Bridewell #3 & #4 and a lovely party

Two more performances at the bijou Bridewell Theatre on Friday and Saturday afternoon were splendid fun!
...forgot to mention on the last blog the tremendous contribution of the squeaky floorboard (sited between Mike & I on stage) which filled many pieces - both serious and comedy! - with a frisson of excitement.
Enthusiastic responses from the people to squeaks and music alike.
Long may our relationship with the St. Bride Foundation continue...

Then a quick jaunt up to Warwick Avenue for a private party at Clifton Nurseries - a fine venue & now available for Weddings!
Joined by wonderful pianist Chris Hatt, we celebrated Penny Levinson's birthday with her friends and family in fine style... singing many of her favourite songs... Let's Do It, Night & Day, The Way You Look Tonight, Mad Dogs & Englishmen, Tea for Two, As Time Goes By, A Fine Romance, & Honeysuckle Rose... as well as renditions of Cricket Tea Towel, Strangers in the Night and (altogether now) The Lambeth Walk...
Delightful to be invited to her celebrations...

A busy and enjoyable day...

Bridewell Theatre #1 & #2

First two Bridewell Theatre shows for this September... marvellous.
Still tonight and Saturday afternoon to come....

We enjoyed going Over the Top! for our first two nights in the splendid Bridewell Theatre off Fleet Street... As we are Artists in Residence at the Bridewell Institute, we have performed here many times...

Still a joy - lovely audiences have enjoyed all our nonsense with great aplomb...

Thanks to Mikey and all at the Bridewell for their tremendous support throughout the year.

This week at the Bridewell & beautiful Belgium under the stars

Do come to the Bridewell theatre this week! It'll be great fun...
Weds. 3rd - Fri. 5th at 7.30
Sat. 6th at 2.30
Box Office: 0207 427 4742
All other details here - Over the Top!

We had two wonderful evenings (apart from one 30 minute downpour which was less so) at the excellent Nuits des Choeurs 2014 - an evening of multi-entertainment on six separate stages in the ruins of an old Monastry at Abbaye de Villers, about an hour from Brussels.
As well as us, there was the choir of the French Foreign Legion, The choir of St Petersburg, the lovely franco-israeli singer-songwriter Yael Naim, the energetic and vibrant French cast of Sister Act & the backing group for James Brown.

All the acts perform on six separate stages... three at a time, a set of 20 minutes four times during the evening, so the vast crowds (many thousands) can wander about and watch everything...(including two of them twice if they like) as well as drink and eat... It is sponsored by many, but the eye-catching one for me was Leffe... lovely beer!

It ends on the biggest stage (where the Foreign Legion were at home) with us all doing one more song and ending with fireworks...

Fantastic, and the hardy Belgians laughed at the rain and the muddy fields... brilliant!

One of the amazing six stages:

1st Bridewell night

As much as anything, this evening was excellent because so many of my wider family had decided to show up tonight.. without my knowing beforehand... including my fabulously talented cousin Andy Fleming (vocalist - impressionist)... we have not been in the same place for years! Glorious.

...and all went well; quite a few Cricket Songs sung to an unsuspecting audience, and the CDs were popular too. A great beginning to our run, and looking forward to the next three nights...

Bridewell rehearsal

Final rehearsals for our Bridewell shows at the end of next week...
Our Postcard from Home will be as varied as usual... and of course, Songs of Cricket will be there too - both live and recorded! Monty Python, Jake Thackray, Noel Coward, The Beatles, Flanders and Swann, Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber - just some of the people who will 'partake' in our evenings...

Very exciting... tech stuff over the weekend and then we are in from Monday... shows: Weds.-Sat. at 7pm.
Might we see you there...?