Hello Wizards, Right, get the kettle on, make your preferred brew then when you get back you can put your feet up and begin reading this report from the Hey Presto Show 2006. Most of the snow from Friday had melted or been washed away earlier on the morning of Saturday 4th March so there was little or no chance of the show being cancelled as had happened once before, in 1996. Most of us got on about our own bits of business during the day, and receiving no phone calls saying there was a problem over at Bingley, Louise and I along with Amy, one of my nieces arrived at the Bingley Arts Centre around 7:15pm. with a sense of great expectation. Had we raised our hopes too high? If we had we were not alone, the whole auditorium buzzed with eager anticipation from men, women and children. Then maybe a minute late, not bad, the house lights dimmed, the intro theme rang out and we were asked to give the first of many enthusiastic welcomes to the first act in the show, The Spotlight Dancers. Dressed in attractive costume, complete with feathers they danced to Barry Manilow's Copa-Cabana, successfully capturing the spirit of the dramatic musical treat. As they went off to lots of applause, Ward Allen as compere came on to introduce him to us with the help of a flash cash type effect where a Lottery entry slip changed into a 20 pound note. Ward did a tremendous job of filling in between acts and, constantly aware of there being many children in the audience, held everyone's attention and never with anything that could be considered slightly unsuitable. He then introduced Miss Ell-Vee. Miss Ell-Vee, better known to many as Lauren Stringwell delighted the audience with a very traditional act, set to music. Sporting an attractive costume and putting many facial expressions into her act, Lauren presented Mutilated Parasol and a reverse of the same, a delightful Blendo, again reversed, that is always well received, a bottle of champagne changed into fruit and the classic Multum in Parvo, Lauren's facial expressions amplifying the effect and delighting the audience even more. A silk streamer was produced by means of a Dove Pan and a small flower became a huge bunch of flowers. It doesn't read as much on paper, but it was a delightful act for the audience to watch and an ideal opener adding to the balance of the overall show. Ward was back; this time with a delightful mouse puppet which gave a great opportunity for some ad-libbing as one little girl's giggles rang out through the theatre. Ward then introduced Ray Roberts. Ray Roberts had appeared on the show several times before (closing the first Hey Presto Show I saw back in 1988) as compere, himself and even as Robbo with his good friend Crow. This time he was presenting a traditional style magic act and began with Chinese Sticks to rhyming patter. A 10 pound note was borrowed from a gentleman in the audience and "accidentally" burned in an envelope. A brief but strong presentation of Professor's Nightmare was presented before Ray invited the gentleman who had lent the 10 pound note up onto the stage. Once there he was invited to sit on a chair with his head to one side and a funnel spout was poked into his ear. Milk was poured into the funnel and the funnel was then placed against his bent elbow, the milk pouring out of it back into the glass as he cranked his other arm up and down. The gentleman (who incidentally was Nigel Stringwell!) next had to endure a gruelling demonstration of Ray's new food processor what the audience found very enjoyable. The unit looked uncannily like a neck chopper, especially when the blade was driven down against Nigel's neck and after back up again. It must have been a food processor though as the carrots that were also in the cradle were chopped cleanly. Next an egg was smashed into a pan and there, in amongst the membrane of the egg in a polythene bag was... nothing. Lighter fuel was added to the egg goo and lit, the lid was placed on top and when it was removed there was inside a bag of crisps instead. Inside the bag was of course the 10 pound note. Nigel was given a complementary bottle of wine for being a truly great sport and returned to his seat in the audience as Ray presented his trademark closer with the Vanish powder to rhyme in which dirty hanky's are placed into the box and come out clean. A turn of the box was very noticeable suggesting two compartments but the box was completely opened out, either the hanky's were cleaned or the dirty ones had vanished! Ward returned to close the first half with a vent spot, ably assisted by his companion, Roger (Super-Dog – Wee!) the Dog. There isn't a great detail to report on about this as it was a patter routine. However, I watched and listened, recognising Ward's technique and it has to be said his technique and the flow of his (or should that be their?) spiel was so well practised. The children delighted in the mischief and cheek from Roger and the adults from such bits of business as Ward asking Roger how long he can hold a note and being told as long as you can! Wonderful entertainment and a great way to close the first half. After the interval, which also had an excited atmosphere about it with people reflecting on what they had already seen in the show, we all settled back in our seats in readiness for the second half. Some of The Spotlight Dancers returned this time to present some tap dance. I can't remember the title of the song they danced to but once again they did a great job. Ward returned and showed us how we can make a puppet with a glove, some buttons and some lipstick. This gave Ward the opportunity to present a little vent spot with the glove puppet (a similar one to Jay Marshall's Lefty), that again delighted the audience. The next act was not quite ready so Ward then filled in with a wonderful nudist deck routine. The next act was then ready so Ward asked us to welcome, The Great Si Moano. Simon Jackson came racing onto the stage to the Sabre Dance and messed around with a sponge microphone. For a moment I was concerned that we were going to see disjointed act. I need not have worried. Simon's character was loud and brash and having stamped his characteristics upon the audience presented fun routines for the whole audience with Silver Sceptre and a wonderful magic torch that would only come on when Simon wasn't looking at it. It turned out to not have batteries but the head of the torch still lit up and at times, so did the base! A boy and girl were invited onto the stage to assist Simon with some magic with silks during which the, silks would be placed into a box by the children only to pop out. The silks were eventually placed in a back and all blended together to make a wonderfully colourful large clown silk. Gifts were magically produced by means of a box and given to his assistants for their wonderful help. Simon then presented the traffic lights routine, in which a red, a yellow and a green ball are each placed into a clear tube. An outer tube is placed over the clear tube and the order of the balls was seen to have changed. At one point the red ball was placed into a box and vanished from there, back into the clear tube. The reverse also happened. The whole routine was played with interaction from the whole audience and at one point even involved having a gentleman from the audience assist. Simon closed a fun quick-paced act with the production of a rabbit, a cunning ploy, if that was Simon's intention, as the children calmed down so not to upset the rabbit. Another wonderful act. Ward returned to amuse, amaze and intrigue the audience with Troublewit, I must buy one of those one day, before introducing the top of the bill. Bradford Magic Circle were very fortunate to have them at their show as they only do a couple of magic organisations events in a very busy year. They were of course, Van Buren and Co. Andrew Van Buren, son of Fred Van Buren was assisted by two attractive ladies who were always where they were meant to be and were decorative not distractive and an assistant who worked back stage. We were treat to a magic and variety show, the Van Buren dynasty had been performing over many decades. A huge bunch of flowers were produced on the stage, one of the assistants appeared in a curtain walled cabinet and a radio with a cloth draped over it vanished having been broadcasting right up to the moment of vanish. Next we revelled in seeing a sword balance become a sword suspension and then a full levitation of one of his assistants. The wonderful balance of large illusion to smaller illusion to large illusion continued with Andrew showing a metal hoop much like a tambourine band and fixed tissue paper over both sides of it to form a thin drum. This assembly was placed in a large frame suspended from three springs, thus separating it from everything. From the drum, Andrew pulled out yard upon yard of silk ribbon, an incredible amount, possibly sixty-feet long and about nine inches wide. I know silk packs small but wow! All the ribbon was gathered together into a huge bunch and, just because he can, Andrew produced from under the bunched up ribbon three goldfish bowls, complete with water and fish stacked upon each other! We were next taken back in time to the days of the circus and the touring magic shows and how the illusions were presented in that golden era. One of his delightful assistants was helped into a barrel after having a length of rope tied to her. Metal bars were dropped through holes at the mouth of the barrel to cage her in. the rope ends were passed through a hole in the top of a second barrel and the mouths of both barrels were placed together and locked in place. The rope coming up through the top of the second barrel was then pulled and when the barrels were separated, the assistant had somehow gone past the bars into the second barrel. To close their act, Andrew explained he would like to present some variety for our entertainment pleasure. He explained that it is something lacking immensely on TV today and it was obvious that he was upset by the apathy received from such media. Stepping down from his soapbox, he then invited to sit back and let him entertain us. To the Robbie Williams song Let Me Entertain You, Andrew came racing onto the stage on a 6 foot unicycle before showing off his skills as a juggler with first 3 balls in a variety of combinations, then 4 balls and just because he can I guess 5 balls. The juggling was presented at a thunderous pace and Andrew would track up and down the stage all adding to the overall presentation. He next juggled 5 hoops high into the air and then 3 followed by 4 clubs before going onto the finale I'd seen down in Eastbourne a couple of years back. Three platforms were brought forward, each platform sporting 4 poles about 5 foot high with dull points at the tips. One by one, Andrew set a plate spinning on each of the 12 poles, going back and speeding up plates here and there before moving further along the row. Having set the 11th one spinning, he raced back to the first plate that was barely turning and wobbling precariously, and the 5th plate, which he just caught. Everything was okay and Andrew was finally able to set the 12th plate spinning and the audience erupted into applause and cheers. Andrew, however, was only just starting. Next he set 3 plates spinning on shorter poles, which were placed to one side as he sped up the 12 plates just behind him. These 3 spinning plates and sticks were placed into a holder, Andrew held in his mouth. So there they were 12 plates spinning behind Andrew, 3 plates spinning on sticks in a holder in his mouth, the audience going wild in applause and cheers, there hands and throats reddening and then Andrew was given 4 hoops which he juggled! At tremendous speed, all the plates were collected, one falling off the pile on the table, smashing. Yes, they were ceramic plates. Van Buren and Co. went off to a tremendous prolonged ovation. You can keep your X Factor and all other such tripe when I can see such an act. Ward returned for one last time to say a few closing remarks accompanied by Roger the Dog and the show was over. The same or possibly an even more excited buzz could be heard all around the Bingley Arts Centre as we all made our separate ways home. All the acts did a superb job in the show. The show can never be the successes they have had these many years without the help of unseen workers. Thanks therefore must go to these important people, in no particular order they were, selling programmes Pam Pickles and Jean Ainley. Working front of house were Ivan Robinson and Dennis Calvert. Backstage were Ernest Ainley and his colleagues from Brighouse, Alex Wright and Steve Barraclough who was on the cans in communication with the sound and lighting team who this year consisted of Paul Sunderland, assisted by Peter Wright and learning the ropes from one of the Arts Centres own staff members, Jon Harris on lights. And finally those of you who came along and supported the show. So that's the Hey Presto Show for another year. I hope you enjoyed going over the many wonderful memories shared. I hope those who were unable to make it have enjoyed this review and that it managed to paint some sort of a picture for you. Finally I hope those (if any) who couldn't be bothered with the show for whatever reason have realised that they missed another cracking show and failed to have their magic enriched. Talk about their loss! Thanks for reading and take care. |
