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Given the time of year and lots of tennis on the TV, this revival of Four Seasons seemed most timely and appropriate. Hindle has matched a sport to each of the seasons so for Spring we have tennis, Swimming in Summer, Gymnastic Autumn and Skating Winter. I thinks it's a really witty piece. For me the two outstanding seasons are summer and winter and we had some wonderful performances yesterday. In the afternoon we had the interesting combination of Chi Cao with Iain and Rory Mackay as the male swimmers. Vicky Marr stood out amongst the girls. Chi reprised his role in the evening with Tyrone Singleton and Tom Rogers. These three were wonderful together. Samara Downs was superb as one of the girls. The orchestra were brilliant, particularly Robert Gibbs leading in the evening.
 

Nine Sinatra Songs is a fluffy piece of enjoyable nonsense, with seven couples dancing to seven different songs and two ensembles using different recordings of My Way. My personal two favourites are One for my baby and That's Life - both sexy and sassy. In the afternoon Vicky Marr and Tyrone Singleton absolutely sizzled in One for my baby. Vicky seems to be the dominant one of the couple, one sideways glance at Tyrone causing the entire audience to faint! She has got such commanding stage presence that her performances are absolutely unmissable. By contrast in the evening Tyrone is the more dominant member of the partnership with Nao Sakuma - an equally rewarding interpretation of the piece. New to me this afternoon were Chi Cao and Elisha Willis as the sparring couple in That's Life. Elisha is so fluid and at times limpid that her brutal handling by the, at times, almost snarling Chi was absolutely gripping. I can't wait to see them again on the mid-scale tour.

The afternoon fininshed with the wonderful Carol-Anne Millar giving a beautifully judged performance as Pineapple Poll. Her Captain was the dashing Dominic Antonucci and Kosuke Yamamoto was a gently endearing Jasper. Carol-Anne's whole demeanour and her facial expressions are an absolute delight. At her first entrance she explodes onto the stage like a bullet. It was a wonderful performance to end the afternoon.

Saturday night was a very special occasion. It was Robert Parker's final performance on the Birmingham stage. David Bintley came on stage before the start of the performance and made a short but moving speach to mark the occasion.

Robert performed That's Life with Angela Paul. This short five minutes or so shows exactly what he has been about during his career with BRB - a performer who give 150% to every performance. He really acted this role and he and Angela sparked off each other and set the stage alight. The cheers at the end took the roof off the theatre (just as well the rain had stopped).

Robert then performed Captain Belaye in Pineapple Poll, with a delightful Elisha Willis as Poll and Chris Larsen as an exuberant Jasper. Arancha Baselga and Marion Reiner were super as Blanche and Mrs Dimple. What can I say about Robert's performance - he sparkled and twinkled and flirted and got annoyed. He was like quicksilver in the hornpipes. In short it was another never-to-be-forgotten performance from a true artist.

Robert got a fitting tribute from the Birmingham audience. Everyone was on their feet, many in tears, applauding and cheering. There was a wonderful flower shower.

We've got three short weeks left to enjoy some more of his performances on the SW midscale and at the Lowry. Do try and get to some of them.