Broadway and Beyond

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Broadway and Beyond, Regent Centre, Christchurch
11:30am Sunday 20th February 2011
By Ray O'Luby

BRAVO for a brilliant tribute to Broadway. The talent and exuberance of this company of three singers-cum-dancers and a multi instrumental five piece band, could hardly be bettered in this cracking paced parade of a 100 years of great Stage Musicals.
Nicky Reader's versatile voice ranged from delightful to fiesty, Ian Knauer and Stephen Emery matched in quality, and the acting in the comic numbers was an added joy.
The earliest showstopper went back to 1911 with Irving Berlin's Alexander's Ragtime Band, from the intriguingly titled Friar's Frolic. Among the work of Berlin's contemporaries was Cole Porter's sublime Night And Day, from Gay Divorce, and his wittily worded Brush Up Your Shakespeare, from Kiss Me Kate, while the Gershwins were represented by I've Got Rhythm, from Girl Crazy.
Knauer and Emery made for a likeable pair of lovelorn sailors in There Is Nothing Like A Dame, from Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific, before being swept away by Reader's hilarious knock-em-dead delivery of When You've Got It Flaunt It, from that hysterical masterpiece by Mel Brooks, The Producers, which also provided the fitting finale, There's Nothing Like A Show On Broadway. Excellent.

http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/leisure/reviews/8864666.Broadway_and_Beyond__Regent_Centre__Christ…

World of Broadway deserves spotlight
Monday, April 09, 2012

Gloucestershire Echo

TOP hats and canes, swirling dresses, a sprinkling of glitz and quality music throughout, Clearer Productions' breezy all-singing, all-dancing extravaganza celebrating a century of Broadway (and beyond) was a total success.

Slickly choreographed, radiating pure joy and bringing each character believably to life, the three versatile troubadours, Ian Curran, Kevin Brewis and Nicky Reader cruised majestically through a whistlestop tour of songs culled principally from lesser known off-Broadway productions, glued together with a few evergreens from Oklahoma!, South Pacific and 42nd Street.

Mel Brooks, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Stephen Sondheim and the Gershwins were honoured in style, and for anyone hooked on Les Mis or The Phantom of the Opera, neither of which got even the slightest look-in tonight, it was a welcome showcase for a few long-forgotten creations (Pal Joey, Betsy, Little Johnny Jones) that still deserve their place in the spotlight.

There is often strength in numbers on stage, but, for once, this was a case of so much from so few, ably supported by the multi-instrumental, five-man band under Neil Cleary. Disciplined, balanced and never invasive, they provided a pulsating accompaniment to many neat and well-crafted set pieces during which the momentum never let up.

Whilst Ian and Kevin prompted the bulk of the chuckles, especially during an excerpt from Spamalot and the running gag of Brush Up Your Shakespeare from Kiss Me Kate, the evening's most haunting moments were left to Nicky, who worked her way through more eye-catching costumes than an entire West End cast, and whose controlled voice especially during several reflective solos, was an unmitigated delight.

There is indeed nothing like a Broadway show, and there can be few more absorbing ways to enjoy them than tonight's polished performance during which my feet barely stopped tapping.

Simon Lewis

http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/World-Broadway-magical/story-15761873-detail/story.html