IF YOU LOVE MUSICAL THEATRE AND LOVE BEING IN LOVE
These were the words quoted by Daniel Bowling the Head of Musical Theatre at The Royal Academy of Music, and when I saw their latest production of Love’s Labour’s Lost, I fell in love with both the cast and the production.
Anyone who read my recent ‘roasting’ of another show recently at Hackney Empire (YARDBIRD – At the Hackney Empire) will know that as a seasoned theatre goer, I am not easily impressed, but was transformed by the level of performances and quality of the music and storytelling in this stunning adaptation of Shakespeare’s ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’ adapted by Alex Timbers and with songs by Michael Friedman.
The energy and passion of the cast at their first Matinee was overwhelming, and as the show progressed, each performer provided the same level of commitment, regardless of their role.
The house was sadly smallish in size, but a magical verve swept through the audience – an experience that is rare in musical theatre these days. The smallish house confirmed that size is just a number, and everyone revelled in the sheer joy of witnessing brilliant musical theatre at its best.
In the interval I managed to catch up with another member of our team, Valerie Mowle, who frequently enjoys musical theatre but is also a hard task master. She was brimming with excitement, and commented upon the level of talent and the show itself. I found her holding court with a group of tourists who had stumbled upon the venue and the show, and who were expressing their delight at being fortunate enough to experience such incredible theatre.
Costume design artwork
This was good to hear as the Royal Academy of Music offers nearly 500 concerts per year – mostly free- and are committed to training the World’s finest young musicians, opera singers and theatre performers. Attracting new audiences is an important part of their purpose and mission, and so this venue had succeeded in drawing in an unlikely crowd.
Some of the performers in rehearsals
While the Academy of Music’s own theatre in Marylebone is being rebuilt, they are taking to the road, and performing at a variety of venues in London, including Theatre Royal Stratford East, Shoreditch Town Hall and Hackney’s Round Table as well as Hackney Empire.
The runs are short, but as we have discovered, are fuelled with enthusiasm and the Academy do indeed take us back to a time when ‘love’ was an overriding component for theatre. Love of the text, the music and the performance, and a determination to bring to the table all that is essential to showcase their craft, and inspire the crowd beyond their wildest dreams.
‘And when Love speaks, the voice of all the gods makes heaven drowsy with the harmony’ William Shakespeare, Love’s Labour’s Lost.
Check out upcoming performances from the Royal Academy Of Music at http://www.ram.ac.uk/
When the news came through that Elliott Randall had agreed to an interview with Glotime.tv, we were really excited. Here was a man who has been heralded as ‘the World’s greatest guitarist’ by some of the most prolific rock musicians – and he has agreed to be interviewed and appear on our channel. A rare occasion as Elliot is a shy and modest man, who rarely gives interviews, but has worked with the biggest stars in show business over several decades and whose talent has eclipsed some of the most iconic legends of rock.
When Elliott came to Pinewood Studios to meet us, he was as unassuming as we had imagined, and we all sat down to enjoy a cup of tea with this engaging gentleman, who though kissing seventy, has the energy and enthusiasm of a much younger man.
Jimi Hendrix was a close friend, as Elliott told me in our ‘one to one’ interview, and he had been deeply affected by his passing. Jimmy had confided in Elliott weeks before his untimely death, telling him he no longer knew who his true friends were.
A problem so many stars encounter, at the pinnacle of their career, which was a big contributory factor into why Elliott himself decided not to pursue fame, but preferred to stay in the background and play on records and with stars who would front the recordings, exonerating him from the dreaded public recognition.
If your head is reeling so was mine as Elliott’s story unraveled, and I discovered that he had played the famous guitar riff on the legendary Steely Dan track ‘reelin in the years’ which he performed as recently as 2009 in London’s Hammersmith Apollo, which you can view on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4tayZ9HzUc
I asked Elliott to recall the highlights of his career, and you can see in the interview that his sense of humour has survived in this relentless industry, as he reiterates when performing at a rock venue in the seventies called Winterland and how he had plunged into darkness as the stage had disappeared at one of his gigs, only to be saved by a thick black curtain. He also remembers playing at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970, and looking out at a sea of people enjoying the moment, and marveling at the experience.
Elliot’s recent projects include recording, production, and consulting on streaming Internet content. As you can see in our interview, his knowledge is extensive about how to survive in an industry that is constantly changing in the fast lane of the Internet, and he generously affords us with his knowledge, which is gold for any new musician emerging on the scene who is looking to earn a living from their music.
Elliott is currently recording a new CD in London, New York, and Ireland that blends Celtic, Afro-Cuban, and other global musical influences. He recorded and plays with his London-based band Posse and NYC-based Randall’s Rangers.
I could go on forever with Elliott’s extraordinary achievements and accolades, but would like to conclude that Elliott Randall, in spite of his avoidance of public acclaim, will go down in history as one of the most talented guitarists in the business, with the talent of a legend and the soul of a saint.
Tina Stubbs was inspired to create a series of Children’s Books – LIFE’S LITTLE BUGS – several years ago as a single parent with a young child. Tina had all the normal struggles to create a work/lifestyle balance, but was determined to bring her kids up to have values. As any parent will know, teaching our kids life’s basic life’s lessons comes without any rulebook, and so Tina decided to write her own.
Rather than chastising her offspring, she devised a route to their inner world that was both effective and educational and as her ideas expanded so did her characters and storylines, and she began to write them down and draw images to bring them to life.
This is how LIFE’S LITTLE BUGS was born, and how better than from a Mum who has developed it from start to finish, with her own children being the proof that this ingenious concept really works.
To give you a little taste of Tina’s innovative work, she has devised a series of bug characters to cover every aspect of a child’s life, from litter bugs to tummy bugs, bringing awareness and understanding of the rights and wrongs of behaviour, without the unnecessary pressure of heavy discipline and reprimand, but rather bringing in fun and reward.
Tina is now in a relationship herself and her partner suggested a year ago that she give up her day job and concentrate on LIFE’S LITTLE BUGS with his blessing and full support.
Tina had already achieved a London Art College diploma in children’s illustration and so was already on her way to realizing her ambition with LIFE’S LITTLE BUGS. She also went the extra mile and sought professional advice in health, hygiene and social behavior to enhance her vision and ensure that she covered all aspects of child education and learning from hygiene to awareness of the environment.
Her tenacity has already been rewarded with schools, dental surgeries, child minders and home education groups using LIFE’S LITTLE BUGS as their inspiration.
Tina has recently appeared on BBC Berkshire with Anne Diamond and has had the heads up from UK’s parenting expert Sue Atkins who tweeted that she simply ‘loved loved her books’.
Tina is now developing more characters, and feels that this is just the beginning. We have all read her wonderfully inspirational books at Glotime TV, and have to agree that the sky really is the limit for this brilliant new children’s author, and we are looking forward to observing her future and watching where she ventures with LIFE’S LITTLE BUGS.
July 12, 2026 100 BC Julius Caesar 1854 George Eastman 1895 Oscar Hammerstein II 1927 Frank Windsor 1928 Kathy Staff 1935 Roy Barraclough 1937 Bill Cosby 1943 Christine McVie 1947 Gareth Edwards
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