"Now That's What I Call Variety"
Burton Joyce Village Hall.

There's just not enough variety shows around in my opinion, so this show, which raised money for Rainbows Hospice, was a very welcome production.

Produced by Adam Miller and Tom Shepherd, they compiled a lovely mix of entertainment which was greatly appreciated by the small but enthusiastic audience at the Burton Village Hall.

Starting the show was Zoe Samson and her dad with a couple of crowd pleasers in Charlie Puth's "Attention and Keane's "Somewhere Only We Know". Zoe returned later in the proceedings to sing "A Million Dreams" from "The Greatest Showman"

Magic played a big part in the variety line up and Doug Gregg was up first with a very entertaining set, part of which paid tribute to the late great Tommy Cooper.

Adam and Tom recreated a piece called "Poppadum", which I've seen them do before but still made me smile. They teamed up in Act Two with Zoe to perform another old but funny sketch called "Crossword". You can't beat a good comedy sketch and these two sketches are well written so the comedy is still funny and lives on. Well chosen and well performed.

The lovely thing about variety is there should be something for everyone and the silent cabaret was performed by a lovely lady magician called Jean Moore. Very gentle entertainment which was well received. Jean also showed us that age is no barrier for variety.

Closing Act One were Scarlet Choir; a group of accapella singers in the style of Swingle Singers covering a variety of musical styles from Sondheim to the Beatles to The Spaniels doo wop. A great way to close the first half.

Act Two opened with Claudia Hughes who really made the audience's eyes water. Claudia is the bendiest most flexible woman I've seen. Contorting herself into some wince-inducing positions she knows how to make a person's eyes water.

Clive Moore, who did a fantastic job of MC tonight with some classic comedy, some I'd heard but a lot I hadn't, but every gag being funny. Clive performed some magic and his routine with a lady's ring was very clever, as was the humorous patter that went along with it.

Dan Miller was up next with an adult orientated comedy sketch, first performed I believe for "The Secret Policeman's Ball" many years ago.

Tom then returned on his own to perform a magic trick with the "mystery box" which had been suspended above the audience's heads the whole night. Fortunately everything went perfectly to plan and he received a big round of applause for a very clever piece of magic.

Closing the night was a very lively instrumental from the Nottingham School of Samba. the evening air may have been cool but inside the atmosphere was hot hot hot from this group of energetic percussionists, bringing the audience to their feet. An explosive end to a brilliant night of entertainment which truly deserved the tag of variety.

It was a shame that more of the Burton Joyce residents weren't there to enjoy this show and supporting Adam and Tom's hard work, but it's the residents who missed out on a fabulous evening of live entertainment.

And that is what I call variety! Can't wait for the next one .....2020?