... Timeless/Ola Ronnie Scott's Much in demand as a session and band singer, Ola is slick and gutsy, evoking shades of Teddy Pendergrass, Wilson Pickett and Michael McDonald. But here, he was doing his own thing- jazz- funk and lots of it. First off, though, support duo Timeless shared their vision of a world swirling with smoky ballads. Flo Harrison The Voice and arranger/composer Gerry Prince, ...

... The Searchers Bootle Liverpool band The Searchers rose to prominence in 1963. Their first No 1, Sweets for My Sweet, began a chart career which flourished into the seventies. The group now presents a show built around their 40 years in music. They opened with Sweets for My Sweet, and soon the cavernous Bootle Town Hall was resounding to rock'n'roll, with lights and dry ice adding to the ...

... Tribute sails a well used course Late one evening recently on Radio 3. there was one of those spontaneous incidents which broadcaster Brian Johnston used to describe as 'champagne moments'. For no apparent reason, the continuity announcer played Dawn Upshaw's exquisite version of an obscure Rodgers and Hart ballad, He Was Too Good to Me. Upshaw was heard again in Composer of the Week: ...

... An Evening with Charles Dickens Mold Charles Dickens performed specially written episodes from his novels before packed houses, and it is this aspect of the novelist's career that Richard Moore aims to reproduce in his new one- man show. He certainly manages it at Clwyd Theatr Cymru's Emlvn Williams Theatre, even down to the packed houses. Moore opens with Sikes and Nancy, a distillation of ...

... Tall Stories Drill Hall The Shout returns with what is fast becoming its trademark vibrancy. To a backdrop of grainy images of immigrant New York, nine women and seven men give their all to the a cappella music- theatre pieces of Tall Stories, created bv Richard Chew and Orlando Gough. High Hopes is a cycle of over lapping voices about early 20th century immigrants to the US. Tall Stories ...

... Issy van Randwyck Pizza on the Park Perhaps Issy van Randwyck was frustrated with being described as the sexy blonde bombshell in Fascinating Aida, who knows. Whatever her reasons, she has said farewell to the group and is doing her own thing. Not that creating a one- woman cabaret is a new venture for the Dutch chanteuse, for she appeared at the Music Room four years ago with musical director ...

... Diva delights, Las Vegas style Embassy Rooms La Cage As the UK gears itself up for the very British concept of pantomime, this show offers us its own brand of dame, Las Vegas style. The award-winning production has repeatedly played to full houses for the past 15 years, and its relatively simple formula men dressed as famous women and lip-synching to their songs belies the striking impact that ...