The Good Old Days (3)

Published Monday 21 April 2008 at 11:05 by Kevin Berry

When Judith Hibbert starts singing her selection of Gracie Fields songs, few in the audience will have memories of the Rochdale lass. Some might not know who she was. Thanks to Hibbert, they will. She is placing Gracie Fields in the ranks of Florrie Forde, Vesta Tilley and the like - stars we never saw but whom we know and can appreciate through their songs and the efforts of performers such as Hibbert. Not a full-blown tribute act this, more Gracie’s songs sung in the style of Gracie.

This final Good Old Days of the spring season has a lively mix of emerging and experienced talent. Ukulele player Mark Walsh is fast maturing and plays with an infectiously cheeky spirit. The Barney’s Boys and Girls chorus has some new faces. Katie Bullock and Laura Hainsworth impress in a Cockney sequence and again in a moonlight medley. Magician Terry Seabrooke is widely admired and he shows why - he has deft skills and impish humour.

Helen Watson has two enjoyable character comedy spots, as a chambermaid and a village lass. The latter has audience involvement and the joy it generates is one of the pleasures of music hall. Hibbert has a second spot, the highlight of which is a moving, unaccompanied rendition of As I Moved Through the Fair. Johnnie Casson tops the bill. A master joke teller, his material takes everyday situations and makes them funny. Casson is a tonic - he really does cheer people up, and what a gift that is.