Keith Kilgore
Showcase 2023 – Up Where We Belong
★★★★☆ Nuanced
Showcase, the annual concert in aid of Macmillan Cancer Relief, can certainly say it is “Up where we belong”, in the words of the Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warner number that gives this year’s show its title.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
★★★★☆ Star car
The car is, of course, the star in Southern Light Opera’s production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the Festival Theatre all week, but it would be nothing without a tight and committed cast around it.
As If We Never Said Goodbye…
★★★★☆ Celebratory
Showcase, the annual portmanteau production of showtunes and classics in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support, returns to the Church Hill Theatre in fine fettle after its enforced three year hiatus.
SLO Sings For the King’s
★★★★☆ Pure Theatre
Southern Light Opera burst back onto the stage after the Covid hiatus in full celebratory mode with a portmanteau show of songs from its back catalogue which refuses to be obvious, while rounding off the night with a fanfare of show stoppers.
Showcase 30th Anniversary Album
★★★★☆ Lockdown Highs:
Showcase has pulled off something of a miracle in this 30th Anniversary Album, in which its band and huge chorus has recorded 80 minutes of material under strict social distancing guidelines.
Anything Goes
★★★★★ It’s the Tops!
Everything goes extremely well in Southern Light’s take on the timeless Cole Porter musical, playing at the King’s this week until Saturday.
Showcase 2019
★★★★☆ Melodic juggernaut:
Showcase 2019 at the Church Hill Theatre is an object lesson in how to ring the changes on a familiar formula and keep the result delightfully fresh.
My Fair Lady
★★★★☆ Loverly:
Southern Light Opera’s My Fair Lady at the King’s is a sumptuously staged production. It also boasts a truly outstanding central performance; if the rest is a little overshadowed as a result, it is nevertheless highly impressive.
SLO’s Fair Lady
My Fair Lady seen in Southern Light:
Southern Light is bringing a new production of Lerner and Loewe’s My Fair Lady to the King’s from Tuesday 5 March 2019, and promise a 21st century feel to a story which is over a century old.
Showcase 2018
★★★☆☆ Fun and Eclectic:
The biggest songs in rock, pop and musical theatre are celebrated in Showcase 2018 on at the Church Hill Theatre until Saturday
