A Night of Variety – Bradford Alhambra

Bradford Alhambra is currently celebrating its centenary year after opening its doors to the public in 1914.

Harking back to that first production the Alhambra staged A Night of Variety.

And variety it certainly was with an eclectic mix of singing, comedy and dance. Performers included Lesley Joseph, Lisa Riley, musicals star Lesley Dearman and comedian Joe Pasquale.

Dance took the form of contemporary ballet producer Matthew Bourne’s new show Edward Scissorhands, which will be performed in full at the Alhambra next February. From the excerpt we saw, if you like ballet this will be worth seeing.

A night of variety at the Alhambra would not be complete without the talents of Mr Pantomime himself Billy Pearce. After spending 16 years performing on the Alhambra stage in panto it was clear to see that he was completely at home and certainly in his element. He had the audience laughing from the first strains of his opening song until he handed over to his new panto buddy Joe McElderry. Joe treated us to two very different songs, a classic from his time on Popstar to Opera Star and his debut hit The Climb with the audience melting to his liquid gold voice. As well as Billy Pearce the Alhambra is famous for its Sunbeams, and Sara Packham’s recent beams took to the stage along with Sunbeams from yesteryear including one lady who had been a Sunbeam back in 1936.

Michael Ball had top billing of the night with a very enthusiastic audience enjoying’s songs both modern and musical – with audience participation for his standard Love Changes Everything.

Probably the surprise of the night for me were The Krankies. I grew up with them and Crackerjack but I was a little dubious about how they would translate nowadays.

I need not have feared, they were at their showbiz best. They had the audience in stitches as they took the mick out of themselves and proved that no matter what age a woman dressed as a naughty 10 year old boy, for some reason works.

The whole evening was just Fan-Dabi-Dozi.

Katrina Knights