... Godspell YARMOUTH TEN TO 15 years ago Godspell burst on to the British theatre scene in a spectacular way. Whether the show has retained its popularity among 1985 audiences re mains to be seen certainly theatre goers in Yarmouth don't seem quite so bowled over by the prospect of the colourful musical. That is a pity, for the Bristol Theatre Company, which is touring the country with the ...

... Last Tango On The North Circular/Caedmon/The Menaced Assassin DONMAR I Ht tirst opera in tnis, tne seconu Carden Venture programme intended to assist young British opera composers, is something of a tour de force, con ducted by Peter Wiegold who also composed and wrote the libretto. The beguiling title for surely London Underground and British Rail suggest not a tango, but a dance of death ...

... CAINE BACK IN MUSICAL SINGER Marti Caine returns to the musical scene with a starring role in the show What About Luv? when it opens at the Lyric, Hammersmith on April 2. Caine's last appearance in a musical was four years ago in Funny Girl at Sheffield. On that occasion the singer had to cope with anti-apartheid protes tors angered by her trips to South Africa. Joining her for the new show ...

... Hanging by a thread By a close shave and a whisker or two, Topol has lost his race against the razor. The Israeli-born stage and film star is in Manchester to recreate his most famous role of the bearded Rus sian milkman in the hit musical Fiddler On The Roof. But Topol's own full hirsute appen dage removed for a recent TV filming session has yet to achieve its required bushiness and this week ...

... A Matter of Chance RIVERSIDE IN TERMS of percentages The Kosh's achievement in A Matter of Chance might be divided up as follows: 75 per cent brilliant; 15 per cent perplexing and 10 per cent tedious. The brilliance was in the staging, in the marshalling of a five-strong team through a scenario involving the rigours of travelling, arriving and switching back into the past. The perplexing bit ...

... It's a physical game FRANK GRANVILLE BARKER, mindful of how Aled Jones is getting his kicks these days, tackles 'acres of Italian recitative' RAM IL Matrimonio Segreto THE TROUBLE with Cimarosa's opera buffa is that its music keeps reminding us of Mozart's and Rossini's without being nearly so good. Still, it's a good-natured piece, well crafted and readily tuneful, which so pleased Leopold II ...

... Singer's win may open 'floodgates' EMI must pay damages and costs SINGER RAY Jackson, of top folk rock band Lindisfarne, was awarded £23,304 High Court damages for the loss of a solo career. The award, against record giants EMI, was to compensate the singer- songwriter and his manager, Barry McKay, for loss of royalties, publicity and opportunity for success. Mr Justice Michael Da vies ruled ...

... Elton salutes the pretty boy of British pop PETER HEPPLE reports THIS MAN is a songwriter, said Elton John about George Michael, when presenting the major half of the phenomenally successful Wham! with the coveted Songwriter of the Year statuette at the Ivor Novello Awards held at Grosvenor House last week. They have been presented annually since 1955 by the British Academy of Songwriters, ...

... Edinburgh theatre chief cleared on all charges HAMISH MACKAY reports TED WAY, the former general manager of the Playhouse Theatre, Edinburgh, has been cleared of four charges of embezzlement and one of attempting to pervert the course of justice. Way. 42, was found not guilty on all charges by a jury at Edinburgh Sheriff Court after a nine-day trial. It has been alleged that Way had embezzled ...

... Jazz gels the Blues JAZZ FANS have been hit by two blows this week. The first is that the opening of the National Jazz Centre in Floral Street, Covent Garden, scheduled for May, has been postponed. The reason given is that specifica tions are being reviewed because it has become apparent that more work is required than was originally contem plated. As a consequence, further fun- draising has ...

... Twelfth Night CANTERBURY THE GULBENKIAN Theatre, part of the campus of Kent University, Canterbury, is becoming the new venue for some of the most imaginative small productions in today's theatre. The latest presentation of Shake speare's Twelfth Night by the Show of Hands Company, under its artistic director Michael Dray, emerges as a feast of delight. Subtitled What You Will the play carries ...

... Amadeus CHELTENHAM IF ANYTHING the present seasonal offerings from the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham suffer by comparison. On Golden Pond, Shirley Valentine and now Amadeus have all been on the big screen in recent times. If comparisons are odious this is particularly true of Peter Shaffer's Amadeus, here directed by Martin Houghton in comprehensively fine style. While cinema enlarges the capac ...