... Breeze casts hypnotic spell Billingham Michele Breeze's Millennium Show With so many cutbacks in entertainment schedules nowadays, what a pleasure it is to see a lavish production where no expense is spared, and audiences can escape, if only temporarily, from the bleakness of our early winter to the razzle dazzle and brilliance of bnght neon lights, reminiscent of glitzy Hollywood ...

... Partners in pantomime A little over a century ago saw the genesis of a partnership that was to bring joy to generations of theatregoers across the land. Gordon Irving charts the achievements of two remarkable impresarios In the world of pantomime the name of Howard and Wyndham was prominent in the fifties and sixties of this fast-disappearing century. Theatrical productions under the H&W ...

... A Cavalcade of Comedy Halifax It was standing room only at the Belgrave Social Club, where seven stand-up comedy acts took the stage in A Cavalcade of Comedy, a showcase promoted by the locally based Roger Davis Associates. After a warm-up by Paul Walker, who sang the Smokie hit Alice as a change from the string of gags to come, he took on the duties of compere and it was on with the show. The ...

... The Hamilton Browne Christmas Roadshow Thornaby Soul singer Hamilton Browne has. over the years, toured with such greats as the Stylistics and the Four Tops, and can adapt his shows to suit all types of audi ences. With Christmas being party time, he encourages rev ellers at the Golden Eagle Hotel to join him on the dance floor, and the best volunteers who are game enough to twist the night ...

... PSYCHOANAIYSIS BY ACTING Good old Samuel Beckett. One of my favourite tales about the old curmudgeon is the time he was walking down a Paris street on a glorious spring morning with a friend, breathing in the fresh air, with the sun on his face. The pal happily announced. You know, on days like these it makes you feel glad to be alive. To which Beckett deadpanned back. Well, I wouldn't ...

... Hot Ice Show Touring Spectacular is the only word to describe the Hot Ice Show's touring production at Edinburgh's Festival Theatre. Despite having had to push in the stops to cope with the confines of the stage after their summer season in the ice arena in Brighton, this is a show which combines song batics, dance, theatre, comedy and the latest technology to cre ate an explosion of ...

... Search for a Star Final Bridgend Seven acts won their way through to the final of Pencoed Royal British Legion Club's Search for a Star Contest, and, despite the absence of comedy and variety, the all-musical evening was enjoyed by a most appreciative capacity audience. Immaculately dressed bal- ladeer Keith David got the show off to a fine start with a Singing the Blues medley, and ended his ...

... JUST LOOK AT 'GYPSY' NOW It would be wrong of me to conceal the fact that actress Tracy Whitwell is a friend of mine. Back in Gateshead when Tracy, who has always known her own mind, went off to drama school in the Smoke, there were weird stories tillering back to us about how she had become a gypsy. What sort of gibberish is this? Well. I didn't really like drama school when I was there ...

... NO MORE A NOMAD was once a nomad of the industrial north moving from job to job. Had it not been for a lifelong friendship with playwright John Godber, Andrew might never have appeared on stage and still be TTirilVIII^, (4 V.V/U1 IIIW 1(1111 around Castleford, near Leeds. Andrew may be familiar to you as the man who sits in the bus shelter with Victoria W(xxl on her TV show, but more ...

... An Evening with Ken Morley Halifax An advert in The Stage changed the life of a supply teacher working in Brixton. The teacher was Ken Morley, now better known as Reg Holdsworth of Coronation Street. Morley, who has just left the Street, is now touring the the atres meeting fans and talking about his rareer being expertly interviewed on stage by John Farrow. I saw the pair at the fog bound ...

... Jimmy Tarbuck and Kenny Lynch Blackpool Even Jimmy Tarbuck cracks on that he can't remember how many years it is since he last performed a Blackpool season. But it certainly wasn't in anything like the luxurious surrounds of the Pleasure Beach's flagship cabaret venue the Paradise Room. And it wasn't in the middle of winter either, bemoans Jimmy Tarbuck. My agent missed that bit out when ...

... Norma Winstone Pizza on the Park Norma Winstone's first set at the Pizza on the Park began so well. Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen's delicious Like Someone in Love slithered smoothly into Frank Loesser's If I Were a Bell, and then, as far as the sparse audience was concerned, it all seemed to go downhill. Tasteful versions of Dave Grusin's Wait for Me, along with Cloudy Morning, and the ...