“…Your play needs no excuse…”

What: A Midsummer Night’s Dream

When: 25th February 2016

Where: The Royal Shakespeare Theatre

When the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) last staged “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (https://twilightdawning.com/2011/08/09/what-masques-what-dances-shall-we-have-to-wear-away-this-long-age-of-three-hours/) , they achieved a production which gave us a strong and evocative (transformed) Bottom and Titania but a rather forgettable Hermia and Helena. Five years later, I think they have perhaps given us the opposite whilst once again managing to give us an entertaining production which like its predecessor is worthy of accolades.

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A Cracker for Christmas

What: A Christmas Cracker

Who: Riding Lights Theatre Company

Where: Ravenscourt Arts, Hammersmith, London

When: December 9 & 10th 2015

This was the second annual Christmas play / pantomime at the Ravenscourt Arts theatre in Hammersmith and saw the theatre once again join forces with the Riding Lights Theatre Company from York to bring joy to the lives of an audience who were mostly between the ages of 4 and 11 with a smattering of teachers and parents.

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Cracker the Dog

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Steely Dan – The Most Unforgettable Night of Whatever

About a lifetime ago, my friend, Andrew, and I went to Leeds for the day and in the course of our shopping I brought home every Steely Dan album that had been released to that point, that I didn’t already own. By the time I had worked through albums like Pretzel Logic I was a fan for life. Indeed, Katy Lied joined Van Morrison and Bob Dylan in seeing me almost single-handed through some very tortured teenage years.

Flash forward to 2015 and my wonderful opportunity as I was invited to fly out to the U.S. and cover their residency at the Beacon in New York. I’d seen them a number of times but to see them on home territory playing with imagination and verve — well, this is the stuff that dreams are made of. So let’s take a look at their final night:

Who: Steely Dan

What: rockabye gollie angel tour 2015: “The Most Unforgettable Night of Whatever – Featuring Spectacular Musical Guests, Glorious Tunes and Riffage, and Whatever the Party Calls for! “

When: October 17th, 2015

Where: Beacon Theatre, New York, New York, USA

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The Greatest Damn Steely Dan Band to Ever Come Down the Pipe

Who: Steely Dan

What: rockabye gollie angel tour 2015: “By Popular Demand” night

When: October 16th, 2015

Where: Beacon Theatre, New York, New York, USA

“The greatest damn Steely Dan band ever to come down the pipe”. So said Walter Becker on this “By Popular Demand” night at the Beacon. And you know what – in terms of live performance, –  I think he is just about right. This was an outstanding night of music. The “By Popular Demand” thing might just have been a cool cover-up: I’m not really sure what was so different from some other nights on the tour – but slightly dodgy promotional tools aside, this was a very, very good performance indeed.

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Hackett Ascending

Who: Steve Hackett

What: From Acolyte to Wolflight with a sprinkling of Genesis

Where: Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London

When: October 7th 2015

Last year, I was asked to review Steve Hackett’s “Genesis Revisited” project when it visited Hammersmith. I have to say that I was, initially, not that enthusiastic at the prospect. Hackett had been off my listening radar for quite a long time and I’m not a huge one for nostalgia and sentimentality. However, I had caught up with the former Genesis guitarist via his “Beyond the Shrouded Horizon” a little time before, which I had enjoyed and listening to “Genesis Revisited II” suggested he was been faithful to earlier versions of those songs so I accepted the commission and went along to spend an evening revisiting some past pleasures. After all, it couldn’t hurt, could it?

Well, I was suitably impressed and produced a quite exuberant review which also reflect on my personal journey with Genesis’ music which can be found here: https://twilightdawning.com/2014/11/04/time-lapse-in-hammersmith/

After the new tour was announced I was asked to once again go see the show when it came to my neighbourhood (this time to the slightly smaller Shepherd’s Bush Empire). I thought it would be an interesting contrast. The emphasis this time would be on Hackett’s solo career – both recent and early (he has a boxset of his early solo albums about to drop into the marketplace) and it would be interesting to see if he could cut it without relying too much on the songs of that old band he used to be in.

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An Embarrassment of Riches

Who: Daughters of Davis

Where: Ravenscourt Arts, Ravenscourt Road, Hammersmith, London

When: October 3rd, 2015.

The season at Ravenscourt Arts ended at the beginning of the summer with an outstanding concert of acoustic music from Judie Tzuke which played to a sold-out venue. The show tonight had one of those things in common. This was truly a night of great acoustic music even if there were a number of vacant seats around. No accounting for that – last time Daughters of Davis played here, they played to a very healthy audience indeed so let’s concentrate on the music.

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Ascend the Bright Heaven of Invention

What: Henry V by William Shakespeare

Who: The Royal Shakespeare Company

Where: The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon

When: October 1st, 2015

Sometimes the Royal Shakespeare Company’s “devices” to make a particular production innovative and relevant to the modern audience don’t work. I’m amongst their sharpest critics when they don’t. Occasionally they do. Now whilst audiences members that I spoke to after the performance and during the interval were divided, I have to say I fall into the positive camp when it comes to this most recent production of Henry the Fifth.

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(It) may not fare a whit the worse, for the false pace of the verse.

What: Volpone or the Fox

Who: Ben Jonson

Where: The Swan Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon

When: July 16th, 2015

If I was going to see the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) at either The Royal Shakespeare Theatre or The Swan Theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon or any of their increasingly frequent transfers to London, New York and the world at large, I would always buy a programme.

They are only £4 and reading between the lines, you will find an awful lot about the RSC’s goals in their production of the play at hand. You will then, in turn, get a feel for how their production will differ from the one you were hoping for (for some infamous examples, see my reviews of the 2011 production of The Merchant of Venice https://twilightdawning.com/2011/05/28/all-at-sea/ and the following year’s Troilus and Cressida https://twilightdawning.com/2012/08/13/remixed-shakespeare-for-the-hip-hop-generation/ amongst others). You will also find that sometimes the play production that they are presenting falls short of its own goals.

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Oh! What a Night!!

Who: Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons

Where: Bournemouth International Centre (BIC)

When: July 3rd 2015

About 3 years ago, I was at the Royal Albert Hall reviewing the Frankie Valli and Four Seasons concert (https://twilightdawning.com/2012/06/27/seasonal-returns/).

It was a fine show but it had the air of being nothing more than nostalgia puffed up by the success of the “Jersey Boys” musical.

The next time Valli was in town my health was poor and I was prevented from attending.

In 2015, I was elsewhere when the band played their London show but I was commissioned to cover their show in Bournemouth. How would it be?

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