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The greatest show and other bromances: Adam Riches and John Kearns ARE Ball and Boe @sohotheatre

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Alfie Boe and Michael Ball seem to be a bit of a joke act anyway. Their endless interpretations of popular songs (also known as covers) and their double-act bromance make them quintessential crossover artists where popular music meets opera and Broadway. And a perilous choice for the discerning listener. It’s not that they aren’t talented musicians and performers in their own right. Still, their musical choices are always safe, predictable and less than their potential. But every country deserves to have a pair of self-described national treasures that can tour the local arenas and give people a good time for the bargain price of £175 a seat.  And so the concept of Adam Riches and John Kearns - two world-famous from the Edinburgh Fringe comedians taking on this bromance seems like a curious choice for a Christmas musical fare. One can only hope that over the fourteen nights, it is playing at the Soho Theatre that the show evolves into something more substantial than a series of po...

Music: Out of the Piano

It's been a busy week with Seven Deadly Sins at the Roundhouse, but in amongst all the rehearsals I did get a chance to see the third Tim Williams Award for musical composition. It is a competition that presented 21 news compositions to lyrics taken from classical or established text, performed by various West End and sensible professionals...

While 21 new compositions are bound to be a mixed bag, there were a few rough diamonds in here... The winning song by Christopher Hamilton called Burn and performed by Diannne Pilkington was one of those rare moments that just surprised the audience and had us bursting with laughter.

There is a full podcast of the show on Musical Talk, or just some silly post show banter (much shorter too) from Audioboo... The next awards are in October. Here's hoping there are more comic songs... We can do with the laughs...

Listen!

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