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Tom Roberts grabbed the acts as a backing group for Shooting Star with Niki Evans, left, Clare Andress, Ruby Clarke and Dom Sterland with Rich Bates on guitar and Gladstone G Wilson on keyboard. The Sensational 70s Sunday acoustic Lounge The Hub at St Mary's, Lichfield Tom Roberts' Sunday Acoustic Lounge at The Hub in Lichfield has built up a solid reputation for showcasing the quality to be found in Midland singers but it's Sensational 70s night last weekend lifted the bar to new heights with a genuine West End star, a true headliner. It's almost 20 years since Niki Evans first sprang to public notice in 2007's X-Factor. She might not have won the show but she certainly won the audience with her infectious charm and soaring vocals. Albums followed and so did Blood Brothers, as Willie Russell's iconic hit musical came calling. With no acting experience to call on Niki first turned down the role of Mickey's mum but luckily Bill Kenwright wouldn't take no for an answer and he could be persuasive. Niki not only played the part of Mrs Johnstone, she lived the role every single performance with the most emotionally charged portrayal of all the actresses who have taken on the role. She ended each show in bits, the mum who has lost two sons, played by a mum with two real sons of her own, a mum who has lived life and could feel for her character. She was a superb Mrs Johnstone and don't be that surprised to see her singing of a little light romance or living life on easy terms again in the future. It is a show with its own siren's call luring people back time after time.
Niki Evans with Clare Andress with Rich Bates on guitar But here she was a singer, and not just that but a singer who owned the stage as soon as she appeared – she has the real X-factor. She closed the first half with the Joni Mitchell classic Big Yellow Taxi moving on to jazz with The Crusaders' Street Life. She returned in the second half in a set with Clare Andress and brought the show to a close with one of her father's favourite's Ruby Winters' I will and the upbeat disco funk classic Labelle's Lady Marmalade, different songs, different styles and what a voice the lady possesses. Clare is another singer seen in national touring shows and she sports an impressive CV on cruise ships as well as being the voice of Frida with one of Europe’s leading ABBA tribute bands. She opened with Midnight at the Oasis, US folk singer Maria Muldaur's hit from 1973 moving on to Stevie Wonder's Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing before being joined by Ruby Clarke for a blast from the past with Abba's Dancing Queen.
Niki Evans on a stage dramatically surrounded by its history of a sacred past In the second half Clare gave us Sister Sledge's He's The Greatest Dancer and Don't Leave Me This Way. We were told the version was the 1976 cover by Thelma Houston of the 1975 song by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, but for most of the audience the song really registered a decade later with The Communards. Ruby Clarke, at 19, had the unenviable task of opening and managed it in fine style with Tanya Tucker's Delta Dawn and Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive, and after the break gave us Roberta Flack's 1972 hit, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face. The beautifully simple love song dated back to 1957 and was written by Ewan MacColl for US folk singer Peggy Seeger who was to become his third wife. Seeger recorded the song in 1962 but it was never recorded by MacColl, its creator, who reputedly hated every cover version. Ruby followed that up with Olivia Newton John's Hopelessly Devoted to You. Completing the line up was big band singer Dom Sterland, who came through Lichfield Garrick Youth Theatre and as a youngster attended acting classes Tom Roberts used to run at the theatre. He gave us the Elvis Costello version of My Funny Valentine from the 1937 Rodgers and Hart musical Babes in Arms and Billy Joel's Vienna, returning in the second half with the lovely Rainbow Connection from The Muppet Movie, but it can stand happily on its own and has been recorded by the likes of Barbra Streisand, Kenny Loggins, Johnny Mathis, and Gwen Stefani and The Carpernters. He ended his set with the poignant Send in The Clowns from A Little Night Music, written by Stephen Sondheim specifically for Glynis Johns who originated the role of Desirée. Producer and compere Tom Roberts weighed in with Bad Company's Shooting Star and the duet Too Much, Too Little, Too Late with Clare. Music came from the masterful musical director and founder of the Acoustic Lounge, Gladstone G Wilson, a veritable keyboard magician, along with Rich Bates playing a mean guitar, a duo who sounded so much more than their parts. With streaming, downloads, social media and the like we are in danger of losing the sheer joy and magic of live performance and live music so all praise to actor Tom Roberts and The Hub at St Mary's, the upstairs venue for plays, comedy and music in this repurposed church in the heart of Lichfield. There has been a church on the site since the 12th century and there is still a chapel in the building but it now houses a library, a community café and a dramatic performance space almost a Gothic studio theatre. The next Sunday Acoustic Lounge is on 30 November with Christmas Crooners. Roger Clarke 19-10-25 |
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