... A Tribute to Frankie Vaughan Liverpool Friends and admirers of the late Frankie Vaughan gathered at the Empire Theatre to pay tribute to one of Liverpool's favourite sons. After an overture from The Danny Mannix Orchestra, compere Frank Carson opened the show with a few comical 'crackers'. There was a brief stint from the distinguished Wyn Calvin and The Siege Dancers made two fleeting ...

... BY JOHN MARTLAND The mouth-watering prospect of hearing two of our leading humorists, Alan Bennett and John Bird, exploring the theory and practice of comedy, made That Mocking Bird (Tony Staveacre Productions for R2, Saturday, March 11) required listening. It was hardly surprising that this was a chummy affair, because they have known each other since working together in the sixties on the ...

... Barry Mason--Remember Delilah Blackpool There are singers of songs, writers of songs and singer/songwriters. Blackpool-raised Barry Mason falls into the second of these categories. Mason penned the words to songs with sales of around 50 million since the early sixties, so who cares if his delivery of them is not quite as polished as that of Tom Jones (Delilah) or Engelbert Humperdinck (The ...

... Comedy Bonanza 2000 Blackpool For his 13th consecutive Grand Theatre summer show director/ producer Jon Conway has opted to preserve a fast dying form of variety- the traditional seaside show Twenty years since last top ping a Blackpool summer bill, John Inman has returned to his adopted home. His roots are in the type of entertainment this show strives to re-create, his name is synonymous ...

... Stunning cast needs more to do Traverse Shetland Saga Live music has become something of a motif to recent Traverse Theatre productions, instantly establishing a sense of place. And so it is in Sue Glover's new play, with Paul Johnston's excellent tunes and elegant refrains given a bold onstage rendition by Annalie Hayward and bringing a sense of the wildness of Shetland to the stage. It is ...

... The League Against Tedium: I Am, I Will Meadows Theatre It takes a brave or foolish man to tempt the fates the way Simon Munnery is doing in his new show. He makes quite an entrance on the top of a customised Ford Transit, wielding a computer key board like a guitar. Framed by a fast-moving multimedia backdrop fizzing with lines and images, he proceeds to attack the Internet revolution in ...

... Putting on the raunch Pizza on the Park Julie Wilson and Steve Ross It has been six years since Julie Wilson visited London, and though it may not seem proper to say it, 50 years since she starred here in the original production of Kiss Me, Kate, but age has by no means withered her sauciness or style. Apparently Wilson's appearance at the Music Room is almost an accident, for the original ...

... Love arranged for others to shine By JOHN MATLAND What a pleasure it was to hear one of the bes-liked personalities ever to grace the UK music scene, Geoff Love, being celebrated in The Arrangers (BBC Scotland for R2, from Tuesday, August 8). Although he died aged 73 in 1991. throughout his long career as an arranger, composer, musical director, conductor and much more. Love seemed to have ...

... Darkness and Disgrace Rosemary Branch This cabaret, inspired by the songs of David Bowie, could have so easily been a pretentious joyride, perfect for the singer/ songwriter's fans, but lost on the uninitiated. Fortunately, it is nothing of the kind, and so much more. Those people who count Let's Dance as their favourite Bowie track may at first be disappointed by the programme. It is a show ...

... Keeping us at arm's length Pizza on the Park Neile Adams There is bound to be a buzz about Neile Adams' London cabaret debut-not only did she perform on Broadway in Kismet and The Pajama Game, but she was also married to Hollywood legend Steve McQueen. However, Adams' first set at the Music Room is not quite as interesting and glamorous as her past seems to have been. She may hint that her ...

... Romeo et Juliette Royal Opera House Nicolas Joel's blandly old-fashioned production of Gounod's opera, first seen in 1994, has heavy architectural decor, Nordic gloom lighting and much period shrieking for the Capulet ball. Why is the R0H reviving so dis mal a staging of a fine score, aglow with youthful passion, transparently orchestrated especially as regards woodwind fleet of foot and with ...

... CAA Dinner Bloomsbury Posthouse In recent years, the Concert Artistes Association annual dinner has introduced some unfamiliar performers in its cabaret, and this year there were two acts new to me. The Jelly Rolls are a smaller but no less weighty offshoot of the Roly Polys, created by ex-Roly Poly Audrey Leyboume. There are three of them, the largest a bespectacled charmer in the mould, and ...