Tom Jones is a legend in music terms. From humble Welsh roots to the biggest stages his career spans the decades and still does. Elvis would come and see his shows in Las Vegas in order to check out the new sensation and the hits just kept on coming. But was this an overnight success? The story can now be told as Cardiff writer Mike James saw this as a musical drama. So the action starts in 1955 with a young Tommy Woodward occasionally singing in the pubs and clubs of Pon

Of Course many of us remember the 1984 movie and some of us can still sing the title song, but what of the stage musical? Well this touring production from Sell A Door Theatre certainly won us over within the first few minutes with their live and lively version of the title song. The challenge here is that all the stage musicians with the exception of Musical Director David Keech on drums on his elevated podium, play live during the performance and that includes the choreog

Lyn Paul is back in Edinburgh this week and in her familiar role as Mrs Johnstone in Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers at the Playhouse. She first joined the show in 1997 for a West End run then was asked back regularly by producer Bill Kenwright through the years joining this UK tour which runs all this week. If the name sounds familiar Lyn was a member of The New Seekers who had a string of hits in the early 1970’s. The group came to Edinburgh in 1972 for the Eurovision Son

I can only image a terrific challenge ensues when a company takes on The Sound of Music and here we have a touring company setting themselves up. After all everyone knows the story. Aside from the movie the musical has been released for am dram, we have West End versions, a peak TV casting series as well as movie revivals and sing –a- longs. So high expectations when the production came to Edinburgh Playhouse for the best part of a week in a cold wet January. Not that dire

Looking at the description for this musical it seems to have everything and if the music era matches the age group then it becomes even more attractive. Additionally, and it’s a big draw – the star is former teen heart throb Jason Donovan. It was he who first came to prominence in the daily TV soap Neighbours which subsequently launched his pop career resulting in two multi-platinum albums and the biggest selling artist of 1989. When the music started to fade his theatre c

Fife’s biggest panto this year is Aladdin presenting all the elements of the traditional experience. Slapstick, audience participation, dancers, comedy, pop songs, costumes, life sized elephant (and a camel), camp humour, live music, glamour, fantasy and magic. The sets and scenes have never changed since music hall variety but this is all new to today’s youngsters and school groups, brownies and cubs all come along as a team booing the baddie Abananzer, singing with the ch