A medley of singing and dancing - with no need for star guest
‘That’s Entertainment’ showing at New Wimbledon Theatre certainly was, opening with a medley of “entertainment” themed songs by a cast of singers and dancers in sparkling, black and white costumes on a bright Hollywood background.
The talented cast of singers Loula Geater, Emma Kate Nelson, Simon Scholfield and Sean Smith ably supported by an ensemble of eight dancers gave us a show which included an excellent tribute to the Pearly Kings and Queens compete with spoon playing and a clever hand-clapping routine to ‘It’s a Long Way to Tipperary.’ There were also tributes to the musicals of Rogers and Hammerstein, viz. ‘South Pacific’ and ‘Carousel’ which ended with an emotional rendition of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ and, on a personal note, I was delighted to see lots of intricate tap routines including canons and syncopation.
The show closed with a further tribute, this time to the Rat Pack.
The programme includes a guest artiste which changes through the tour, but on this occasion, the star was Morden-born Jonathon Ansell, formerly of G4. He performed a number of well-known tenor classics such as ‘O Sole Mio’ as well as his personal nods to the likes of Mario Lanza (‘Be My Love’) and Freddie Mercury (‘Barcelona’) and, rather predictably, ended his part of the show with a rendition of ‘Nessun Dorma’ which went down well with his fans in the audience. Apart from the finale, his act was completely separate to the rest of the show and while undoubtedly he has a lovely voice which is why people came to see him, I thought that, apart from his sparkling shoes, he could have made a better effort with his costumes to match the standard of the rest of the production.
Overall, I felt that the show could have stood alone without the introduction of a guest star and is certainly worth seeing.
By Anne Horsburgh
August 18, 2016