Music

Reviewer: Helen Jones Back in 1981, the then 20-year-old Kim Wilde released her debut singleKids In America. A huge success reaching number two in the charts. Hit followed hit. Wilde became an icon of the 80s, being awarded The Brit for Best Female Vocalist in 1983. Fast forward thirty-seven years and Kim Wilde is out on tour and a new ...

Reviewer: Carol Lovatt The epitome of cool is, without doubt, Mr Bryan Ferry, now at the tender age of 72, he is back on the road with a global tour much to the delight of his legion of fans and last night saw him play the impressive Symphony Hall in Birmingham, a venue fitting in both style and grandeur and one which ...

Director: Mark Holthusen Reviewer: Jay Nutall The Tiger Lillies have always been notoriously difficult to categorise. Their style crosses so many genres that, paradoxically, it has become a genre itself. Since their conception in 1989 this trio have been described as the forefathers of Brechtian punk cabaret with a style that merges macabre magic of pre-war Berlin with the savage ...

Reviewer: Lauren Humphreys It seems silly to label Nashville based, Texan troubadour Jarrod Dickenson a new, rising star, he’s an artist who’s been on the scene since 2010. However, now that the appetite for musical Americana is gathering momentum in the UK, Dickenson’s reputation is building, and with speed. He’s in Glasgow at the world-famous King Tut’s with just his ...

Conductor: Martin Yates Reviewer: Selwyn Knight Six weeks after its postponement due to severe wintry weather, we assemble in Birmingham’s Symphony Hall on one of the hottest days of the year so far for the latest Friday Night Classics offering from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO), this time celebrating the music from great West End (and Broadway) musicals. ...

Conductor: Barry Forgie Reviewer: David Robinson Dunkirk and The Battle of Britain, two of the most pivotal moments in World War Two, one on a French beach and the other in the skies above the English Channel, both it would seem worthy of revisiting and celebrating on a regular basis. One was a miraculous naval escape and the other a ...

Reviewer: James Garrington Cabaret artist Stage Door Johnny is, he says, a fan of musical theatre and Less Miserable is his “love letter and hate mail to Broadway and the West End.” Anyone who has seen any of the Forbidden Broadway series will know the sort of thing – popular show numbers parodied and sent up, and for many who ...

Composer/Musical Director: Jason Robert Brown Reviewer: Ava Eldred Probably best known for his cult musicals The Last 5 Years and Songs for a New World, Jason Robert Brown has been contemporary musical theatre’s worst kept secret for the best part of a decade. This one-off outing, as part of BBC Radio’s prestigious Friday Night is Music Night, is a sophisticated ...