camped out or spent a day exploring at the seaside, the actors here will vividly recall those feelings of freedom - and the threat posed by rival youngsters.

You'll also find an unexpected chance for audience participation which slots seamlessly into the show despite being quite a departure from what went before. Sail a Swallow or Amazon for yourself, join in the pitched battle and vote on whether the captain should walk the plank!

Monday, January 23

Roger McGough, Nottingham Playhouse

When a man gets to a certain age, it's time to look back.

Whether revisiting clear memories of learning to read during the war (by the light of Messerschmitts crash-landing outside), or hazier memories of chasing a ball that rolled into a minefield on Crosby beach, Liverpudlian poet Roger McGough delivers key ingredients to provoke private thoughts among the audience.

Occasionally, the watching guests would murmur in shared understanding of experience, events or fears. This was McGough on growing older. Looking further back, recalling people, places and events.

Yet in just a few words his own experiences were easily – and in many cases sympathetically – shared with his audience. Colourful language and choice descriptive phrases spark thoughts racing which are revisited hours later in one's quieter moments.

Who else could have described marrying in old age as "leading your partner into a macabre dance" or conjured up the thought that living each day as if it's your last might well involve lying in intensive care, wired up to medical machinery rather than a gung ho rollercoaster existence?

This is not a maudlin show. Far from it. It celebrates the rich tapestry of life and the ability to look back and put everything into perspective – summed up well in As Far As I Know, some thoughts on a (perhaps) quiet life, which elicits a wonderful audience response when read aloud by the writer.