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Ol’ Blue Eyes and Friends – Live on TV - One4Review

 

The World Premier of a new musical show is always an event for those who are fans of this genre and thaAlhambra Theatre Dunfermline is the place to check one out this week.

The show, set in the late fifties, is in a TV studio and the audience are there to witness a TV spectacular hosted by ‘Ol’ Blue Eyes himself, Frank Sinatra, as he sings classics of the time and introduces three of his friends Gene Kelly, Doris Day and Judy Garland, who also perform some of there best loved numbers.

The storyline is simple, basically there is nothing more complex than Frank fronting the show, the lib is minimal, but where the magic is created is the four stars, Stephen Triffitt as Frank, Darren Bennett, no not the ‘Strictly’ dancer but the actor, as Kelly, Miranda Wilford as Doris aand Adrienne Stiefel as Garland doing the classic numbers such as Luck be a Lady, Mack the Knife, Secret Love, Singing in the Rain, Somewhere Over the Rainbow… the list just goes on and on, and they are superbly backed by a very tight band under the direction of MD Andy Rumble.

Comedy sketches, non-PC adverts are included and backing vocals are supplied by an ensemble of Alan Birkett, Kelsey Cobbam and Andrea Lynette Young who flit in and out throughout the two hour spectacular.

The set is simple and yet well designed, the lighting plot effective and director and choreographer Bill Deamer moves the cast around with consumate ease. The slight quibble I had was that given the sightlines at the Alhambra and the speaker stacks on the stage apron, if the action was taking place towards the back corners occassionally this was unable to be seen by the audience slightly away from the centre of the theatre.

This is a show that will undoubtedly go down well with ‘those of a certain age’ who can remember the songs first time around, but given the timeless classics on offer perhaps a younger element could be encouraged to attend as well.

I do however have a major gripe with the show and one that I feel detracted hugely from my total enjoyment. Given that the piece is set in the fifties why did they opt to have as an encore Triffitt singing ‘My Way’? Yes he sang it superbly, and it is a classic Sinatra number, but the song was written in 1968 around ten years after the period we had been transported back to. Maybe it was just me but I felt it was unneccessary and should be taken out.

You still have a chance to catch this show as it has performances still to play on Saturday 6 November at 2-30 and at 7-30, check ot the Alhambra theatre website www.alhambradunfermline.com for details, and for their whole host of forthcoming shows over the next few months.

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