... Whitbread (Wales) Clubland Awards 1997 Port laiDot A capacity crowd packed Port Talbot's Seaside Social and Labour Club to see six of the finest acts in Welsh clubland give outstanding performances before collecting prestigious awards, donated by sponsors Whitbread (Wales) brewers. Local lass Kay voted Best Female Vocalist has a unique, powerful voice which is heard at its best in Shirley ...

... An Evening with Gary Wilmot Lewisham/Touring Forgetting for a moment his natural voice, inborn showbusiness talent, sense of humour and long apprenticeship, Gary Wilmot has one invaluable bonus going for him which is that audiences instinctively like him as a person. When you add to that image that his show plunders and is built on a conveyor belt of hits from stage and film musicals, then the ...

... Steeleye Span Tunbridge Wells It is nearly 30 years since Maddy Prior was first heard with Steeleye Span. Since then, the band has seen many changes of linenjp. It has been totally disbanded and then re-formed, and new arrivals have inevitably brought about both major and minor variations in the music played. But Prior's distinctive vocals have been there through many incarnations and it is ...

... The 7 Ages of Woman Liverpool When I first reviewed Barbara Dickson in 1974's John, Paul, George, Ringo-and Bert (at the Everyman, Liverpool), she provided part of the singing accompaniment with 'a plangent sweet clarity'. Now in The 7 Ages of Woman that ringing voice, reaching maturity, is full of voluptuous, mellow tones. Ages, devised and directed by Chris Bond, is at the Playhouse, ...

... Billy Smart's Circus Clapham For the first time in 27 years, Billy Smart's Circus has returned to Clapham Common. After a stunning show in 1996, expectations were high but this was a somewhat uneven programme. It also seemed strange to open with the best act- the thrilling double Russian swing of the Vorobievis. This troupe from Russia not only timed their somersaults and land ings on ...

... Lounge Lizards in Love Canal Cafe This star-snapping, slick, smooth, superbly ironic and damnably funny double-act struck me (if you will forgive the metaphor) as the healthy, bonny child of the superb Newsrevue, which runs at the same theatre. For we are in the land of musical comedy, transposed from the Newsrevue sphere of updated current affairs satire to a cleverly imagined double-act ...

... Estoril Cabaret Lisbon Lisbon hosts Expo 98 next year, and this will bring a lot of business to the expanding Portuguese capital. It will certainly benefit the casino at Estoril, one of the grandest in Europe. High Society Ballet, with Luis Velez, Renato Solnado and Troupe Larbi, presents a nightly dinner show here. The current one is called Lisbon Through Pessoa, presented in a vast black ...

... Maighread and Triona Ni Dhomhnaill Purcell Room Even to a confirmed lover of Irish traditional music, this second concert in MultiCulti's Women in Tradition series was exceptional. Irish sisters Maighread and Triona Ni Dhomhnaill have been pursuing separate careers for many years. But Triona's return from a long stay in the USA has enabled them to combine their formidable talents once more. ...

... The Good Old Days Leeds At the City Varieties, the autumn season of music hall continued with a packed house assembled to welcome top of the bill Vince Hill. This handsome, debonair, silver-haired singer opened with Make Someone Happy, followed by a Jolson medley. Then came calls for his noted number Edelweiss, all joining in the sec ond chorus. Audience participa tion thus established, the ...

... The Good Old Days Leeds It was a good job the new stage was in place at the City Varieties for the last show in the autumn season of music hall, to take the combined weight of the bill topping Roly Polys. Mo Moriand and her flab four (Marie, Sue, Sandy and Zeb) worked to backing tracks, the trio in the orchestral pit watching with the audience in amazement as these large ladies went through ...

... Rhodes on the Road Croydon Are you ready to party? television chef Gary Rhodes asked his audience at the Fairfield Halls. To which the unspoken answer from the massed, mostly female, ranks should have been: No, stupid, we've paid good money to watch you cook. Rhodes' problem is that like so many television experts he has become a willing victim of his own celebrity. He may be person able, ...

... The Hollywood Dames Wrea Green Perched a mere few miles outside Blackpool's bustle, Celebrities, in the ever improving Ribby Hall Holiday Centre, is working hard to establish itself as a major player on the mid-range cabaret circuit. It is a dream room for comedi ans, a good one for vocalists and of late a twice weekly show case for international female impersonators, the Hollywood Dames. ...