On Wednesday 30th October Alexandra Palace will ring to the sounds of Music Hall, over eighty years since the curtain fell on the last of the great post-war variety shows.
Leading the cast of this extravaganza from days-gone-by will be the creative force behind the project, star of the BBC TV's Friday evening classic hit children's show Crackerjack and stalwart of
The Players Theatre and BBC TV's The Good Old Days,
Jan Hunt. Jan, who presents the show through her company Paper Moon Theatre Company, also directs and performs, bringing back to life the double talents of the Queen of The Music Hall, Marie Lloyd and that first lady of the comic song, Lily Morris.
Amongst the other great stars of yesteryear to be revived, will be Rochdale's most famous daughter,
Gracie Fields (played by Judith Hibbert), the diva from down-under - Florrie Ford (
Jane Horn), the Dancing Divnity -
Jessie Matthews (Linda Watts) in a tribute to
Ivor Novello and The Wigan Nightingale - George Formby (
Mark Walsh). Joining them on the star-studded bill will be the cheeky chappie himself -
Max Miller (Steve Barclay), Scottish singer and comedian -
Harry Lauder (Andrew Robley), and a birthday tribute to the forces sweetheart Dame
Vera Lynn performed by Mickie Driver. Also in the line up will be
Philip Day's tribute To The Matinee Idols,
John Styles' celebration
of the magicians of the day, along with a tribute to the famous
Chelsea Pensioners, Ross Tomlinson's moving appreciationto the brave young men who fought so gallantly in World-War-1 double act Ferris & Milnes, who perform a breathtakingly high-octane medley of Music Hall classics.
Helming this splendid afternoon of rich entertainment of song, dance, magic and laughter will be your eloquent & elegantly waistcoated chairman
David Graham, complete with gavel and sharp wit who will seamlessly introduce this line up of first class artistes, all of whom have all appeared on BBC TV'S THE Good Old Days (now being rerun on BBC 4).
Alexandra Palace Theatre opened in 1875 to be a place of spectacle and delight. Its name became synonymous with British Music Hall with all the greats gracing its stage. The legendary Fred Karno's troupe, which included
Charlie Chaplin and
Stan Laurel, played there at the turn of twentieth century and in the 1920s the theatre became home to
Gracie Fields after it was leased by her husband Archie Pitt. It was later taken over the BBC before it went dark in the late 1940s, only to be reopened as a theatre last year. Now once again the theatre will reverberate to the sound of days-gone-by.
Jan Hunt says - "Forget BREXIT!!! We will take our audience on a glorious trip down memory lane to the golden days of Music Hall. Bringing the 'Ally Pally' stage to life once again by paying tribute to all the greats from a golden era. Two hours of song, dance, magic and laughter, bringing joy, fun and warmth to the soul. Unmissable!".
Jan Hunt has spent the last 55 years in show business doing everything she loves from cabaret, radio television, films, pantomimes, plays, farce, music hall and musicals. Although she has had a hugely successful and varied career she is still probably best known as the blonde, blue eyed Crackerjack girl in the popular, longest running children's BBC TV series Crackerjack.
Her many theatre appearances include leading roles in forty pantomimes in London and across the UK. Her West End appearances include Come Spy With Me, Show Boat, Run For Your Wife, The Life Story of Marie Lloyd, Lovely Lady, The Amazing Truth of Felicity Quick and The Mousetrap. Jam's co-producing number one tours include Dinnerladies, Keeping Up Appearances, Birds of a Feather and Rising Damp.Her many TV appearances include T Bag Strikes Again, Fresh Fields, All Star Record Breakers, Give Us A Clue, The Morecambe and Wise Show, The Generation Game, Basil Brush, The Ken Dodd Christmas Special, Let's Make A Musical, You, Me and It, The Alistair Cook Hour, The Good Old Days and Me And My Girl.
It was Jan's long and proud association with London's famous
Players Theatre Music Hall which led her to the many TV appearances on BBC TV's longest running series The Good Old Days, and to earning great acclaim when she appeared as the legendary 'Queen of 'alls' Marie Lloyd in The Life Story of Marie Lloyd. In 1989 Jan's love for Music Hall resulted in her establishing her own Paper Moon Theatre Company with fellow performer Dudley Stephens. For thirty years the company has been producing first-class entertainment that harks back to a previous era and with The Magnificent Music Hall playing to packed houses across the UK, Europe and The USA, Paper Moon is seen as the torch bearer for the genre across the world.
https://www.alexandrapalace.com
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