... No faking, this is real quality Green Room, Cafe Royal Val Doonican One hour of cabaret did more than 20 years absence from the television to erase the memory of the cardigan and rocking chair. The sophisticated and expen sively-suited performer who took the stage at the Green Room seemed light years away from the image of the Val Doonican we recall. This quite simply is one of the best ...

... Gallery First Nighters 100 Birthday Marriot Hotel Celebration was the name of the game at the London Marriott Hotel when the Gallery First Nighters Club joined forces with the Players' Theatre to celebrate their 100 years of entertaining theatricals. This was indeed done with great style, with luminaries on the top table including Roy Hudd, Dorothy Tutin, Brian Murphy, Pamela Cundell and the ...

... The Good Old Days Leeds This bill, one in the spring season of music hall at the City Varieties, was notable for the welcome return to the variety stage of Freddie Davies, joint top here with Marion Monteomery. Filming Funny Bones has given Davies a new line in comedy, as he demonstrated in two spots during the evening. First came the budgie (thick up to here) routine his followers know and ...

... Clarke Peters Pizza on the Park Apparently Clarke Peters tested out the material for his two successful shows, Five Guys Named Moe and Unforgettable, at Pizza on the Park, so you never know where he might move on to with his latest tribute to composer Burt Bacharach and his songs, written mostly with lyricist Hal David. It is strange how the popular ity of music goes in phases. Many Bacharach ...

... Charlie Landsborough Worthing/Touring To acclaim Charlie Landsborough as a living legend is no lightly applied cliche but an assessment recognised by those dedicated aficionados who have followed his fortunes during the past 25 years or so. His sincerity, as both a singer and songwriter has estab lished him in the forefront of British country music, his person alised choice of programme and ...

... The Rhythmic Freddie Hubbard Sextet US trumpeter Freddie Hubbard has been inactive for more than a year, the victim of severe lip difficulties. Now he is easing back to full-time performance and this Rhythmic season marked a tentative first step in his rehabilitation. For many, Hubbard is the jazz musician who best represents the attractions of post-bop mod em jazz possessed of a bril liantly ...

... Sadler's Wells Les Grands Ballets Canadiens In its tour, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, under its director Lawrence Rhodes, presented the works of eight eminent choreographers. Opening the first of two pro grammes at Sadler's Wells, Mark Morris' Quincunx was a disap pointment. Set to Donizetti, the piece attempted to parody balletic convention but fell flat. And, too, Morris1 laidback style was ...

... Cambridge Theatre Mountview Showcase 1996 With more than a touch of irony, Mountview drama graduates seeking a foothold on the profession's ladder found themselves performing at the Cambridge Theatre, which is currently presenting the musical Fame, about a class of students doing exactly that. By the end of the afternoon would they feel they could live for ever or want the ground to swal ...

... Much potential in these acts March/Whittlesey AA Entertainments Showcases AA's signature tune and an impressive lightshow by East Midlands Sound and Lighting provided an exciting opening for this showcase, staged mainly for social clubs and pubs. Male duo Out and About appeared at very short notice, playing a medley of popular hits on keyboards and guitar, 30 years experience evi dent in ...

... Roots Ronnie Scott's Roots, an occasional touring and recording collective, boasts an all-saxophone front line and likes to emphasise the importance of saxophonic jazz. Its line-up includes a number of the very best of contemporary US soloists, headed by Benny Golson, a witty front man and stir ring improviser. He is joined by fellow tenorist Chico Freeman, Arthur Blythe on alto and Nathan ...

... The Albany Easter Show Isle of Wight Eighteen months ago, three inmates of the Isle of Wight's Albany Prison and one of the governors formed one of Britain's most amazing cabaret companies. Chequered Pasts & Co. During that time they have made quite remarkable strides--aided by one or two professional enter tainers among the inmates. By entertaining specially invit ed outside audiences to ...

... Joseph Justus Blewbury Blewbury, the Oxfordshire village, did composer Stephen McNeff proud with its premiere of his opera inspired by an obscure Biblical figure. Commissioned by the inhabi tants and given six performances in the parish church, it deserves a much wider audience. If Andy Rashleigh's libretto has a weakness, it is the charac terless conception of Matthias, the apostle chosen to ...