... Night of grace and excitement Apollo, Hammersmith Riverdance- The Show Because Riverdance has become trie entertainment phenomenon of trie nineties, there might be a tendency to dismiss it as a mindless spectacle. I have not read any deep analysis on its success by dance writers, but it is a dance show of exceptional quality, which began life as a mere interlude in the 1994 Eurovision Song ...

... A Tribute to AlJolson and the Minstrel Shows Eastbourne A bright new summer production on an old theme opened at the Royal Hippodrome to a packed house. The predominantly mature audiences who arrive in coachloads at this venue like their Black and White Minstrels, who are brought back yearly by popular demand. Some of the acts are the same and quantities of songs are predictable but ...

... The Golden Years Torbay To celebrate the tenth year at the Babbacombe Theatre. Colin Matthews has produced a scintillating success which will run until December. The Golden Years pays homage to the last 50 years of entertainment up to the present time with song, dance and comedy representative of those years, which includes an outra geously funny Three Little Maids from School. There is no ...

... A Tribute to Alan Dell Barbican There was a packed and highly successful concert paying tribute to Radio 2 veteran presenter Alan Dell, who shortly before his death was planning the evening with producers Derek Boulton and the Coda Club. A highlight came when his widow, Anne, handed a new award, the Alan Dell trophy for outstanding contribution to big band music, to jovial bandleader Syd ...

... Clark Terry and David Newton Wigmore Hall This Anglo-American pairing took on a different guise with the addition of series co-directors John and Alec Dankworth. At one bound, the duo became a quar tet, the outcome all the better for the rearrangement, no doubt. Clark Terry, still a mercurial improviser at 75, demands quick witted responses from his com panions, his themes and solos full of ...

... Tony Coe & Co Purcell Room Last year, Coe won the Jazzpar Prize, the jazz world's equivalent of an Oscar or Tony. This recognition simply confirmed what had been known by insiders for years, for Coe is a soloist with a unique playing stance, whether on tenor and soprano saxophones or clarinet. In short, he is a jazz musician of rare originality. On stage, Coe can seem abstracted, his mind ...

... Dar Williams Everyman Cinema Cafe Fresh from supporting Joan Baez on a tour of the United States, Dar Williams included two London dates in her short visit to the UK, a taster for a longer tour in July and August to include an appearance at the Cambridge Folk Festival. In the intimate phere of Hampstead's Everyman Cinema Cafe, she held the audi ence in awe for two 45 minute sets with her ...

... Game Over Brixton Academy If you like techno music, you will probably like Game Over-Archaos' latest show written by Guy Carrara and Pierric Pillot-but if you prefer circus, the skills on display ate rather patchy. This club circus was specially designed for large music venues but, for the audience, the Academy was surely a mistake. For £20 you could sit upstairs, so far removed from the ...

... Spike brings poetry pleasure Eastbourne Muse to Music As Spike Milligan wandered on to the stage of the Congress Theatre, cheers demonstrated that whatever he chose to do during the next hour and a half it would be fine by them. Most of the man's poetry is brief and either deeply amusing or disturbing. He pens strong, true pictures. Seated in an armchair, he read well, his eyes glinting as ...

... I Love a Piano Jermyn Sreet It seems appropriate that early on in his solo cabaret/revue John Dalby sings I'm Old Fashioned, for his style of entertainment is rarely found in the West End these days. I suppose I ought to do something by Meat Loaf, Madonna or Michael Jackson, he says, or make jokes about BSE, Fergie and Euro currency. But I won't, because I'm old fashioned. Good for him, I ...

... Blackpool Magician's Club 44th Annual One Day Convention Blackpool Blackpool is famous for so many things, not least among them the world's biggest annual one-day magic convention that attracts some 3,000 magicians from around the world on the last Sunday in February. While generally this year the magic never sparkled like the illuminations, there were nevertheless some memorable moments. ...

... Broadway lady gives it her all Jermyn Street Theatre Donna McKechnie-Inside the Music Enter the Jermyn Street Theatre to see Donna McKechnie's one- woman show and you might be forgiven for thinking you are witnessing a slice of musical theatre history. McKechnie's name is synony mous with Broadway shows. She was in the chorus of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying in 1961, wowed ...