... Dazzled where the danger is Chessington Big City Circus Unlike me, most visitors had probably not gone to Chessington World of Adventures to see the circus. Though it has a long tradition there, it has to be something special to lure 1,800 people away from the theme park's hair-raising rides. And Big City Circus did just that. Producer/director Rory Holbum and circus consul tant Ali Hassani ...

... Capercaillie Croydon Capercaillie have avoided the blandness trap often fallen into by musicians who cross over from traditional to popular music by retaining the sheer energy of the material the founder members played in the dance halls of Argyll nearly 15 years ago. Their set consisted largely of the stronger songs, such as The Crooked Mountain and Why Won't You Touch Me, a couple of old ...

... Peggy Sue's Rock and Roll Showbar Blackpool Elvis Presley is alive and well and (usually) hovering above the stage at the Central Pier. He is in good company, too Gene Vincent, Dion, the Vemon Girls, Connie Francis, Lord Rockingham and even the Beverley Sisters all take their turn in the latest incarnation of what was once the end of the pier the atre, more recently Maggie May's and now Peggy ...

... Mark Walker Cleveleys A handful of years ago he was the country's youngest television game show host, having leapt to fame via comedy impression series Copycats. Mark Walker was in the right place at the right time and thanks to a combination of talent, looks and the press coverage that comes when you dad, Roy Walker, is already c famous comic, the work appeared to be his for the taking. So ...

... Magical Musical Mystery Show Worthing/Touring Five decades of the best of pop music were represented in various moods and idioms when Barry Walker presented his Magical Musical Mystery Show at the Pavilion, taking in the whole spectrum from Abba to The Phantom of the Opera. beginning witn tne classic Unchained Melody, the journey followed through to the sixties with those hits popularised by ...

... Impish tribute to the Master Vaudeville A Talent to Amuse Peter Greenwell, whose impish personality has hitherto been seen mainly in cabaret rooms in London, has now transferred it to a larger stage. But I am not quite sure whether it is as effective in this milieu, particularly as his show concentrated entirely on the works of Noel Coward, whose last accompanist he was. Devoted to a ...

... Belladonna Salford Until I went to The Willows recently the only all-girt band I had heard was the famous Ivy Benson Band and the name Belladonna meant deadly nightshade. The four girls calling themselves Belladonna are as remote from Benson as the Beatles from Tchaikovsky. Comprised of Andi (lead gui tar), Joan (bass guitar), Zoey (drums) and the long-legged Emma on lead vocals, even those ...

... Boy next door is no small talent Royal Albert Hall Daniel O'Donnell There were times during tnis show when I felt like the proverbial Martian who has landed in the middle of a cricket match and cannot work out what is going on. Why did the audience wnoop with joy as the young man on stage gyrated his hips in the middle of All Shook Up or stroked his trouser pocket during Sweet Caroline? Why ...

... Palestrina Royal Opera House The life of the composer, Hans Pfitzner, and the style, rather than the substance of the music, are more interesting than the opera itself. In truth it is a very dull, undramatic affair, with a 105-minute opening act that, for most of its length, has only four characters on stage, though never ail at the same time. There is Palestrina himself, heartbroken after ...

... La Boheme Glasgow For a solid rendition of a classic work, Scottish Opera's La Boheme seems a safe bet once more this winter. In Daniel Slater's production, the orchestra, conducted by Stephen Clark, is excellent throughout and each of the leads sing finely Rodolfo (Ian Storey), Mimi (Elizabeth Collier), Marcello (David Barrell), and Musetta (Ann Archibald) showering the audi ence with the ...

... The Ella Fitzgerald Songbook Show Pizza on the Park There will never be another singer like Ella Fitzgerald, but the ladies who paid tribute to her musical memory at Pizza on the Park have no need to stand too much in her shadow. insteaa, Barbara Jay, Maxine Daniels and Tina May offer their own versions of those songs we associate with such a memorable performer, and acknowledge the great ...

... ...