cabaret
HectorThursday, 10 December 2015It would take a brave soul to mention Peter Mullan and “national treasure” in the same breath. To start with, he’d be more than clear which nation has his allegiance, and then suggest, in the gentlest possible way, that maybe he was, well, a wee bit... Read more... |
The Joey Arias Experience, Theatre Royal, BrightonThursday, 21 May 2015Brighton whooped as if she had never seen risqué entertainment last night, as cabaret veteran Joey Arias brought his Billie Holiday-meets-bawdy-standup show to the Brighton Festival. Able to switch between sincere tribute and brilliantly,... Read more... |
JACK Quartet, Wigmore HallTuesday, 20 January 2015The mixed grilled school of programme-making is not for the JACK Quartet. Contemporary, contemporary, and contemporary: that was the bill of fare last night at this challenging recital offered by the young American group, graduates of the Eastman... Read more... |
Forbidden Broadway, Vaudeville TheatreTuesday, 16 September 2014“It takes a star to parody one,” wrote theartsdesk’s Edward Seckerson, nailing the essence of this immortal spoof-fest’s last incarnation at the Menier Chocolate Factory. Star quality was assured given the presence of Damian Humbley, peerless in... Read more... |
Lemper, SCO, Foster, Usher Hall, EdinburghSaturday, 16 August 2014Twenty years ago Ute Lemper came to the Usher Hall to sing Kurt Weill. The young pretender to the Lotte Lenya throne performed then on a bare stage with little more than a piano as accompaniment. Last night, she swept onto a platform crammed with a... Read more... |
Ursula Martinez: My Stories, Your Emails, Purcell RoomWednesday, 06 August 2014In her book How To Be a Woman, Times columnist Caitlin Moran explains the difference between strip clubs and burlesque shows, and why the latter are perfectly acceptable to feminism. “In burlesque, the power rests with the person taking their... Read more... |
CD: John Harle & Marc Almond - The Tyburn Tree: Dark LondonFriday, 21 February 2014It's hard to countenance sometimes that there was an era where Marc Almond could have been a bona fide, chart-smashing pop star. His ability to parlay the archest of high camp and the most grotesque of low life into something digestible by genuine... Read more... |
Emil and the Detectives, National TheatreThursday, 05 December 2013Read Erich Kästner’s 1928 novel about young Emil Tischbein and the Berlin boys he enlists to catch a thief, and you’ll come away feeling warm if slightly incredulous at the strong moral compass of all the kids and most of the adults. Gerhard... Read more... |
Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Queen Elizabeth HallSaturday, 07 September 2013It’s hard to imagine much upstaging Martyn Jacques, the indomitable falsetto frontman of the Tiger Lillies. The gaping mouth of an enormous mythical fish that seems to have swum straight from the canvases of Hieronymus Bosch, projected right across... Read more... |
CD: Nicky Haslam – Midnight MatineeMonday, 24 June 2013Nicky Haslam is best known as an interior designer. His clients include Rupert Everett, Bryan Ferry and Mick Jagger. His first book was called Sheer Opulence. He has also written, bred horses and performed in cabaret. Accompanying him on his album... Read more... |
The Tiger Lillies, Southbank CentreSaturday, 08 June 2013The last two years have seen the Tiger Lillies hit a prolific peak of activity, to be found as often on the theatrical as the concert stage, drawing on plenty of influences from outside the UK to boot. Mike Pickering came on board last year in place... Read more... |
Ute Lemper, Queen Elizabeth HallThursday, 30 May 2013The show which Ute Lemper brought to the Queen Elizabeth Hall as part of the London Literature Festival - “Pablo Neruda: A Song Cycle of Love Poems” - is brand-new; the six-piece band (with which she has just recorded it, and which will be touring... Read more... |