Panto in Nottingham: Dick Whittington, Nottingham Playhouse

The talented team which brought Dick Whittington to life this Christmas should be feeling very pleased with themselves today.

It’s not an easy panto to stage: there’s no handsome prince, princess in trouble – or magical transformations to help it bounce along.

But writer and director Kenneth Alan Taylor has sprinkled gold dust on an age-old tale for Nottingham audiences to enjoy for their annual festive treat.

With everyone dancing in the aisles as early as the start of the second act, he’s delivered yet again – this time in his 60^th year as a professional actor.

The musical numbers are the clear hits of this year’s show. LunchMoney Lewis’s Bills is a great send-off as Dick is banished from London. There’s a wonderfully funny set-piece as the crew of HMS Hopeful swim for shore, while the dancing girls’ chorus carry their routines to perfection. Dick and Alice, meanwhile, entertain us with their version of Olly Murs’ Dance With Me Tonight.

There is a nod to our island’s great seafaring history with a brilliantly-executed sea shanty medley, and the sounds of Rio prove a real cracker with a gently perspiring Florrie leading the singing and dancing with Sarah, as the audience encourage a reprise (or two). Let’s be honest through, the cast is certainly up for it and the party atmosphere sets the tone for the whole of the helter-skelter second half.

While the scene-setting first few acts may not hit the funnybone right from the off (there was a lot of “And here’s Dick”, ”Look, here’s Alice”, “Here comes Jack” – which may have been an in-joke but was a little too regular) it’s the compelling story, amazing scenery and a host of larger-than-life characters that keep all eyes glued to the stage.

It’s surprising to learn there are three debutantes at the Playhouse this year. The leading ladies of Alice Fitzwarren, played by Natalie Taylor Gray, and Tallulah the Cat, brought to life by Jasmine White, and the lively Matthew Chase, who is a shoe-in as Dick’s best pal Jack. They all slotted seamlessly into the ensemble.

We are treated to two gorgeous dames this year. John Elkington is back as Sarah the Cook, with a knowing nod to the grown-ups with his well-worn lines – and plenty of up-to-the-minute gags for the children. We were pleased to see Anthony Hoggard in a frock or two for this year’s manic appearance, giving his all as canny Florrie Fitzwarren.

The familiar faces of kids’ favourite Tim Frater as Dick and Rebecca Little as a delightfully scatterbrained Fairy Bowbells attract superb audience participation, while Kevin McGowan’s King Rat draws boos and hisses with his deathly pallour, twinkling costume and (I hope he takes this the right way) the way he simply oozes evil. There’s also a welcome cameo for some fluffy favourites from previous years…

The complex, colourful sets are anything but backdrops and transport us to another world in a show which simply flies by.

And the best gags this year? We always love the “butter face” line, while the children fell about as Sarah explained the reason Jack needed a new bottom – while trying to give him a leg up to the bunk in their ship’s cabin in another well-executed comic set-piece.

An Audience with Stuart Pearce at The Approach, Nottingham

The chants of "Psycho! Psycho! Psycho!" ring out as England’s No3 returns home to a city that clearly loves him, despite all the water that’s passed under Trent Bridge since he departed the club first as a player, and then twice as manager.

In the company of former Nottingham-based commentator Darren Fletcher, Stuart Pearce MBE was slickly led through a series of questions in the first half of the show.

It turns out he's a critic of the current regime - although of course, he does have an axe to grind.

He is immensely proud of what he achieved as manager of Nottingham Forest, while admitting he may have fallen short of what was required to turn the tide.

As for today’s troubles at the City Ground, he confides: “When you pick up the phone and ask about a loan player, they say ‘sorry – but you didn’t pay the wages of the last one’.”

And he believes the club has no foundations to build, something that will continue to hold it back as a force in football. 

Yet he still sees a role for himself there in future, which is exactly what the fans at The Approach were yearning to hear.

“I could still make a lot of people’s lives at this football club a lot better,” he said.

Clearly he’s found it a learning experience as he’s still in the frame for managerial jobs, giving us a coy lowdown on his chances for the vacant Fulham post.

We heard the well-rehearsed – and now legendary tale – of how Pearce used to advertise his electrical business in the Forest programme in the early days through to his penalty being saved in Turin in that ill-fated World Cup saga of Italia 90, where the player freely admits he left the pitch in tears after the now-infamous semi-final.

But it was the less-often told stories the packed out crowd were there to hear.

It was great to see him smiling and laughing as he recounted his tangles with Derby’s Ted McMinn, who left the pitch with bite marks across his chest… about Liverpool being good at shaking your hand – but only when they won… why the squad shouted “one-hundred-and-eighty” when Mark Crossley ran past naked… tales of Gazza’s exploits on England duty – and the real reason Bryan Robson missed the bulk of the 1990 World Cup.

The Star Wars Saga, Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham

Music from Episodes One to Six, by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

If you’re gearing up for Star Wars – Episode 7 at the multi-screen this Christmas, there can be few better ways to warm up than with a real audio treat to reel in the diehard fans ready for the next movie instalment.

This was auditory perfection in a wall of sound from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra covering the full range from haunting melody to strident marches.

When you’re at the cinema – or even at home with surround sound – it’s hard to appreciate just how good these score are. No wonder composer John Williams has so many Oscars to his name.

A warm, if slightly worrying, welcome from Imperial Storm Troopers in the foyer set the scene for what turned into a magical evening.

Conducted by Michael Seal, the 80-piece orchestra supported by the 100-strong Nottingham Trent University Choir wiped the floor with any version you’ve ever heard from the silver screen. The impressive percussion section was kept busiest, especially through the livelier sections. And with presenter Marc Silk bringing it all to live with his voice characterisation, it was a complete performance.

Running first through the themes of the newer films – that’s episodes one, two and three – after the interval they moved onto the more familiar tunes (for some of us, at least) of the earlier films from our youth, those of Episodes four, five and six – Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and The Return of the Jedi. 

The repertoire included the spine-tingling main theme, to set the scene from the off, the memorable Cantina Band number and the epic Ewok forest battle.

The sounds of the whole saga are down to the genius of Williams, from Leia’s theme to the Imperial March, better known as Darth Vader’s theme.

He brings the emotions out as we hear the soundtrack to Anakin and Amidala’s doomed love, and gets our adrenaline running with a spin through the asteroid field in the Millennium Falcon.

Roy Wood live in concert, Albert Hall, Nottingham

Waiting for a breather between the hits was always going to be a tough job at this gig as veteran rocker Roy Wood rattled through his extensive and wide-ranging back catalogue.

Battling a sore throat he bravely battled on to the end with the amazing Shell Naylor taking on more work as the gig progressed.

We were treated to just over an hour from the musical maestro and his nine-piece band but you can't begrudge what these days most likely passes for a short set: every track's a winner.

From 60s numbers from The Move to 70s Wizzard and more recent solo projects, the repeated message from the stage was "this was number one", "this was a number two" with a big, big wall of sound pretty much from start to finish.

It's a good job Roy gets the royalties every year from that long-lived Christmas number, as playing to crowds of 300 or so at venues like the Albert Hall won't pay many bills.

Our own voices took a pounding too, during the evening as we couldn't help but join in with Angel Fingers, I Can Hear the Grass Grow, See My Baby Jive, Flowers In The Rain, Fire Brigade, Blackberry Way, a bagpipe-blowing Are You Ready To Rock, kicking off with Ball Park Incident and finishing with… well, you can guess.

"Political" disagreements may have led to his departure from ELO in its formative years and while former The Move collaborator and ELO founder Jeff Lynne plays the Arena next year Roy's doing jobbing gigs at pubs and clubs around the UK.

That's a blessing for his fans. Up close and personal is what he does best and there was real warmth both ways between the stage and the audience for the duration of this rock and roll feast as we headed off into the rain a little earlier than we might have expected.

Freddie Flintoff's 2nd Innings at Nottingham's Theatre Royal

This was the tour to mark the 10th anniversary of England's cricketers winning the Ashes against all expectations ten years ago.

It might seem only yesterday we saw the inebriated Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff stagger out of the hotel and onto the open top bus for the team's parade around London.

But a lot has changed in that time, not just the haircuts (remember Pietersen's badger hairdo?) but the team, its fortunes and its prospects.

The start of the show gets off to a flyer with the famous footage, and Flintoff's account of the 24-hours after securing cricket's most sought-after trophy.

It mainly involves celebrations through drink, realising he was still in his whites after the night flew by so quickly, and his wife having to undress, bath and then dress him again before meeting the public.

Of course, during the course of the morning more drink was available and he recalls the hilarity of visiting then prime minister Tony Blair at 10 Downing Street with his team-mates the same day.

It's not all about celebrations though. We relive the all-rounder's last day as a Test cricketer, playing when he knew his knee wouldn't hold out very much longer. When he took the wickets and sunk to the ground, arms outstretched and eyes closed, it wasn't our of bravado... more to soak up the sounds, the smells, and the atmosphere – something he'd never do as a top-level player again.

Keeping the audience in stitches with some well-chosen tales, we know which of his former team-mates is called racehorse – and why.

The born entertainer recounts his time since retirement from the game, taking us through the jungle, where he was crowned King in Australia's version of Get Me Out of Here and reliving his one-bout boxing career.

He's onstage alongside journalist and friend Clyde Holcroft. The memories and laughs they conjure up serve to remind us why so many children and pets were named Freddie in 2005.

 

Dickie Bird in conversation at The Approach, Nottingham

As Nottingham's festival of Test Match cricket rolled into town, a select few were treated to an audience with the world-famous former umpire Dickie Bird.

From the outset he revelled in tales from the very earliest days of young men's dreams playing with Geoff Boycott and Michael Parkinson as teenagers. He still seems genuinely surprised – and proud – that the trio all made it into the national consciousness.

Harold D Bird OBE is a national treasure. Compere John Gwynne told us so, but he didn't really need to.

More frail than we remember him, Dickie explained how he'd had a serious stroke six years ago – one which debilitated him, robbed him of movement both on the right and left of his body, and left him both depressed and anxious.

In fact the most obvious sign of the stroke now is an affliction Dickie identifies as "emotion". Several times during this intimate evening his voice cracked and he welled up with emotion, unable to go on overcome the realisation of his achievements and by the adoration of fans who turned out to The Approach the night before the Trent Bridge Test to hear his words of wisdom.

We learned he can name 30 better cricketers than his old pal Boycott. The former Yorkshire and England opener comes in for some good-natured stick but when pressed Dickie confides that the pair are actually very close friends to this day, and he'd never say anything detrimental. The best all-rounder in history was Gary Sobers. The Queen drinks Campari and soda. The red ball should be used in all forms of the game. The DRS wicket review system should be consigned to the dustbin.

This was his first function in four years, something born out of his new association with Yorkshire cricket club, for whom he used to bat, and where he is now President.

He said: "After the stroke I was down and out. And to be made president of Yorkshire County Cricket Club has given me a new lease of life. I've felt a new man, a different man – it's done me the world of good."

And it shows.

Boycott and Aggers - back at the Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham