Rhinestone Tuesday

At the weekend I received a short notice invitation for free tickets to see Rhinestone Mondays - "the country and western musical". And yes, I went. By myself.

I thought I might persuade a certain few people to go with me (well it was free) but Cyclops is away diving, DrWKD was at work, MrsNotGraham was at a lecture, and A apparently thought Canal Street was a more appealing option.

So I wouldn't say country music was my thing (except Neil Diamond, obviously, if you count him) but what this had going for it was that the star studded cast included two out of Steps (Faye and H) and Shaun Williamson.

So it was a pleasant gently humerous story about a line dancing class. The singing was pretty good, if lacking a little in charisma. I'd say though that wasn't helped by it all being performed solo and to a backing track rather than an orchestra. They must have spent all their money on 'the talent'.

Shaun Williamson stole it really. I love him. If you don't know him he was originally best known for playing Barry in Eastenders (who met a gruesome end at the hands of Janine). He then went on to play a parody of himself (referred to both as 'Shaun' and 'Barry off Eastenders') in Ricky Gervais's fantastic Extras. Which makes him a legend. Anyway, he's a decent singer and a decent comedy actor. I enjoyed his performance.

Another highlight (for some) would be the big penultimate song which was 5, 6, 7, 8 this being of course being performed live by two of the original artists. Oooh.

All in all it was alright.

I'm such an old grouch though - I was sitting next to some excitable be-fringed middle aged women who were whooping, singing along (out of tune) and clapping (out of time). I moved at the interval - it wasn't full. Also the big finale involved audience participation line dancing. I didn't do that.