... That's Entertainment 2000 Weymouth Weymouth Pavilion's summer show is among the best seen along this coast in recent decades. Cnsply directed by Frank Woodruff, it replicates the format of 40 years ago with three star names heading a strong supporting company. On stage throughout is Anthony English's accomplished five-piece band; there are the four excellent Showtime dancers choreographed by ...

... Flattering imitations Blackpool Legends 2000 One of last summer's surprise Blackpool success stories has this season replaced the ill-fated Comedy Zone to take over Central Pier's revamped auditorium and looks perfectly at home in the cabaret surroundings. The formula itself is just the same a rotating bill of acts who have made their own names through adopting other people's, a backing band ...

... Palladium Nights Blackpool Who better to reopen a long lost summer season venue than Danny La Rue? He may have a bus pass in his clutchbag, but La Rue is one of the last of his generation of performers a tireless profe ssional who always fills his shows with new and established talent. The first season show in the revamped Winter Gardens Pavilion is at once a look back and a step forward. For ...

... Nuit des Hommes Almeida An air raid siren wail which rises and falls, varies in intensity, takes on the quaver of a musical saw, prefaces the entry of young Wilhelm and Alice wearing head mics. As chorus they top and tail their odyssey. A last supper, durine which he vearns for her body, presages their eager entry into the arena of war. He becomes soldier, she war corre spondent and Kali. ...

... The Snow Maiden Royal Opera House Any chance to penetrate further into Rimsky-Korsakov's magical operatic universe is always an excitement. The Kirov gave a single concert performance of this, his third opera. Bom with an icy heart incapable of love, the Snow Maiden, daughter of Father Frost (sung at the premiere by Stravinsky's father, Fyodor) and Beautiful Spring, has intimations left among ...

... I'Amico Fritz Holland Park Theatre After the tremendous success of Cavalleria Rusticana (1890), Mascagni next sought a simple libretto, with a flimsy plot, so the opera could be judged on the music alone. The result is an opera with a story that is simplicity itself. When wealthy Alsace landowner Fritz Kobus declares he will never marry, his friend Rabbi David wages he will. Fritz ...

... Encores for French legend Barbican Hall Juliette Greco France's great icon Juliette Greco walked on stage still pale as snow, a fairy tale queen clad in black velvet with shiny black hair and her famous fringe. Accompanied by Brel's musical collaborator and her husband Gerard Jouannest on piano, with a quartet including Sergio Tomassi on accordion, Greco whispered, hissed, shouted and moaned ...

... Sign up for Service memories BY JOHN MARTLAND Exactly 55 years ago this month, and only a few weeks after Germany's surrender brought an end to the war in Europe, the Labour Party swept to a landslide victory in the General Election. One of the first decisions made by Clement Attlee's government was to affect the lives of two and a half million young men during the next 18 years. These were ...

... Variety--the final Frontier Pamela Watford discovers a Yorkshire club which defies the industry's recent bad fortunes Compiled By Peter Hepple Most of the big glittering nightspots of yesteryear have long gone, but one of the most famous Yorkshire venues, Batley Variety Club, is still going after 19 years as the Frontier. Owner of the club, Derek Smith, has seen many changes since the early ...

... Performers get time to shine Criterion Birmingham School of Speech and Drama This nicely balanced showcase for graduating students from the BSSD's One-year Diploma Course in Professional Studies in Acting opened with an excerpt from Patrick Marber's first play. Dealer's Choice. Andrew Hobbs and James Daflems' convincing performances reflected the cynical, manipulative feel of the piece, and ...

... Revolution at rapid-fire pace Royal Opera House Semyon Kotko Prokofiev's 'revolutionary' opera, first produced in the Soviet Union in 1940. is interesting both historically and musically. Histoncaliy because Prokofiev, who had initially made his reputation in Paris, from where he had returned two years earlier desired to be accepted as the country's leading composer and had to find a ...

... Mazeppa Royal Opera House Premiered in 1884 at The Bolshoi. Moscow, Tchaikovsky's piece is a powerful work based upon the story of hetman Mazeppa 's attempt to free the Ukraine from Russia. The opera, however, concentrates upon the relationship with his god-daughter, Maria who abandons all for him. Mazeppa subsequently executes her father, Kochubei, shoots dead Andrei and Maria loses her ...