Do I Love You?- Derby Theatre

Posted on March 26, 2025 by garylongden

Do I Love You? Derby theatre

****

Northern Soul  was a regionalised phenomena. Although a huge music fan myself , it barely touched the South where I lived as a teenager. In the Midlands and North it was massive. The Catacombs club Wolverhampton, The  Wigan Casino , Blackpool Mecca, the twisted Wheel Manchester and Golden Torch Stoke were all catalysts and platforms for a truly underground music movement.

Theatre has been a very good crucible for promoting popular music via the Musical. It has been less sure footed  in producing drama about  music. Prolific playwright and social anthropologist John Godber aims to put that right in this drama about the Northern Soul Scene and its social impact incorporating dance, song and drama.

This is Northern Soul for a new generation, but  is this England 1975 or 2025? The bins are not being emptied, economic cuts are everywhere and the prospects for young people seem to be diminishing every day. Here the three graduates are flipping burgers.

Playwright John Godber reprises a social narrative formula in which the audience is often addressed directly which he cultivated so successfully with  both “Bouncers” and “Teechers” (sic). Occasionally the delivery is more of shared interrupted monologues than straight speech.

The main protagonists are three twentysomethings, Sally, Nat and Kyle, from Hull  who share a  love for Northern Soul  nurtured at  at an all-nighter in Cleethorpes not deterred by the pensionable age of many of the audience .They resolve  to learn the dances so they can compete at the blue ribband of Northern Soul events – the Weekender at Blackpool’s Tower Ballroom. It echoes  the Stigwood/ Travolta dance masterpiece “Saturday Night Fever”, apart from being set in Cleethorpes and Blackpool England  rather than New York and Studio 54, USA.

Godber directs brilliantly, The three actors create  a busy fast-food restaurant  crowded buses, and bustling  night clubs .  Martha Godber (, Chloe McDonald and Emilio Encinoso-Gil are all on stage throughout the performance, taking on further  characters, and  seemingly always dancing – keeping the play moving briskly and with brio. Elizabeth Godder  produces.

All of this is underpinned by a  blistering soundtrack which I suspect will have the audience racing to Spotify afterwards as they are introduced to new musical gems. The script is light, poignant, wistful and humorous as well as being  nostalgic for the predominantly pensioner audience with all our yesterdays revisited.

But there was one big frustration. The soundtrack was set at a low volume, for an audience with deteriorating hearing ( too many late night gigs) it should have been louder to capitalise on the good vibes. Furthermore, I presume to save on royalties, only excerpts were played. The audience was often singing along and yearning for the tracks to continue. This frustration was exacerbated at the end when the finale demanded a singalong/ dance-along, and instead the  actors walked off stage!

Nonetheless, a well written, accurate and hugely satisfying glimpse into Northern Soul which continues until  29th April and then departs on nationwide tour.

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Aladdin Sane Tribute band – Yarmageddon 6/3/25

Posted on March 17, 2025 by garylongden

Aladdin Sane

In the absence of the great man himself we are left with a burgeoning and constantly growing roster of tribute acts. I make appoint of trying to see them all on the basis that at least I know that I will like the music!

Last weekend was the famous “Yarmageddon”, four days of live, original and tribute bands at a Great Yarmouth holiday camp. Four days, fifty bands, no sleep. The Thursday was Glam Night with Aladdin Sane providing the Glam. I had not seen them before so was excited at the prospect of new material.

Aladdin Sane are the stage vehicle for Paul Henderson as David, erstwhile Mackem, but now from Peterborough. They played with a lead guitarist, bass, drums and keyboards, Paul adding on guitar parts where needed.

The good news for them was a captive 2500 audience, a good opening act, and four hours drinking time elapsed. However like most of the weekend acts they were allotted a strict hour set to play to an audience with widely diverse musical tastes, so  not as easy as a theatre of fans who had paid to see them only. Consequently the set list comprised mainly his best known hits with  understandably few surprises.

“Boys keep Swinging”  was a great opener and won the crowd over from the start. Paul was wearing an Earthling Era Union Jack frock coat and physically looked like 80’s Bowie with a “Serious Moonlight” hairdo. “  Starman” was a wise choice, usurping Space oddity in th sing a long stakes, and the rockers lapped up “Jean Genie” , “Moonage Daydream” and “Ziggy”. However it was a barnstorming “Suffragette City” finale which won the day for them. What a great song-  sung and performed with such enthusiasm.

A league table of Bowie tributes is an invidious task. Not least because the bar is being pushed ever higher for tribute shows. Abbas Voyage has changed what is possible as has the tactic of having several leads to cope with different eras as the Cher show so successfully did.

Suffice to say that Aladdin Sane did not disappoint either casual music fans or the Bowie cognoscenti

j

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Bridget Jones- Mad about the boy

Posted on March 16, 2025 by garylongden

*

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy

Schmaltzy, sentimental lightweight reheating of the original  idea , fourth instalment in the series totalling over eight hours, including the 125 minute running time for this. They have run out of things to say about her.

This time, we meet Bridget as a widow and single mother, trying to navigate a new chapter of her life while raising her children. We  explores grief, resilience, and on line dating.

Renée Zellweger shines once again,  as Renee Zellweger . It doesn’t matter whether you’ve been a fan since the beginning or are just meeting her now, “Mad About the Boy”  is stretched to breaking point to fill two hours.

There are three laugh out loud set pieces, one when she is  stuck tree climbing up a tree with  her children, second when sexual health leaflets, innocently collected  cascade out of her tote bag in front of her children’s school teacher, and thirdly when her toy boy love interest dives into a swimming pool at a party to save    a party goers drowning pet dog.

The most amazing part of the film is love interest school teacher to her children who is seemingly the only member of staff at the school.. Mr Walliker is the science teacher, but he also does gate duty alone every morning, runs the Job Day, runs the Outward Bound trip with only the help of parents, and single-handedly runs the music concert while accompanying on piano.

Trite, formulaic and lazy, I was checking  my watch for much of the time mischievously wishing that the dog had drowned

Avoid

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Bat out of Hell Musical – Alexandra theatre, Birmingham, 10/2/25

Posted on February 11, 2025 by garylongden

Bat out of hell- Alexandra Theatre

***

This is music, an album, an era, which oozes nostalgia for me. I bought the album on release and saw ,Meat loaf perform the album live on the “bat”  tour

Raven Will do anything for love- and will do that!

Bat Out of Hell was the debut studio album by American rock singer Meat Loaf and composer Jim Steinman. The album was developed from the musical Neverland, a futuristic rock version of Peter Pan which Steinman wrote for a workshop in 1974. It was recorded during 1975–1976 , was produced by Todd Rundgren, and was released in October 1977 . The album featured Max Weinberg on drums and Roy Bittan on piano from Bruce Springsteen’s E street band. These details matter.

Springsteen, Rundgren and Steinman used to go together to see the opera in New York laying influences and foundations for work from all of them. When Springsteen wrote in Jungleland” “There’s an opera out on the Turnpike, there’s a ballet being fought out in the valley we are hearing the seed corn for “Bat out of hell”.

Anyone who saw the last tour, some three years ago is in for a surprise, many of the original cast remain but the production has been significantly revamped. The cast use hand held mics resulting in several “pass the parcel” moments and a hand held cameraman relays pictures onto two overhead screens.  The combination of the hand held mics and camera work mean that principals are sometimes performing with their backs to the audience. Musical, concert or arena show? You decide

It seems that Mick Lynch is now advising Equity as an overcrowded stage groans with physically accommodating the cast in one of the worst cases of overmanning I have ever seen on a professional stage.

The story? Boy and girl fall in love, Girls father disapproves, love conquers all- but does it? On the album, there is no linear narrative, so the director, Allison Coyne, can do what she wants ,however onstage the story is disjointed and chaotic, the choreography juvenile, apparently taking abandoned dance routines for an “S Club Seven” show, and not changing them much.

The visuals are an amalgam of Mad Max, Bowie’s Hunger City and “We will rock you”.

Onstage a dystopian future unfolds together with an underclass,“The Lost”,  down trodden by the dictator Falco, who never bursts into, “Rock me Amadeus”.

Katie Tonkinson is lithesome and engaging as  Falco’s daughter Raven. Glen Adamson plays an impish rebel leader Strat, physically bearing a remarkable resemblance to the late Rocker ,Ronnie James Dio.  Adamson’s vocals are superb but he cannot replicate the physical presence that Meat Loaf had  and is too fit and handsome to be able to emulate Meat Loaf’s lewdness.

Director Coyne, reimagines, ruins and emasculates, ” Paradise by the dashboard light”, by using the middle aged Falco and Sloane as the protagonists. In the notorious Old grey Whistle test video performance Karla DeVito is a slight 25 year old, physically and sexually overwhelmed and overpowered by Meat Loaf in a raunchy, depraved spectacle too much for the “Me Too” times of today. sex featuring old people is not rock n roll.

A live band playing from an elevated platform give the music raw power and immediacy particularly the guitar and piano who deserved  back -screen shots which they did not receive.

As Ravens’ mother  and father in their roles as Falco and Sloane,  Rob Fowler and Sharon Sexton excel.  Sexton is the star of the show, sexy in her pencil skirts and waist high side split dress, her vocals are outstanding, particularly on, “what part of my body hurts the most” with Falco, her acting the consistent highlight of the show. Carla Bertran, as Tink(erbell) is a delight

A pretty much full opening house on a bitterly cold and wet February evening were well rewarded for their commitment and gave the company a deserved standing ovation at the end. Those that had come to see Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman’s greatest hits had their fill, and the eponymous song twice!

Gary Longden

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A Complete Unknown

Posted on January 31, 2025 by garylongden

I approached this film with considerable trepidation. Most Rock bio pics are rubbish and shameless exercises in cashing in on the artist’s fame.

But while most rock and pop stars forge a living out of image and artifice, Dylan has always been an enigma, the polar opposite. He doesn’t care whether you buy his reords or go to his concerts because he is going to do them anyway, You have to be pretty good to get away with that- Dylan is.

Notoriously private, taciturn and opaque, beyond his music we know very little about the man himself. Folk rock trailblazer, motorbike accident, and that is about it. That is a huge advantage for the actor playing Dylan and the film itself, there is no detailed narrative to follow – they can make it up as they go along. Furthermore most of his contemporaneous artists are dead save Joan Baez, who receives  gentle treatment, Ele Fanning artist sylvie Russo

In order for this work, Timothee had to inhabit  Dylan, otherwise it would have been  a documentary. Fortunately he is up to the task. The production is surprisingly big budget  with the period sets lavish and the recreation of the Newport Folk festival convincing. Crucially the music is faithfully reproduced too

Mania Barbaro  is superb as Joan Baez,  and Johnny Cash  as an artist receives a cameo too. Edward Norton gives an historically vital portrayal of Pete Seeger.Tom Mangold and Jay Cock share the writing credits and do a formidable job. Cocks screenwriting credentials are impeccable As a screenwriter, he is notable for his collaborations with director Martin Scorsese, particularly The Age of Innocence and Gangs of New York.The is also a writer for Rolling Stone bible of American Music. Cocks is everywhere here. Not only has he fashioned a compelling narrative, but it is backed up by some great reproductions of Dylans music too.

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The Bowie Show-Royal Opera House, Buxton 28/1/25

Posted on January 29, 2025 by garylongden
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This review should be read as a companion piece to yesterday’s Nottingham review.

And so for the 46 mile yet meandering rural 90 min drive through the beautiful Peak District. A treat in itself.

 “Sometimes I get the urge to move on- so I pack up my bags and move on”

The contrast in venues could not have been greater, the capacious impressive modern Royal Concert hall in Notttingham was built in 1982 and seats 2500. The ornate, quaint, compact   Royal Opera house in Buxton was built in1903 and holds 902.

Buxton was still only the third night of the tour and the first on consecutive nights enabling the cast to establish both a groove and momentum. This is an intimate, in person show, and the  compact surroundings immediately suited the performers.

The setlist was identical  to Nottingham bar the withdrawn “Aladdin sane” which had previously segued into “life on Mars”. The latter benefitted from a stand alone presentation by long hair. The running time, including 20 minute interval is around 100 minutes and feels about right having already been pared back from the opening night. Much improved set changes and reduced breaks between songs aided the cause too.

The increase in confidence was palpable from everyone. X’s “Rock n roll Suicide” grew immeasurably. When originally, written it was a song of salvation to all teenagers navigating those turbulent years -“You’re not alone” Bowie reassured. Those  same teenagers are now in their 60’s, and sitting in the audience, in place of teenage angst, they now contend with relationship breakdowns, the death of loved ones, and broken dreams ( as well as lives well lived). The cry, today, of: “you’re not alone” is no less heartfelt, and just as apposite.

Musically there had been a shift too. Guitarist Laura Browne  is clearly a meticulous note picker, but tonight she cut loose, bending the notes on her solos, particularly on a splendid “Moonage daydream” and savouring her guitar hero moments like Earl Slick and Mick Ronson did.

Laura Browne in a Moonage Daydream

Similarly tonight Dave Rice’s fluid bass playing came to the fore, most notably during a sublime “Absolute Beginners”.

Once again Damon Oliver’s  saxophone playing was a delight, making me wish that we could have heard him perform on “Sorrow” and “Man Who Sold the World”- but there is only so much time, although surely they could have squeezed in a 3.31 “Suffragette City”?  ( perhaps as a final encore).

The uplifting “Heroes” final drew everyone to their feet after the sombre “Lazarus” and “Black star”, songs which Bowie himself never lived to play live. “Heroes “ has undergone a metamorphosis over the years. Originally a lovers’ lament, Bowie performed it at the 9/11 fundraiser and transformed it into a personal empowerment torch song, which was how our trio of Bowies (Sian Crowe, Elliot Rose, Greg Oliver)  performed it on the night. The evening won a much deserved standing ovation

Another outstanding evening, I have seen the show twice, you need to see it at least once on the remaining dates at Glasgow/ Guilford/ Bath/Bournemouth/ Leicester / Northampton and London West End lyric theatre up to mid February 25.

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The Bowie Show- Nottingham Royal Court & Concert hall 27/1/25

Posted on January 28, 2025 by garylongden

The Bowie Show- Nottingham Royal Court and Concert hall, anonymous dancers! Created and directed by Simon Gwilliam. Produced by John Dalston and Simon Gwilliam

This was the second date on the show’s nine date  soft opening provincial tour prior to the West End. The tour itself is ambitious, taking in several prestige UK  venues .

What is it? It is not a platform for a tribute  . It is presented as a musical juke box, with no narration and only incidental voice overs.

Myself with David Bowie ( aka Elliot Rose)

The primary problem facing any Bowie  show is that his career lasted half a century. That creates an obvious casting problem. The 2022 Cher Musical revue had the same difficulty. Their solution was three Chers, The Bowie Show takes the same strategy  and  has three Bowies, but in two genders. This has enormous advantages in presenting the songs which they capitalise upon in some style.

However the star of the show is not one of the live performers, but instead backdrop video screens which provide a superb, creative supporting montage throughout the evening further avoiding the need for  onstage props.

Supporting the onstage musicians are a troupe of dancers utilising a three level stage recreating  a video feel- particularly efffective during “Ashes to Ashes”.

I am not going to provide a setlist, there needs to be some surprises when you see the show for yourself. Instead I shall pick out some personal highlights.

The three Bowies are all effective in the role. Having a female Bowie (Sian Crowe) is a masterstroke ,greatly enhancing most of the originals, she sets the tone with the inevitable opening “Space Oddity” and never relents, her poignant, plaintiff  vocal part in her duet with Elliot Rose made “Absolute Beginners” the highlight of the second half.  She looked stunning in a little black skater dress and courts- an outfit that David would have liked for himself! Rose is dynamic and energetic , at his best on “Rebel Rebel”

The surprise highlight of the first half was a barnstorming, dirty, rocking , “Cracked Actor”, from ace axe woman Laura Browne, emulating Mick Ronson and Earl Slick at their best ( and better looking too!) .  The long haired, long limbed, Greg Oliver visually appears discordant on first appearance but offers compelling interpretations of the originals and is the perfect trio companion.

The electronic visual backdrops are integral to the show, courtesy of Billy Gwilliam. Its finest moment is for “Wild is the Wind” which is reimagined as a James Bond  film theme  – Crowe’s soaring vocals are perfectly underpinned by a rich, swelling soaring visual montage and a suitably floaty windswept dress.

Costuming is idiosyncratic, the band are “Backdrop dressed” while the dancers have often inspired costumes, the platform booted skinhead is hilarious.

While Billy Gwilliam impressed visually, so Alex Turney does  a fine job as musical director and keyboard player. The arrangements, and rearrangements, are solid and convincing, Drummer Billy Stookes  and bass player Dave Rice succeed with the fiendishly difficult time signatures in “Ashes to Ashes” and Damon Oliver defines “Absolute Beginners” with his sublime sax part ( assorted wind elsewhere). The sound was excellent. Loud when it needed to be but distinct and separated on the quieter numbers never drowning out the vocals. There were moments when backing vocals needed to be more prominent but that sort of detail will resolve itself  as the tour progresses.

Catch the Bowie Show at: Buxton/ Glasgow/ Guilford/ Bath/Bournemouth/ Leicester / Northampton and London West End lyric theatre up to mid February.25.

A hugely enjoyable show, and a must or all Bowie fans

For more information on the tour: https://thebowieshow.com/

For more Bowie Chat, views and opinions, Bowie Fascination:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2750422051856989

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Lloyd Cole- Buxton opera house 22/1/25

Posted on January 26, 2025 by garylongden

Lloyd Cole – Buxton Opera house 22nd jan 2025

The  home town gig of a British isles mini tour comprising Aberdeen, Buxton  Glasgow Manchester, London and Dublin. He played in Buxton barely a year ago in Oct 23. Having grown up and gone to school locally I guess it is a chance for him to catch up with his friends, although his American links  where  and Scottish ones are equally significant. Strangely  during the evening he never once name checks his local connections.

The Royal opera House is one of the most beautiful  concert venues in England, a Victorian jewel nestled in the Peak District

WIth around seventeen albums to his name he has a burgeoning songbook and still writes prolifically. Consequently the chances of a fan encountering unfamiliar material are high,  as are the chances of discovering previously unheard, or forgotten, gems. A Lloyd gig will never be predictable. The band is unchanged from the last tour, as is the format, Two sets, no support, loads of songs, mostly unchanged from last time, but with Wolves opening and Jennifer she said closing. “speedboat” makes a welcome return, “Charlotte st” doesn’t.

The setlist, pacing and timings are erratic. The first half starts at 19.30 and finishes at  2010, the second half commences at 20.30 and finishes at 2200.

Their significance is unknown, the first half does not require Lloyd to play bass guitar, the second half does played by a three-piece band comprising  former Commotions and long-term collaborators Blair Cowan and Neil Clark along with drummer/percussionist Signy Jakobsdottir.

Wolves opens the show almost as a soundscape and is disarmingly effective. Therfeter Lloyd plays what he fancies without rhyme o reason., or theme. To the die hard fan this is a part of lloyd’s appeal, to the  casual observer it can  seem  chaotic.

Wolves

Don’t Look Back

Trigger Happy

On Pain

No More Love Songs

Why I Love Country Music

2cv

Undressed

Warm By The Fire

Rattlesnakes

Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken?

2

Past Imperfect

Night Sweats

Speedboat

Blue Like Mars

Minor Character

The Young Idealists

Woman in a Bar

The Over Under

No Blue Skies

Perfect Blue

Perfect Skin

Myrtle and Rose

The Idiot

Brand New Friend

Forest Fire

Encore:

Mainstream

Jennifer She Said

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The Magic of Motown 20th Anniversary Tour 17/1/25

Posted on January 18, 2025 by garylongden

The Magic of Motown  20th Anniversary Tour

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A feel good revue featuring one of the most prolific  hits factories in popular music featuring classic songs , glittering costumes, dazzling dance routines produced with a live band on stage

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The hits keep on coming made famous by  : Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, The Supremes, The Four Tops, Martha Reeves, The Jackson 5, Smokey Robinson, and many, many more.

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But more than anything this is a tribute to  the man who made Motown – Berry Gordy .

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Friday night is party night in the UK’s Second City giving th performer a helping hand as the packed lower tiers danced the night away.

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This was the big show of the tour and at times the performers comprising four male singer, three female singers and four musicians struggled to  make the leap from end of pier venues to this world famous one.

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The three women sang and danced better than the men and were far more convincing as the Supremes than the men were as the Four Tops. The men appeared more intent on personal vocal gymnastics than ensemble work  with some of the harmonies poor and suffered from weak choreographed dance routines. The Jackson Five segment was embarrassing.

The girls found their groove early on with “Touch me in the Morning”  and a crowd igniting “Chain Reaction” the boys struggled to sell the narrative of their songs as they sang them. “ Heard it through the grapevine” was the worst cover I have ever seen  and heard( clapped star jumps mid chorus? – WTF) “Just my Imagination” and “Tracks of my tears” similarly misfired. However they stormed through “ This Old Heart of Mine” for their “Chain reaction” moment and the Four Tops segment was particularly strong, notably “ Standing In the Shadows of Love” but inexplicable missed out “Don’t walk away Renee”.

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Similarly the Stevie Wonder segment omitted “Uptight” and “Signed Sealed delivered I’m Yours. But did include a cringeworthy sunglasses moment for the blind performer.

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Bizarrely, the revenue from a healthy sized audience was not deemed enough to pay  for an onstage brass section, although the podium was there with the keyboard player having to work doubly hard as a consequence a big black mark against the producers “ The Entertainers”.

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However the crowd loved it and were universally positive about the experience- for me though and the cognoscenti it was a case of what might have been

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Dick Whittington- Stoke Regent theatre 15/12 /24

Posted on January 13, 2025 by garylongden

*****

This was my first visit to Regent panto- it will not be my last

I review professionally taking in Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Derby and Lichfield so have much to compare. this was the best panto of the season!

Kai Owen opens the show as(King Rat) and never relents from his dastardly enterprises, always loudly heckled by an affectionately hostile crowd of pensioners, parents and children- the Boothen End has nothing on this!

Christian Patterson stars as Dame. amidst a lavish set and costumes courtesy of the London Palladium . Although a children’s show, Stokies love a bit of sauce, naughtiness and innuendo, and the script provided it with spades.

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Imagine a male stripper night in Hanley, imagine a crowd of 1600, chanting “We want Dick” and you would be at the Regent!

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Gina Murray carried the songs with a great voice ,Samaria Castalello as Alice Fitzgerald was beautiful, asssured and sassy,Marlee Jay, as Tommy the Cat, was feline, funny and fertching. You just wanted to take her home and let her snuggle in your lap .

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Overflowing with greata songs and big production numbers the naughty jokes had the adults roaring the traditional children’s patter had the kids howling too. Being able to maintain a balance between entertaining the kids and the adults at panto is never easy- but the company pulled it off

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See you next year!

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