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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...

Dusk in a muddy park: Babel


Babel, billed as one of the theatrical events of 2012 (in a year that no doubt will be full of these) is currently playing at Caledonian Park in North London. It's part street theatre, part performance art, part art and craft, part singing and part muddy field. It's a lot of parts but it is a pretty ambitious piece that brings together a story of a city like London where people are from all corners of the world and representing a variety of cultures and backgrounds...

89B23D4B-3BCD-4485-8EEE-776A05D7A275You are lured into the park by people who are welcoming you and there are others going about their daily lives (making sandwiches, hoovering, peeling vegetables and so forth). Eventually you find yourself in the middle of an open field. As it is a promenade piece people can choose where to go. Naturally, most people head for the bar as the prices are reasonable and they serve hot spicy cider... Maybe the alcohol helps, but it is quite atmospheric and the cold, damp night just added more atmosphere to the proceedings.

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It's a cast of 300 professional and community performers and the production is a collaboration with the Lyric Hammersmith, Young Vic and Theatre Royal Stratford East. It's the centrepiece of World Stages London, which brings together a number of London's major theatre companies to present the idea of London as world city in 2012...

If only they managed to get the pacing right, starting with opening the gates on time (not twenty minutes late) and moving things along a lot swifter it could have been a little more immersing and engaging. But there is so much spectacle to enjoy it is worth grabbing your wellies and a map (as there is no directions from Caledonian Road tube) and heading on over to see it all...

Babel runs through to 20 May at Caledonian Park. People who read blogs like this can even get in to the Sunday 13 May performance for £10 by quoting the promo code: Blogger at the box office 020 7223 2223 or on the website. Now that's a deal worth heading out at dusk for. Get there early so you can push yourself through the crowds and fight with the ladies in the berets who talk at you a little too sweetly...

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