... Rich Hall: the Shame Spiral Edinburgh/Touring You have got to hand it to Rich Hall-here is a comic who really does his homework. Anyone who can come to Scotland and perform a pun-ridden song that manages to get both Preston-pans and Kirkcaldy in, and keep the scansior going has to be doing something right. In fact it was Hall's alter- ego, his uncle Otis 'You'd be surprised now many men are ...

... Side by Side by Jerome Kern Covent Garden Festival: Peacock Startling to find a concert celebrating the life and work of Jerome Kern that missed out on standards such as The Folks Who Live on the Hill, Dearly Beloved and even Long Ago and Far Away. But then this was a show calculated to search out the iar, especially from the early Broadway years. And no one could really complain if we got ...

... Childhood stardom-- on a high note? By John Martland Like England's cricketers following their early exit from the World Cup, the team surrounding Charlotte Church, the remarkable thirteen-year-old soprano from Wales, was very much on the defensive in LJttte Big Voice (Presentable Productions for R4 Tuesday, June 1). Perhaps they had been read ing the review describing her chart-topping album ...

... ...

... Kim Criswell Covent Garden Festival: The Talk of London/Peacock If anyone had ever doubted Kim Criswell's versatility before the beginning of this year's Covent Garden Festival, it is unlikely they will have any such reservations now. As the event's featured artist, Criswell was interviewed by Ned Sherrin for radio and gave a masterclass at the Donmar Warehouse, but the real highlights came ...

... Eric Bibb Jazz Cafe/Touring Native New Yorker Eric Bibb, now ensconced in Sweden, has gathered together a group of musicians from across the world to accompany him on this month-long tour of Great Britain and Ireland. Of dapper appearance in contrast to the somewhat clinical surroundings confident and at ease, Bibb proceeded to show case a selection of self-penned songs from his latest album, ...

... An Evening with Nigel Planer Swindon Twenty years on from his pioneering late-night work at the Comedy Store in London's Soho, Nigel Planer has moved his stand-up routine in an entirely new direction. as wen as oeing a iv actor and comedian, he is now an accomplished and challenging poet to date largely unpublished and a novelist with one showbiz novel, The Right Man, in print. It was these ...

... Rick Wakeman-Half a Century Shanklin, Isle of Wight Rick Wakeman recently celebrated his 50th birthday, and within three days of the party was premiering his brand new show, Half a Century. St Saviour's on the Cliff was the perfect venue in more ways than one. Now a born-again Christian, Wakeman performed many of his musical highlights in a quite remarkable show. To help celebrate, he brought ...

... A skim through famous hits Glasgow/Touring Kenny Rogers Standing with the light bouncing off that famous white goatee, Kenny Rogers is very tanned and trim for a living legend. But this old trouper gave the up-for-it Royal Concert Hall audience precious little incentive to get up and groove which is a terrible shame given the quality of his songs. Maybe it was the perfunctory way Rogers and ...