A healthy contingent of bookers turned up for the evening session and with the main players in the room fed and watered, it was time for the second session compere Jonathan Carroll to take up the reins and link what proved to be an interesting and fruitful showcase session.
During the course of the evening we saw two contributions from Lisa McKnight’s Back 2 the Future show, the first their Back 2 the Eighties set and the second their well-known musical jaunt through the decades. In whichever guise, McKnight and her two lithe and lissom dancing mates always give good value with a good strong vocal performance and some sound choreography on offer.
I have long been a staunch advocate for singer Carol Angel. Angel has a huge amount of presence and natural warmth, noticable from the very moment she strides on stage, and despite the friendliness she is the type of entertainer who doesn’t just sing to you, she sings at you. James Blunt’s piano ballad Goodbye My Lover was stunningly delivered from an entertainer who is working right at the top of her form at present.
Singer Julia Martin had appeared earlier in the day performing her well-known and admired Celine Dion tribute act. This was her second, and it has to be said rather less convincing visit to the showcase stage, this time performing a Madonna tribute act. Despite the choreography, Martin’s overall body language suggested that she wanted to be somewhere else. Facially expressionless, which is surely not noticable when watching the real thing, Martin’s impression seems to be based around a hairpiece and the much imitated cone-shaped boobs. Personally I wasn’t all that impressed. It certainly wasn’t a patch on her Celine Dion in my view.
Harris and Day were really different. All-round entertainment here from two personable and witty guys who gave us patter, soul, music, comedy impressions and a general feelgood factor rating of ten out of ten. I don’t think I have ever heard that king of duet ditties What a Swell Party, from High Society, before at any previous showcase event in ten years of covering them for The Stage. Harris and Day were one of the highlights of the evening and if they haven’t done enormous business on this showing then there is something very wrong.
The success of Geordie stand-up comedian Mick Monroe really is down to the strength and originality of the material. One or two trusty old comic chestnuts here certainly, but solid, well paced patter which hits the mark with the showcase audience nonetheless. No fancy gimmicks or catchphrases here from this accomplished stand-up - just a comfortable, almost conspiritorial line in crowd approach which paid handsome dividends.
Glamorous blonde singer Jo Wright gave us a version of Richard Carpenter’s song Close to You and a version All that Jazz from Chicago. “Hopefully I won’t have to do one of these [showcases] again in a while”, declared Wright, in front of an audience who were generally happy to buy what she was selling. My main thought was that there are plenty of worse showcase situations she could find herself in and that this was a very well delivered spot indeed.
Enter three tuxedo-clad guys, all complete with untied bow-ties, who are collectively known as DaVinci. Despite a change in line-up just after the act was launched, the new member seems to have actually added to what was there already in this pop-opera type vocal group. As ever, the wider business as a whole influences trends in mainstream cabaret and the success of acts like Il Divo, who this group are clearly modelling themselves on, have ensured a new developement in the cabaret market and plenty of earning potential for these three vocally gifted guys.
Another artist appearing for the second time in the day was singer Nicole Marie. Earlier in the day we saw her appear with great success in her tribute guise as Madonna. This outstanding vocalist gave the best sung version of Bassey’s This is My Life I have ever heard, aside from Bassey herself, of course. The backing tracks were top class and the energy and sheer guts within the framework of the live performance was a real treat to behold for a gnarled old reviewer.
This was my second look at comedy and music act The Inflations and I still haven’t quite got the hang of what they are selling. The clever use of blow-up dolls which operate as ‘backing singers’ and various other air-filled friends pack the stage and the fun commences. The truncated bits of different routines are cobbled together for what constitutes their showcase set and Amarillo is inexplicably performed in an inflatable fat suit at one point. Perhaps the problem here is that The Inflations have a good cabaret spot but can’t figure out exactly how to dissect it into showcase form.
Smart singer Tony Walsh (not to be confused with the famous former bodyguard and pro wrestler of the same name), gave us an excerpt from his swing show on this occasion. This was all well and good provided there are people out there who are buyers for this sort of thing but, having seen this winsome singing charmer performing his mainstream cabaret act, I believe that many bookers would preferred to have seen and heard that side of his talent. Walsh seemed to have tried to squeeze a quart into a pint pot with this chosen set and as result he hadn’t much chance of presenting himself in a relaxed and composed way, given the huge rush he seemed to be in.
Grabbing the late night trade crowd firmly by the throat was the extraordinary Ricky K. I won’t even begin the list the many talents of this ultimate charismatic solo entertainer. Music, comedy, dance, sketch-based mime and sheer showmanship here from an entertainer who, in my view, could make ten of any X Factor hopeful. This type of wide-ranging and expansive talent really belongs in the theatre and, as I said the last time I took a look at this amazing showbusiness character, surely he belongs behind the wheel of the right television vehicle. This one-man compendium of ideas is just screaming out to anyone involved in British television light entertainment to get their heads out of their backsides and come and see Ricky K. The roof came off after his spot here.
Drawing the short straw and following the one-man weapon of mass approval that is Ricky K was experienced-looking duo Fifty Fifty.
Opening with a version of the Tavares song Heaven Must be Missing an Angel and continuing with the moody Diamond/Streisand duet offering, You Don’t Bring Me Flowers, Fifty Fifty were unlucky for another reason due the sheer bad manners of people standing around at the bar, some of them in the business themselves, who should really have known better.
The evening was completed by two more performances by the Back 2 The Future and DaVinci acts, who both showed different facets of what they can both offer to live audiences.
As a footnote to the evening, agent John Stvan got in on DaVinci’s act, informing the audience that “he did it his way”.
Pastures Lodge Hotel, Mexborough, November 13
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