Valentine's day at the musicals

I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to spend a day for lovers with my true love: Musical theatre...

The talented actress and singer Jessie Buckley, who in my opinion was robbed of the role of Nancy in the BBC TV series ‘I’d do anything’, alongside Daniel Boys who starred in ‘Any dream will do’ in 2007 gave stunning solo performances in this romantic evening filled with love songs from both musical theatre and film. Jessie’s personal and famous rendition of ‘As Long as he Needs Me’ from Oliver was an obvious highlight, but it was the duets that allowed these two stars to really excel; ‘The Last night of the World’ from Miss Saigon in particular. The singing group ‘Capital Voices’ (who have just done the backing vocals for Jedward’s train wreck of a single) provided excellent backing and performed a few numbers of their own. The evening ended with some more contemporary numbers such as ‘I’ve Had the Time of My Life’ from Dirty Dancing and Abba’s ‘Take a Chance on Me’. This light-hearted ending paled in comparison to the earlier, more intense moments of song, but entertained the audience nonetheless! The setting of the symphony hall, the accompaniment of The Manchester Concert Orchestra and the range in the repertoire really made the evening special.

Does Britain have talent?

Given the slightly more tough side of a debate in last weeks paper...

If the programme ‘Britain’s got talent’ is anything to go by, initially some may argue that Britain does not have talent. I disagree. The Oxford English dictionary describes someone that is talented as ‘naturally inclined or disposed to something’. So in theory, everyone has a talent, however it is the ranking of these talents and the level of excellence which is judged. In the case of ‘Britain’s got talent’ having raw talent is usually not enough, as with all reality TV the idea of entertainment is a priority, so in order to be successful on this show, one must entertain, not just the celebrity judges, but a ruthless live audience. I’ll take the time now to admit to you all that I have watched every series of Britain’s got talent since it started back in 2007 and the Birmingham auditions are renowned for being especially weird, yet however weird someone’s talent may be it is still theirs if they are ‘naturally inclined or disposed’ to a certain form of entertainment, whether that be playing the Viola dressed as a zombie, carving melons into household objects or simply taking off your clothes to reveal startlingly large genitalia! It is shows like ‘Britain’s got talent that allow unusual talents to be shown and given a chance, as singing is the focus of most reality talent shows, the X- factor is specific in the people and voices it requires. Britain’s got talent has brought dance groups like diversity into the spotlight and pushes unusual people and acts into mainstream popular culture, whilst quite frankly being highly entertaining.