It was not to be an evening of disappointment and Irish Comic Jimmy Cricket Moved in to fill the gap! The moment this genius came on he had the audience in fits of laughter proving once more slick old school humour rules in an age of alternative comedy. Its all in the timing and Jimmy hit the target over and over.
Leading up to the Jimmy slot a clever build up of talent paved the way opening up with another UK favourite, Andy Ford. It's no wonder he's a regular visitor on the Today Programme with Des and Mel. I had seen the Seaside Special Show the night before and was pleasantly surprised to see a brand new routine! Five minutes into the show it was obvious that behind the scenes big wigs had pulled out all the stops for this one! Songbird Natasha Seale wooed the audience with a carefully selected song-list despite one or two technical hitches.
A show wouldn't be complete without glamour and glitz in this case provided by Seaside Special Dancers, Jessica Bedford, Natasha Bird, Nicola Salt, Rebecca Wallace, Kevin Archibold and Neil Scott Brodrick. A routine to grace Any West End Show flowed with ease and grace. There's a lot to be said about allowing dancers freedom to express themselves freely which is exactly what happened here. All the choreography was masterminded by the performers so the feel good factor shone through to a delighted audience leading up to the Golden Voice of Paul Hazel.
Phil Melbourne's 'Naughty But Nice' Slot Could have been naughtier, after all the show was after the 9.00 watershed mark! I guess like a true pro he weighed the crowd up and played as close to the boarder as he dare! I personally rate Phil and have seen what he's capable of on a bigger stage, an important winning formula for any performer is the auto pilot audience reader inside them and Phil certainly read the atmosphere as soon as he stepped on the boards.
If there was a medal for bravery I would have certainly given it to 'The Mothers After Midnight' Slot. Visually great these mothers of the Seaside Special children gave it their all! It really helped throwing in a pro in the shape of Adam Porter-Smith. I had one eye on stage and the other on the audience and they certainly turned a few male heads that started an almost simultaneous elbowing from their female partners. It worked! credit to Tudur Eames for giving the mums a deserved spotlight and chancing 'The Boyfriend Medley,' not the easiest of routines, for a mothers debut! The Same goes for Blues and Twos when they came on to perform 'Them Bones' not a song that I would attempt but I thoroughly enjoyed It.
To add to the Variety Melissa Merran Stunned the auditorium with her breathtaking skills on the rope that has earned her an undisputed International reputation in the world of Trapeze and Acrobatics. A fantastic choice of music accompanied Melissa to help break up the show and keep an audience spellbound and awake as the clock ticked over!
It needed something quite special to open the second half and judging by the rapturous applause it was evident that The Constantia Brothers from Cromer were firm favourites on the night! Still buzzing from the fact that one of their tracks had been played on Olympic Grandstand that morning they burst onto the stage with extraordinary energy! This was a visual world music display at it's best. The musicianship had the audience almost hypnotised at times ending with Greek Classic, 'Zorba the Greek!' that had every seat in the house in an uncontrollable rhythmic wave of movement!
Just when we thought it was all over on walks Leonarda, the singer from Athens to perform the Olympic tune that was on Television that very morning. A cool and calculated decision by the Constantia Brothers and the trump card of the whole evening that had even the organisers pleasantly surprised. Leonarda delivered the song, 'Olympic Spartica' in a true Eurovision style atmosphere and for a split second I thought Terry Wogan would remark on a possible winner! By this time the boys from Cromer had already crossed the finish line with time to spare to claim Olympic Gold for a Cromer Pavilion Production.
