Dancing in the Street

In truth, there are very few weeks recently where I haven’t found myself at the Angles Theatre, Wisbech. The amazing group of trustees keep putting ridiculous amounts of effort in to keeping the theatre open by setting themselves a relentless schedule of shows. This Thursday night it was ‘Dancing in the Street’ and I was guessing it would be a musical revue… which it was ... but a lot more besides! As I took my seat, I turned to Dame Kerry Shippey (who was behind me) and said to her that I thought I has seen all the possibilities for transforming the performance space at the Angles … but here was a cracker I had never seen. The set (uncredited, but it had Robert Williams grubby fingerprints all over it!) was a two level, full width rostra arrangement delightfully lit from underneath. The two performers were on top, the dancers on the flat floor and the band behind. It made that small space look enormous and gave the whole show the look of a cabaret in a (quite expensive) night club. By the time the music started I was in completely the right frame of mind for the show they had prepared. That show turned out to be a collaboration between RATz singers Robert Williams and Catherine Missin and the dancers of The Katy Lilley School of Dance. There was some crossover as the two male dancers, Chris Moment and Liam Nixon are certainly accomplished RATz performers … and may well be Lilley’s as well. An almost perfect mix of songs with dancing, songs without dancing and dances with songs behind them. The construction of the evening simply could not be faulted and once again screamed “WILLIAMS” at me! The sound (design by Matt Peploe) was good (as you would expect) with the singers and band perfectly balanced and no unnecessary pops or whistles. But it was the amount of time spent on the lighting plot (design by … can you guess? with execution by Jonathon Salmon … which explains why I saw him in the auditorium for the first time ever!!!!) that really made this show stand out. The choreography was interesting and quite sexy at times with Erin Grocott, Charlotte Lyons, Megan Marshall, Eve Mason, Neve Shaw and Katy Lilley herself well-drilled and dancing to a high standard alongside wonderful Chris Moment and the enormously talented Mr Liam Nixon. Liam is a nice guy, and a fair actor, but when he dances …Wow! The highlight of the dancing was (for me at least) when he and Katy Lilley went it alone for Ed Sheeran’s ‘Perfect’ ... which is exactly what it was. Rob Williams took seventy percent of the available songs with Catherine Missin picking up what was left, with the two of them adding both tenor and alto sax and a little mouth organ action to the proceedings. That mouth organ made Billy Joel’s ‘Piano Man’ my take home tune of the night ... but then it was already one of my favourite songs and Mr Williams totally nailed it! Other first half highlights included ‘Mack the Knife’', ‘Valerie’ and ‘Live and Let Die’ … with only The Rolling Stones’, ‘Paint It Black’, looking strangely out of place! The second half was every bit as good in all respects with a magnificent ‘Feeling Good’ (‘the Bublé version) opening things in fine style. Other notables were The Beatles ‘Let It Be’, a stunning ‘You Raise Me Up’ and a brilliant finale of ‘From Now On’ from the ‘'Greatest Showman’. Sadly, all of these were completely trumped by Ed Sheeran’s ‘Castle on the Hill’ which I thought was better than the original. Poor Miss Missin turned out to be suffering badly from a throat infection which explained why she looked so frightened throughout the performance and not at all her usual confident self. To her eternal credit I had no idea until Gloria Gaynor’s ‘I Will Survive’ in the second half, where I didn’t think she was going to make it through the song. She is such a talent that, with next to no voice, she managed to find a way to get those big notes out and went on to complete the show…. somehow - and sounded great! In a show where there was no patter, the comedy moment of the evening was musical, and it came in the form of the Madness classic’ It Must Be Love’. Mr Williams (he of perfect pitch and diction) sang it beautifully … but, after a lifetime of hearing Suggs do it, … it just sounded way too posh. I smiled throughout as I pictured the Eton School Choir singing other working-class classics. There was one extremely loud guffaw from person or persons unknown when it was declared during ‘Piano Man’ that ‘John at the bar’ was ‘quick with a joke’ …. I simply fail to understand the humour in that!!! This was such a classy night’s entertainment. Perfectly structured, beautifully sung with dancing that always added to the spectacle and never detracted. The three-piece band made a wonderful sound … so much so that I wondered if there were some extra clicks involved. Mrs Cunningham’s piano always sounds like ‘a carnival’ (Billy Joel reference for those who are too young) here so you can never be completely sure. I must also mention Mr Nixon again, who made a great job with the backing vocals … they really made a difference. Bravo RATz! And Bravo Katy Lilley! This was Am-Dram cabaret in the premiership and just what I needed on a Thursday night!

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