Review: John Anderson at Grassington Festival
Anyone, given enough alcohol and encouragement, can be persuaded to get up and ‘do a turn’ but it takes real talent to put together and perform a ninety minute programme of songs and readings in front of 70 paying guests. John Anderson did just this with consummate skill and aplomb at Grassington Festival last week.
John is a well-known local performer both as actor and singer and for this first one-man show he based his programme round memories of childhood as well as favourite items from later years. So we had readings from A A Milne, Edward Lear and Roald Dahl amongst many others with songs ranging from Schubert lieder and Mozart opera to Flanders and Swann and Andrew Lloyd-Webber.
The breadth of items selected was a testament, not only to John’s talent as a performer but also to his knowledge of the genres and the audience were riveted from beginning to end. He was more than ably assisted by Helen Kerr on piano; another underused local talent, with Cath Currier undertaking page turning duties.
A wonderful afternoon’s entertainment, hopefully the first of many from yet another talented local performer.
Mark Bamforth
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