Good old days

Published Monday 28 April 2008 at 18:05

What on earth is Patrick Newley talking about? (March 20, page 52). The whole idea of old time music hall is to keep the experience alive and to replace the traditional bull and bush kind of chorus with Elvis Presley songs is preposterous. If we forget the good old days of music hall and simply bury the memories we are not passing on the stage craft and history to future generations.

We are now fed a diet of pathetic television programming and second-rate tribute acts touring our theatres. Get along to a traditional music hall for a good helping of decent, old-fashioned entertainment. Maybe you should run a feature on, as Mr Newley kindly puts it, “tatty, grotty, variety shows”? I am sure that I am not the only subscriber to The Stage who would welcome such a feature as we are getting a little tired of hearing about the launch of another TV reality show and your obsession with the West End scene.

Don’t knock variety Mr Newley, it is providing acts like myself with a living and without us to keep the memories of yesterday alive, a future generation will have no understanding of how entertaining a night out at a music hall can be.

Leo Shavers

Sandy Lane Cottages

Rendham

Suffolk