Going Dutch in Groningen

A triumphant return to The Netherlands in the north... at Groningen...
We were making our sixth visit to de Oosterpoort - a wonderful arts complex... and indeed it was great to see our old friends Irene & Remke there too!

We gave a performance of Showtime - with the splendid Chris Hatt at the piano, taking a night off from Billy Elliot in the West End.

From the start - having been encouraged to join in our Money, money, money dance! - the audience were with us, and being wonderfully enthusiastic and fun.

Les Parapluies de Cherbourg, Kiss from a Rose, Guys & Dolls, Happy, Route 66, He's a Tramp, Over the Rainbow, & Skyfall all flashed by & we finished off with the Comedian Harmonists' tongue-twisty, Wenn ich vergnügt bin muss ich singen, as Groningen has a German-speaking part...

A delight to be in Holland again... we are in Veghel on March 10th next month (this time singing a different show, Harmony & Humour) - click away to find out more!

But first we are in Oxfordshire for a private function, and back in Barcelona & Palma de Mallorca; and afterwards more Belgium and some Turkey.... all details on our site!
What larks!

Bad Kreuznach, DE

Hoorah - another great B.o.B. night...
Richard had a splendid moment, introducing our pianist as being the MD of Billy Hatt, which was nice... He is of course the MD of Chris Elliot.
Germany is being good to us - another packed house, and more jollity... they were especially delighted with our selection of British TV themes.
The theatre is in the midst of the rather glorious Sympathie Hotel Fürstenhof - the panoramic view on the site does it justice... I even walked up high and saw it all from above this afternoon.
Sadly we do not have lots of time to spend in their Wellness Centre - all looks great!
Had a good later evening in the hotel bar with Carole, her (and our) friend Birgit and, of course, Billy Hatt and family too...
On to Haus der Springmaus, Bonn to see more old friends...

Classical Rolls Royce!

We are very blessed by our accompanists!
These days for our shows, on piano we have the fantastic Chris Hatt, the worldwide MD of Billy Elliot...
...and soon, because Chris is not free, we have the pleasant delight of working for a couple of Belgian nights with our previous chap, Paul Plummer, who is presently working at the opera house in Innsbruck...
...and now we also have the splendour of working once again with that Rolls Royce of classical accompanists, Malcolm Martineau. We are recording a third album with him, this time under the Champs Hill label - in November for release next year. We had a rehearsal yesterday, and it was as we have come to expect when we work with MM... looking forward to the CD very much.

It is loosely based on the concert we performed together in the Musée d'Orsay, Paris in March...
Songs of Love and Death/War... (to be decided)...

1st Taj weekend

Two lovely nights at The Taj, 51 Buckingham Gate.... only a few minutes from my house - hoorah.
We sang songs from the West End and Broadway in their open-air courtyard... and it did not rain... a minor miracle surely!

Accompanied splendidly by Chris Hatt [only a few metres from his usual Billy Elliot pit], we had an excellent couple of evenings, and the guests at the Taj were gloriously on for a good time.

Felt a bit sorry for the people in the restaurant opposite us in the courtyard, as they could not hear us behind their plate glass walls, and as there was a private function each night, the doors could not be opened.... ah well, this at least absolutely ensured that they felt they were missing something, rather than having any chance of dashing their hopes!

Excellent to sing a few pieces we have not done in a while... our West Side Story medley, lots from our David Cullen album Music of the Night and some Guys and Dolls... as well as, for the first time since Musée d'Orsay (!)... Flash Bang Wallop - only with totally English lyrics this time!!

We will do this all again on the 5th and 6th August... what fun!