It was band week on stage Door tonight.  Largely because my guest tonight was Kevin Jordan from Fairlop Brass Band.  Thanks to Kevin for coming and discussing the band who are performing at the Brentwood Theatre on Sunday 12^th June at 3pm.  Box Office: 01277 200305.

My other guest this evening was Phoenix FM’s Mike Jones.  Mike is making his directing debut with the Thurrock Court Players next week at the Thameside Theatre in Grays where they are performing They Came From Mars – one of the Farndale Avenue Townswomen’s Guild series of plays.  It’s at 7.45pm 26^th-28^th May.  Box Office is 0845 300 5264.

Other productions reviewed this week include: A Delicate Balance at the Almeida Theatre, London (0207 359 4404) and The Merchant of Venice at the RSC in Stratford https://www.rsc.org.uk/buy-tickets/the-merchant-of-venice/ .

To book for any of the three outdoor theatre productions at Hylands House this summer (The Three Muskateers, Wind In The Willows or Midsummer Nights Dream contact the Box Office on 01245 606505.

Here’s the playlist:

1. Come follow the band (by Cy Coleman and Michael Stewart, from Barnum) 1981 original London cast
2. Strike up the band (by George and Ira Gershwin, from Strike Up the Band) Count Basie and his Orchestra – Fancy Pants
3. Willkommen (by John Kander and Fred Ebb, from Cabaret) Alan Cumming – 1998 Broadway revival cast
4. I love a lassie (by Harry Lauder, from Lauder) Jimmy Logan and the Scottish Power Pipe Band – Hey Mr Producer!
5. That’s entertainment! (by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz, from The Band Wagon) Fred Astaire, Jack Buchanan, Nanette Fabray, Oscar Levant and India Adams – 1953 film soundtrack
6. Overture from Sweet Charity (by Cy Coleman) 2005 Broadway revival
7. No matter what (by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jim Steinman, from Whistle Down the Wind) Boyzone – By Request
8. Before the parade passes by (by Jerry Herman, from Hello Dolly!) Barbra Streisand and company – 1969 film soundtrack
9. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (by Hans Zimmer) as recorded by Fairlop Brass Band.
10. 76 trombones (by Meredith Willson, from The Music Man) Robert Preston – 1962 film soundtrack
11. Runyonland / Fugue for tinhorns / Follow the fold (by Frank Loesser, from Guys and Dolls) Stubby Kaye, John Silver, Douglas Deane, Isabel Bigley and 1950 original Broadway cast
12. Blow Gabriel blow (by Cole Porter, from Anything Goes) Sally Ann Triplett and 2003 London revival cast
13. I’m a brass band (by Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields, from Sweet Charity) Christina Applegate – 2005 Broadway revival
14. Alexander’s ragtime band (by Irving Berlin, from Alexander’s Ragtime Band) The Andrews Sisters – Best of the 1930s and 1940s