... DAVID ESSEX ON TOUR OA VID ESSEX, recently named Joint Showbiz Personality of the Year in the Variety Club awards, is to tour Britain this month- taking in for the first time several cabaret club venues as well as the more usual rock concert halls. With a top calibre backing band, including drummer Kenny Jones of Small Faces fame, Essex opens his tour at the Manch ester Apollo on March 15. ...

... Live threat to Pavilion Bournemouth STAGE REPORTER BOURNEMOUTH is in danger of losing its last live theatre venue--the town's catering and entertainments committee is recommending the closure of the Pavilion for part of the year. It follows an increasing operating loss from £1,600 in 1973 to £50,000 in the 1977/8 season. And the committee say the loss could be as much as £100,000 within five ...

... Marc Anthony debut at Talk of the Town INTERNATIONAL powerhouse per former Marc Anthony is to make his debut at the Talk of the Town in a four-week season from Monday, February 12. Of Greek parentage, born in Cairo, and now resident in the USA. Marc, fluent in an abundance of different languages, has perfected an American -style cabaret, perform ance with a Mediterranean touch. His London ...

... La Sylphide LONDON FESTIVAL BALLET PETER SCHAUFUSS' newly-worked revival of La Sylphide for London Festival Ballet is a rare delight. He has endeavoured to rediscover as much as possible of the 1836 production by his Danish compatriot, August Bournonville, and he has captured the essence of this moving romantic ballet through poetry and magic. David Walker's designs and John B. Read's ...

... Stratford show A MEMORABLE variety evening at the Theatre Royal. Stratford East, held in honour of Abe Wolffe, ex- councillor. ex-Mayor of Newham and member of the theatre board, raised £937.50 to be donated towards the theatre's new central heating boiler Highlights of the cabaret show, directed by Philip Hedley before a packed house, included 82-year-old music hall artist Leslie Sarony who ...

... MARTHA GRAHAM confessed that she was taking a risk in offering a work about Mary Queen of Scots to the British public, but she need not have worried for Episodes (a revival from the 1959 production) is a model of elegant and decorous taste which tells the saga of Mary's tragic life through a series of sym bolic episodes. It is a sombre piece to music by Webem with a rich array of mainly ...

... THE MANCHESTER-based Nor thern Ballet Theatre are about to embark on an eight-week tour, fol lowing their tenth birthday season. It included two world premieres. Rustic Variations was created for the company by Charles Czarny. featuring the music of Goldmark's Rustic Wedding Symphony, with designs by Joop Stockvis. The second premiere was Madame Butterfly, choreographed by Jonathan ...

... Maas Movers ICA THE SINGLE programme which Maas Movers presented recently at the ICA, in order to raise funds for the group's continued existence, demonstrated the zest, fire and imagination of these black dancers. They are talented and exciting to watch, at their best when they are required to move with rhythmic en ergy, though not so happy when slow and controlled linear exten sions are ...

... The Tempest BALLET RAMBERT IT WAS A foregone conclusion that Ballet Rambert's The Tempest, which received its British premiere at Sadler's Wells last week, would be an enormous success, for with Glen Tetley as choreographer, Arne Nordneim as composer, Nadine Baylis as designer and John B. Read in charge of lighting, it was safe to assume that all the creative elements would be blended ...

... LIEBESLIEDER WALZER ROYAL BALLET IN A SEASON that has concentrated more on reviving important works of the past than on creating new ones it is surprising to find that, out of only two new works, the Royal Ballet should have chosen one that was first mounted on New York City Ballet in 1960. Balanchine's Liebeslieder Walzer (premiered by the Royal Ballet on April 19) is the work of a ...

... New hotel cabaret room A NEW cabaret room has opened at /he Shillingford Bridge Hotel, near Wallingford in Oxfordshire, to seat 150 people. Proprietors Brian and Judy Mill- son bought the hotel just before Christmas, and, following redecora- tion, inaugurated a cabaret policy at the venue on Saturday, February 3, with an appearance by Ted Rogers. The Bryfos Agency have been appointed sole ...

... ANN EMERY IN SYDNEY REVUE COMEDIENNE ANN EMERY has just flown off to Australia to begin rehearsals for a new show which opens at The Music Loft theatre restaurant in Sydney on February 23. Ann will co-star with Lee Young in a new revue entitled On Together which is con tracted to run for a minimum season of six months. The revue will feature comedy, singing and dancing with Ann's choreo ...