Music

Writer: Amanda Whittington Director: Jacqui Honess-Martin Musical Director: Richard Reeday Movement Director: Jenni Jackson Reviewer: Janet Jepson In the 1950s and 60s, everyone knew a local girl who had ‘gone to stay with her auntie for a couple of months’. She would always return, with no sign of roses in her cheeks from fresh country air, but looking a bit ...

Conductor: Freddie Tapner Reviewer: Scott Matthewman Earlier this year, Overtures Piano Bar opened regularly following a 2018 pop-up version, named after the famed New York bar Marie’s Crisis, was so successful. The format is simple: a pianist with a large musical theatre repertoire plays show tunes and the audience sings along. Since opening, the Marble Arch venue has gained popularity ...

Reviewer: Lauren Humphreys 2019 marks 50 years since The Beatles walked over that famous crossing on Abbey Road, 50 years since they played on the roof of the Apple Corps. building on Savile Row and 49 years since they released their last album. Seen by over two million people worldwide, Let It Be, continue their celebration of the music of ...

Composer/Project Lead: Kevin Malone Orchestra: Orchestra of Opera North Conductor: Robert Guy Soloist: Andy Long (violin) Reviewer: Ron Simpson A Day in the Life is described as a “project” rather than just a concert or a composition and, with Kevin Malone’s spoken introductions having hints as to the best way to listen to the pieces, the whole operation has a ...

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi Libretto: Antonio Ghislanzoni Conductor: Sir Richard Armstrong Director: Annabel Arden Reviewer: Ron Simpson At 227 in the Classic FM Hall of Fame is Aida, followed by (in brackets) “includes Grand March and Celeste Aida”. That sums up the problem with the opera: its general popularity rests on the first two of four acts and, also, to an ...

Born Bernadette Lazzara in February 1948, New Yorker Bernadette Peters has become a byword for Broadway glamour. Starting her career at just 3 years old, Peters secured her Actors Equity Card aged 9.  Changing her surname from Lazzara to Peters to avoid typecasting, Bernadette appeared as one of the Hollywood Blondes in a national tour of Gypsy in 1961. In ...

Led by the Massed Gaelic Choirs of Scotland Reviewer: Dominic Corr Over fifty thousand individuals reportedly speak Gaelic throughout Scotland. As an indigenous language, it’s official status is not recognised by either the UK nor European Union, though thanks to the Gaelic Language (Scotland) 2005 Act it is here, to an extent. Attempts to revitalise it’s use are ongoing, one ...

Director:  Gareth Hulance Reviewer:  Richard Maguire As hotly anticipated as this year’s Eurovision is The West End Eurovision where seven London musicals battle it out for the best performance of a song that has featured in Europe’s biggest music competition. Indeed, with all the competitors’ glitter and sequins The West End Eurovision is camper than the real thing, and has enough abs ...