I love a good night out at the Theatre.

Whether it be in a big City or the smaller local establishments, every performance I have ever attended has been brilliant.

Some of my favourites have been the big productions such as “The Lion King” and “Les Miserable” and I have had just as much fun at smaller venues watching “Crooners: Unleashed” and “New Purple Celebration” which happens to be the best Prince tribute artist I have ever seen.

New Purple Celebration

I have to admit to being quite lucky that within a 25 mile radius, I have the choice of FIVE different theatres, so there is always something good on to see, and at competitive prices.

Of course, you also have touring productions of the big City shows that travel though, and it makes for a much cheaper night out if you don’t have to pay for travel to a much larger City.

This brings us back to the title of this blog.

The Amazing Ursula from “Unfortunate”

As with most things, if you don’t use them, you will lose them. Without supporting our local venues and establishments, they will close down as so many have already done.

So that is exactly what I did on the 18th January, when I went to see “Twist and Shout” with my two Uncles.

Billed as a night of 60’s hits performed by a live band with singers from the West End, I knew this would be perfect for my Uncles, so bought them tickets for one of their Christmas gifts.

To Kill A Mockingbird

Saturday came around, and they were all ready to go, wearing two fabulous shirts that we got from a marvellous menswear outfitters, Montague Jeffery.

Alberts shirt was navy blue with lots of famous guitars on. Diverus had a pale blue shirt with a smaller pattern of keyboards, guitars, and drums. Both of the perfect for the show!

We arrived at the theatre around 40 minutes before the show was about to start and headed to the bar to get some refreshments. We also ordered the drinks for the interval so we wouldn’t have to join the huge queues at the bar then.

The Lion King at Disneyland Paris

Heading into auditorium, we found our seats and got comfortable.

The lights went down and the music started.

Now, I had no idea what to expect of the performance so I was open minded as to the content. I will admit however, I was not expecting what actually happened.

One of My Favourites

There was a band on stage made up of a four musicians; drums, bass, guitar and keyboard.

Three men and three women came on to the stage and took their positions and started singing a very well known 1960’s song. And they didn’t stop until the interval!

What I mean by that, is that each song blended into the next. No breaks or chatting or messing around.

I LOVE Jools Holland

They sang everything you can imagine; The Beatles, Dusty Springfield, The Monkeys, Cilla Black, Sandie Shaw, The Move and more.

During the first half they sang the earlier part of the 1960’s; the explosion of Rock and Roll and the arrival of The Fab Four.

It was a fantastic show and the singing was spot on, as was the co-ordinated dance routines, especially from the ladies.

Cheers!

During half time, we went and collected our drinks and sat talking about the performance so far. I spotted the usherette selling ice cream and that was it, I needed a little tub of Mint Choc Chip.

Getting two tubs of Vanilla for the Uncles, we headed back to our seats to get ready for the second half.

That certainly didn’t disappoint either!

Double Cheers!

We had entered the flower power era and songs by Scott McKenzie, the Mamas and Papas, The New Seekers and many more were performed.

I especially liked the fact that many of the songs were sung by one or two individuals, whilst costumes were changed or the singers grabbed a quick drink to lubricate their vocal chords.

The whole night was brilliant and my Uncles absolutely loved the performance. They were able to sing and clap along, and the performers invited everyone to get up and dance and sing to the encore.

Time to Dance the NIght Away

Well, they were not going to miss out on that opportunity and jumped up, dancing to the beat.

Sadly it was a little too dark in the theatre so the pictures that I tried to take didn’t come out very well at all, which was a real shame as the smiles on their faces literally were priceless.

We headed back to the car for the journey home, big smiles all round.

Lady in Red

All we need to do now is get ready for next month when we actually have TWO shows that we will be going to, so watch this space!

Till next time,

SPSG xxx