The Swing With Laughter tour brings the best of British variety acts to venues across the country and stars the legendary comedian Jimmy Tarbuck alongside Kenny Lynch, Anita Harris, Jessica Martin and Compere David Alacey with the L.A. Showgirls and the Buddy Greco All Stars Orchestra.
Variety is back with a capital V as these legendary entertainers swap their golf clubs for a unique night of comedy and music, in the company of talented friends. These evergreen performers who are recognised worldwide as masters of light entertainment, will take audiences back to the golden days of entertainment, when familes would gather around the television to watch variety specials such as Sunday Night at The London Palladium and Live From Her Majesty’s. These classic shows featured the very best in song, dance and comedy, performed by some of the greatest entertainers in the world. Now in 2018 Swing With Laughter recreates those magical shows and adds a modern flavour, for today’s audiences who are enjoying the current revival in the popularity of variety.
JIMMY TARBUCK OBE: was a host of Sunday Night at the London Palladium in the early 1960s, and has hosted numerous game and quiz shows on ITV during the 1970s, ’80s and early ’90s including Winner Takes All, Full Swing, and Tarby’s Frame Game. He is also known for leading ITV’s Live From Her Majesty’s and its subsequent incarnations during the 1980s. In the 1980s, he hosted similar Sunday night variety shows, Live From Her Majesty’s, Live from the Piccadilly and finally Live from the Palladium with London Weekend Television for ITV. In 2008, he returned to a variety format on television screens when he co-hosted, alongside Emma Bunton, an edition of ITV1‘s variety show, For One Night Only. He has also appeared on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories amongst many other chat shows over the years.
KENNY LYNCH OBE – has recently filmed “The Last Laugh In Vegas” for ITV in Vegas, which will be shown this March. The comedian, singer, actor and all-round entertainer has been delighting audiences for more than 50 years and worked with some of the biggest names in show business – including The Beatles, Cilla Black, Spike Milligan, Bruce Forsyth, Lulu, Frankie Vaughn, Eric Sykes, Petula Clark and Jimmy Tarbuck. Kenny became a songwriter and hit-maker in the 1960s, reaching the Top 10 with ‘Up on the Roof’ and ‘You Can Never Stop Me Loving You’. The Beatles were close friends of Kenny, once giving the entertainer a song of theirs and Paul later featured him on the cover of his Wings album ‘Band On The Run’. As a songwriter his compositions has been covered by many artists including The Everly Brothers, Cilla Black, Dusty Springfield, and The Drifters. Kenny also co-wrote the hit by The Small Faces ‘Sha La La La Lee’. As an actor has had roles in such TV programmes as The Sweeney, Z-Cars and Till Death Us Do Part. The entertainer has also appeared in various films, including The Plank, Confessions from the David Galaxy Affair, Just for Fun, The Playbirds, Dr Terror’s House of Horrors, The Riddle, Carry On Loving and The Alf Garnett Saga.
ANITA HARRIS has had a breathtaking career spanning over fifty years, which started when as a 15 year old she was spotted on a London ice rink. She was then whisked away to Las Vegas to appear, three times a night in a top revue. Returning to the U.K. she went on to work with The Cliff Adams Singers, appear in two Carry On films, grace the top of the pop charts, become a pantomime legend as Peter Pan, star in Cats in the West End for 13 years and feature in 7 Royal Command Performances. She has never stopped performing and has worked alongside legendary names in the world of entertainment – Harry Secombe, Morecambe and Wise and Tommy Cooper to name but a few. Anita has just finished a National Tour for Bill Kenwright and filming for the new series of ‘Midsummer Murders’ and she is due to be seen on the forthcoming ITV series ‘Last Laugh In Vegas’ alongside Kenny.
JESSICA MARTIN is perhaps best known as a talented impressionist after starring in the popular ITV series “Copycats” and for many years providing voices on “Spitting Image”. However she is also a highly accomplished actress, having played the lead in “Me and My Girl” for two years at The Adelphi Theatre and UK tour. She followed this with another West End role as Emily in “Elf” the musical at The Dominion Theatre. Regular T.V appearances include Dr Who and Astonished Heart for The BBC and an acclaimed performance as her idol Judy Garland on the Royal Variety Show. Jessica is particularly pleased to be reprising her salute to Judy once again in this production.
DAVID ALACEY – Compere: Best known for his unique portaryal of Frank Sinatra which is unlike any other, as he not only sings and phrases uncannily like him but also talks in an incredibly authentic Sinatra manner, leaving audiences spellbound. He has appeared as a guest vocalist for stars such as the late Ruby Murray, Lionel Blair, Hale & Pace, Tony Hadley, Noel Edmonds and the Beverley Sisters. David had the honour of performing at a Royal Command performance where he performed ‘Luck Be A Lady’ alongside The Rat Pack for HRH The Princess Royal. Other highlights include performing to over 25,000 people Crystal Palace Football pitch, to over 35,000 people at the ‘Fireworks Fantasia’ concert with Max Bygraves & The Birmingham Symphony Orchestra to commemorate VE day. However his biggest highlights have been a recording sessions at Abbey Road studios with a 42 piece orchestra to recreate the original Sinatra recording of ‘New York, New York’ as a promotion for the Atari computer game ‘Tycoon City – New York’, performing on Strictly Come Dancing and last year his vocals were featured on a new worldwide advertising campaign for Volvo cars. These achievements truly cement his place as one of the greatest interpreters of Sinatra’s music in the world today.
THE L.A SHOWGIRLS: were formed by Legendary U.S singer, actress and dancer – Lezlie Anders in Las Vegas in 1992. Originally to dance in her own celebrated show at The Desert Inn they soon went on to perform on the famous strip for stars such as Buddy Greco, Jack Jones and Jerry Lewis at famed casinos including – The Flamingo, The Sahara and The Gold Coast. With stunning costumes designed by Lezlie and amazing new dance routines, The L.A Showgirls bring the glamour of the sixties showgirl Vegas heyday back to life for a new generation.
The dates are as follows:
APRIL
Sat 14th BASINGSTOKE – The Anvil 01256 844 244
Fri 20th STOKE ON TRENT – Victoria Hall 0844 871 7649
Sun 29th SOUTHSEA – Kings Theatre 023 9282 8282
MAY
Thurs 10th WOKING – New Victoria Theatre 0844 871 7645
Sat 12th BROMLEY – The Churchilll Theatre 020 3285 6000
Wed 24th CARDIFF – St. David’s Hall 029 2087 8444
Thurs 31st GUIDFORD – G Live 01483 369 350
JUNE
Sat 2nd POOLE – The Lighthouse 01202 280 000
Fri 8th CHATHAM – Central Theatre 01634 338 338
Fri 22nd AYLESBURY – Waterside Theatre 0844 871 7607
Wed 27th SOUTHPORT – Southport Theatre 0844 871 3021
Fri 29th BLACKPOOL – The Opera House 0844 856 1111
JULY
Sun 1st MANCHESTER – Opera House 0844 871 3018
