Cruise Ship Entertainment

Queen Anne Entertainment 2025 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Cruise ship entertainment sometime gets a bad name, but it is one of the reasons that audiences return to the ships along with the luxury food and different exotic ports of call. Cunard has long been one to emphasis its White Star service and this extends to offering comprehensive range of entertainment on board with live music in every bar, quizzes and insight talk filling the sea days. But we always judge the cruise by the quality of the night-time entertainment programme. The latest of Cunard’s four Queens, Queen Anne has a modern feel while plenty of nods to the history and heritage of the ships in the fleet that have gone before and generally very spacious public spaces to enjoy live entertainment. On its latest voyage to see The Northern Lights in the Arctic Circle , which it delivered with the help of nature and some clear skies on five consecutive nights, there was a good programme of night-time shows.

In the Royal Court Theatre, Goronway Thom provided an energetic and very funny set with his comedy juggling and quick audience banter building slowly to a big finish with a Diablo spinning down a string from the back of the auditorium to the stage with the assistance of audience members. It is a show you should arrive on time for as he made a big point of focusing on late arrivals instructing them to “sit” and then doing a rapid recap of the show so far for a very later arrival. He juggled up to six balls with up to three hands, a ping pong ball in his mouth, and performed the highest tablecloth pull using a grabber stick ! His three-hat juggle which was his weakest routine was covered with a comedy idiot board revealed by a stagehand providing a commentary.  It was a very enjoyable and charming act and deserved a big first night audience. He returned later in the cruise for a set in the Queens Room. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Audley Anderson took us on his journey into soul from an IT person in Surrey through an appearance as Sam Cooke on Starstruck on TV to the Queen Anne with a focus on Sixties Tamla Motown. His performance was enhanced with a very good video montage of the original artistes, the streets of London in that decade and TV clips of Joe 90, Batman , Sapphire and Steele and the Brady Bunch which resonated with many passengers on board. We heard several Four Tops songs including “ My Girl”, “Can’t help myself”, “Reach out” and “Same old song”. He added “Signed, Sealed and delivered”,  Jackie Wilson’s “Higher and Higher”, and “Uptown Funk” and “I’m only human”. All sung with plenty of charm and rich soulful voice. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

David Pugh has adapted Emma Rice’s wonderful stage show Brief Encounter  which is itself based on te David Lean film adaptation of Noel Coward’s short play Still Life for the cruise line stage. The sixty-five-minute musical playlet uses ten of the company to tell the romantic tale of the unrequited love of two married people who meet on the railway station of Milford Junction by accident and fall in love over tea and Bath buns and illicit days out. Set in 1938 the clipped received English of the period is perfectly captured by Alec and Laura as their short, doomed romance develops in sharp contrast with the station staff with young Beryl and Stanley who provide musical interludes such as “Mad about the Boy”. Mrs Baggett runs the tearoom although her relationship with Mr Gosling  (who also plays Laura’s husband Fred and Stephen whose flat they attempt to borrow) does not develop as in the full play version. The contrasting feelings of a new fresh love and the guilt of betrayal and fear of discovery are very well captured. The staging is very simple but effective with a few props to denote the tearoom, Laura’s home, the boating lake and Stephen’s upstairs flat and some excellent video insertions of the trains with lovely transitions from on stage into film. This is quite a refreshing departure from the usual cruise theatre musical shows, and the full house suggests it is a welcome change, and Cunard and David Pugh are to be congratulated on the delightful innovation. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A new feature of the Cunard ships is the additional charge entertainment shows in the Black lights Society at $20 a person including a dreadful glass of “Champagne” and we booked for Noir billed as a “laugh out loud immersive murder mystery” . In this audience participation show five actors play out in over-the-top hammy performances a slight tale of the murder of Master of Ceremonies, Ramon and the interrogation of the suspects (from the audience) by Max Hardcore and his wife. The interrogation Involves the selected person either mining to a voice track or reading  idiot boards of responses, they looked amused as did their friends and families  or was that embarrassment. Emerging with credit from the show was Sly Fingers Sam on the piano and Trixie the waitress who performed some impressive dance moves in the limited stage space. The investigation cued a few well sung songs including “Toxic”, “Bang Bang” “Murder on the dance floor” and “Killer Queen”. If this was a free extra cabaret show as an alternative to the Royal Court Theatre we might have received it better but when you charge you are entitled to expect something more than this poorly conceived show which despite the energetic best efforts of the cast was a very long ninety minutes of nervous disappointment.⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Royal Court production show entitled Imagination was strong on creative ideas and effects but low on narrative and storytelling. It relied heavily on projected video elements, black art illusions and some UV or LED lighting to create a variety of digital environments to represent VR experiences. The London scenes and the journey on a tube station got the show off to a very good start with the songs “Pure Imagination” and “London Calling “ with some balletic dance moves from the large cast. A VR sequence around gaming and dance followed with songs such as “I can dance” was followed by an underwater scene and then an excellent space scene. As “Starman” filled the theatre a small space capsule rose from the stage and appeared to fly towards us. A troupe of LED lit robots closed the show. It was interesting from a technical standpoint with very good imagery and lighting and some well drilled dance routines but lacked heart and storytelling to truly engage the emotions.⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Royal Court company of six singers and six dancers performed The Sounds of London in the Queens Room, a forty-five-minute concert based tenuously on singers who were born in London . So, we had songs from Fleetwood Mac, Ed Sheeran, Adele, Elton John, Phil Collins and Coldplay all well delivered with some simple choreography around the dance floor. The problem is that the Queens Room is not really designed for a floor show with some terrible sight lines caused by pillars and the fact that the corridor from bow to stern runs through the room so all those sat in starboard side can’t see any of the performances. It is one of those rooms where you need to arrive very early to get ringside seat.⭐️⭐️⭐️

In the Royal Court Theatre, the same night John Evans returns to cruise ships with his polished but standard cruise line stand-up routine. He mocks the starboard side of the audience throughout for not laughing at his material and offers late comers a quick run through of what they have missed so far. His stage family feature heavily of his 85-year-old Mum, his wife, three daughters Ruby, Jade and Pumice along with his five-year-old grandson. He acknowledges American and Australians are in the audience, but his material has a very strong 20th century British feel with plenty of cruise ship observations. His physical comedy is at its best in a gag about the queuing systems in Banks and he has fun with UK regional accents from Scotland and Wolverhampton. It works because he has a natural charm, cheeky grin and a well-paced delivery that provides plenty of laughs for the so-called young audience.⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️

The Four D’s are Dan, Damian, David and Richard and they are an excellent harmonious singing troupe who pay tribute to the sounds of the Fifties  and Sixties as well as some recent West End hits in a charming fast paced show with some delightful moments of humorous banter between them. We heard “Baby I need your loving” and the fabulous “My Girl” from the Temptations ,and  the Bebop sounds of “My little runway”, “Breaking up is hard to do” and “Teenager in Love”. The music took a slower mournful turn with Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”. An upbeat selection from the show Jersey Boy’s lifted the mood with “Cherry Baby”, “My Girl” and “Walk like a man” recreating the falsettos of Frankie Vallie. The Drifters “Saturday night at the movies” took us back to the Seventies followed by Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Woman”. They closed the show back in the West End with Les Misérables’s “Stars”. It was a very entertaining show which drew standing ovations from part of the audience . They played a pop song set to taped backing track in Queen’s room too on a later night.⭐️⭐️⭐️

Another innovation was the Cunard Street in the Queens Room, a RADA developed  radio play telling stories about the history of the Cunard shipping line . It started referencing the Liverpool streets named after Cunard liners and spiritual home of Cunard for 50 years. On 4th July 1850, the first ship, Britannia sailed to Boston. Samuel Cunard dreamt of an ocean railway and won contract for a transatlantic steam packet company with 115 first class passengers. Many stars sailed on crossings including  Charlie Chaplin, Noel Coward was a frequent traveller, Marlene Dietrich, Sam Goldwyn, Gary Grant, Greta Garbo, Burt Lancaster, Phil Silvers, Elizabeth Taylor, Bing Crosby, James Stewart in the heyday of transatlantic travel.

The many ships of the historic fleet were highlighted including the Aquitania in 1925 and the Mauritania especially during prohibition for booze cruises ! On 7th May 1915 Lusitania was the first of 11 Cunard ships sunk in WW1 including Carpathia which had rescued Titanic passengers. The Queen Mary was launched in 1934 with 12-hour days for stewards who made good income from tips from the wealthy passengers. In the Second World War Cunard ships carried service troops, supplies and prisoners and on 6 June 1940 the  first of several was lost in WW2. In one crossing in1943 carried 15000 troops who left their graffiti on the ship. They carried GI brides back after war.

Now with Queen Anne, the 249th Cunard ship, it is the 1st time since 1999  that there have been 4 ships in the line  with Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria. The show was a lovely celebration of 185 years tradition.⭐️⭐️⭐️

Davie Howes was billed as the virtuoso of variety and there was no doubting his talent as an arranger, and a master of a variety of musical instruments nor that he was enjoying performing on stage. Sometimes it seemed that he and the MD, Harry, were having more fun than we were in the audience and that should never really happen! He played some very fast fingered piano improvisation with a tribute to Oscar Peterson and explained that Miles Davis had once said “it was not the notes that you play but those that you don’t that matter” which sounded a bit like an introduction to a Morecambe and Wise sketch, true virtuosos of variety. He explained he was a trained classical trumpet player and demonstrated on the Trumpet, Flugelhorn and the pocket trumpet before playing a few bars on the Queen Anne shower hose! We heard “Flight of the Bumble bee”, “ Oh when the Saints” and “ Let there be love” amongst the recognisable tunes. He generously allowed the trumpet player, saxophonist and MD on piano to share his limelight which added a bit of variety to the show . A talented performer who left a favourable impression with his piano and trumpet playing. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

David Pugh’s production of Pride and Prejudice (sort of) has already toured the UK and appeared on a West End Stage and so it is an exciting new development to see it take up residency on the Cunard ships as a Royal court Theatre seventy-minute production with a cast of five females from the company. It a modern sounding spoof around the characters of a Jane Austen’s famous novel, narrated by the housemaids of the grand houses of Pemberley and Netherfield focusing on three of the five Bennett sisters , Elizabeth , Lydia, and Jane, their mother with some comical cross dressing as Darcy, Wickham and Bingley.

The modern feel is given by the use of microphones for short pop song excerpts like “You’re so vain”, “Lady in red” and “I love you” together with some innuendo and crude language which felt out of place on a cruise ship stage and plenty of exposition of the story. There is no denying the energy and commitment of the cast, the clever setting and clarity of the narrative but I am not sure what Jane Austen would have made of it or whether it sits properly on a cruise ship stage rather than entertaining a much younger audience. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

 The Haunting on The Tenth deck was another Cunard Radio play in the Queens Room billed as a bone chilling interactive thriller and proved to be another amusing innovation in the entertainment programme as three members of the team were joined by a press-ganged member of the audience to tell the tale of the investigation into the ghost seen by Miss Petra Fied. Security officiating Miss Evelyn Keel and her apprentice examined the clues and interviewed the suspects including Ted Horn and Madame Bilge, a spiritualist promoting her book on board and Captain O V Board. It also incorporated a short questionnaire to help solve the mystery. The loss of the sound effects required the audience when prompted to add appropriate sound effect. It was silly but fun and well executed and controlled by the Entertainment team. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

 They saved the best to last with a wonderful production show Let’s Dance which showed off the brilliant digital screen for setting the locations, beautiful bright colourful costumes and well drilled routines from the team of six singers and six dancers in a variety of dance styles. It was a well-paced choreography with different combinations of the performers but all of an equal standard in their execution. We saw a delightful story telling in a tap routine, a very pretty and elegant waltz , a hot and sultry “Every step you take”, a sexy black and gold routine around a chaise longue, a wonderful classical masked ball sequences and a balletic routine to “Dancing Queen”. The final two routines made a climatic conclusion to the show and the cruise with “I want to dance with somebody” and “never going to dance again”. A fabulous Ensemble performance celebrating dance in all its forms.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

All around the ship music played each night with It Takes Two, Saxology, Amethyst Duo and of course the Queens Room Musicians led by singer Sarah Jameson who entertained the cruise dancers nearly every night. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Cunard has established itself as one of the best quality cruise lines with the Launch of Queen Anne and a wide-ranging innovative entertainment programme that caters for everyone and sets standards for others to follow.

 Nick Wayne 

Imagine Cruises Sky Princess celebrity cruise April 2024⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Having enjoyed the two Stages cruises pre-covid with their extraordinary West End Line up we were tempted to try the heavily promoted Imagine staycation cruise on board the chartered Sky Princess. It was our first time booking through Imagine and on board a Princess ship and we were not quite sure what to expect. However, it was an excellent 12 days visiting four new islands we had never been to plus a return to Lisbon and an unexpected emergency visit to Vigo on a good-looking ship with wonderful on-board service and generally very good food which nodded to the golden days when Cruises were a little more exclusive and up market.

It was however the Entertainment which really made it stand out from  other recent cruises on P & O, Royal Caribbean, and Saga ships with a full line up of first-class performances, although it did take a bit of effort to ensure we got a good seat for each event given the 4000 on board and the 960 capacities to the main Theatre and smaller capacity of the smaller Vista Lounge. Nevertheless, the Cruise Director Lucy Kelly who seemed to be everywhere on the ship active in all the activities helped keep any frustrations under wraps!

Enhanced Entertainment

Imagine had enhanced the usual entertainment with three top notch entertainers who each gave four performances to ensure everyone saw them on pre allocated shows that worked well and ensured full houses on each performance.

Anton Du Beck dazzled us with his dances with his partner Erin Boag who sparkled and glided around the stage (even with the sea swell beneath her feet) with elegance and grace. He filled between dances as she changed with stories from his career, and it was clear that he seeks to broaden to his appeal to a general entertainer like the late great Bruce Forsyth. He has a twinkle in his eye and the audience naturally warms to his style. 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Russell Watson brought his wonderful vocal talents to the stage and was clearly loving the reaction from an adoring and loyal audience. He delivered a number of well-known operatic tunes in their original languages including Ol sole Mio, Ave Maria, Cavalleria Rusticana, Chorus of Hebrew slaves from Nabucco and Funiculi, Funicula. However, he connected best when he sang in English the Music of the Night from Phantom and Bring it home from Les Mis before ending his set with You raise me up. 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Tim Peake was the last of the acts and was outstanding, a natural communicator with plenty of adventurer’s charm and lots of fascinating stories about his career and space travel illustrated with awesome images and videos of space and the earth. He chatted and answered questions for an hour but most of the audience would have gladly listened for another hour of his spell binding tales. You left admiring him immensely but certain that space travel was not for the faint hearted and wondering about the bravery of sitting on top of the rocket before launch! Definitely one to see again as he returns to his UK tour. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Sky Princess Production shows

Three of the evening were filled with the spectacular Sky Princess production shows which are as good as you will see on any cruise in their ambition, singing talent and large dance troupes’ elegant movement. There was something from everyone in the three staged on this cruise.  5 Skies was a stunning production with West  End Production values in costumes, lighting, and integrated illusions.  The linking story took us into a computer game through five levels to rescue the Sky Princess with video imagery and special effects. The show also included an amazing sequence of choreography of five dancers battling on bungy ropes string from giant A frames. The story telling and coordinated movement of the routine was exceptional. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

The second show was Spotlight bar, with a weaker linking theme around the visitors to the bar in a day told through dance and a on stage 4-piece band. Once again, the amazing technical team delivered a first class setting for the show and the singers and dancers moved beautifully around it to act out individual stories. 🌟🌟🌟

The third show was Rock Opera, with a more stripped back staging relying more heavily on the built-in lifts within the stage itself for variation creating a setting for well known tunes sung in an operatic style derivative of the Phantom of the Opera and some well-integrated ASL sign language. The show included tunes from the Greatest Showman, Queen, Total eclipse of the heart,  Jesus Christ superstar  and the Ride of the Valkyries. 🌟🌟🌟🌟

The comedy

In addition to these shows there was a good comedy line up led by the wonderful John Evans 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟who most recently appeared as Smee in the Llandudno Pantomime with his well-honed routine in the tradition of the great variety acts. Also, the comedy magic of Dain Cordean 🌟🌟🌟 with the flag routine first seen in Birmingham Hippodrome pantomime in 2018 and comedy hypnotism from David Knight 🌟🌟🌟who got 14 volunteers from the audience.

Music

The line-up was completed by Tony Bayliss 🌟🌟🌟, a former Green Beret who has reinvented himself as a singer and guitar player, The Trawlermen 🌟🌟🌟, a trio aka Fisherman Friends (including Haul away , South Australia, and their own interpretation of Elton John’s Rocket Man) and Becky Porter 🌟🌟🌟 in an Adele tribute act.  However, the best was saved to last with a wonderful performance by Paul Baker, an Oliver award winner for Taboo on the last night. He performed a mix of Musical theatre songs such as Can you feel the love tonight (Lion King) Music of the Night (Phantom)  Mr Cellophane (Chicago), I dreamed a dream (Les Mis ) and Impossible Dream (Man of La Mancha). 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Overall, this is a very impressive line-up for a 12-night cruise and combined with a main dining experience that included Beef Stroganoff, Steak and Lobster, Beef Wellington, plenty of prawns and salmon and the usual standards of curry, risotto and stews offered a very varied dining options as well as the old-fashioned Baked Alaska Parade.

In between shows and eating we managed to visit  Lisbon, the black lava fields of Lanzarote, the marvellous aquarium of Gran Canarias, the spectacular volcanic landscape of Tenerife and the birthplace of Cristiano Ronaldo in Madeira where he now has a CR7 museum, effectively a public trophy cabinet of all the trophies and awards he had won!

An outstanding cruise with the best entertainment on the seas and a standard few cruise operators will be able to match.

 

Nick Wayne

 

The organisers of Floating Festival claimed that the Stages Cruise had something for everyone, from young children like the 14-year-old boy who regularly joined the stars from the audience to the hardcore fans and the older generation of Theatre lovers. And so, it proved with a wide mix and range of experiences which were bound to appeal to many in each session.



Alfie Boe ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐️



Taking a break from the West End Les Misérables concert show, Alfie delivered a one-hour cabaret show of the highest quality and looked like he simply wanted to enjoy his night off. He said he would not do any songs from the show but then promptly gave us "Bring him home" which showed off his rich tones. He followed up with three less well-known songs "Keep me in your heart “, "My funny valentine ' and "Heroes". He interacted naturally with the audience responding to heckles from his adoring fans. He then delivered brilliant versions of “You'll be back" from Hamilton and "He lives in you " from Lion King.

However, the show really soared when he cut lose with two brilliant song medleys from Queen's We will rock you and the Who's Tommy which brought the audience to their feet. It was also touching to see a young boy invited on stage and given a tambourine to play singalong with the Queen hits. It was a brilliant start to a Musical Theatre cruise.



It’s a Grand night for singing ⭐⭐⭐️



Our second headline was a neatly strung together medley of songs from the wonderful works of  Rogers and Hammerstein catalogue which reminded you that while their stories and plots have not aged well with their dated attitudes and themes of suicide ,their music remains some of the best show tunes ever written. We had snippets of the classics from Sound of Music, Carousel, South Pacific, Oklahoma and King and I as well as some of their less well-known work.



Sung by three boys (James Shaw, David Macintosh and Tim McArthur) and three girls (Lois Morgan Gay, an excellent professional debut, Steph Parry , and Sabrina Carter)  and accompanied on the piano by Ben Papworth, it was a delightfully simple celebration of their music making you long for a bit more with choreography and storytelling in the presentation.



Sheridan Smith ⭐⭐⭐⭐️



Sheridan has a big personality and stage presence and started her show offstage singing a song from her most recent role as narrator on Joseph before entering and performing a song from one of her other famous roles as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl, "Rain on my parade”.

Once she had announced her mum, aunt and partner were in the audience and that she was expecting a child she sang songs from her early successes in Little shop of horrors and Legally Blonde. A real highlight was when she recreated to songs from her wonderful TV series about Cilla Black when she sang “Anyone who had a heart” and “You’re my world” before performing “Diamond are a girl's best friend”. Despite the 1500-seater venue she made it feel intimate like some private party.



She finished with a show she has not yet done 9 to 5 which is doing so well in the West End now and on tour in the UK before ending with a routine with the Magic Eight dancers of “This is me” from The Greatest Showman as she demonstrated she is a delightfully entertaining show woman.



ReArrangement ⭐⭐️

This show promised much as an interesting quartet of singers including the amazing Alice Fearn (Wicked fame), Noel Sullivan (formerly of Hearsay), Andy Coxon and Kelly Mathieson (from Phantom of the Opera) accompanied by musical director Nick Barstow played with the arrangements of a selection of songs.

But it curiously fell short of expectations as the selected songs were not all classic familiar songs so in listening to the rearrangements it was not easy to recall the original and enjoy the changes. A Hamilton song " Schuyler sisters" was fine in a variety of musical styles but although I had seen the show, I did not recall the original although you could recognise the musical styles.



 It was followed by Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “I don’t know how to love her” from Jesus Christ Superstar and a song from Sunset Boulevard. We were on familiar ground with “People will say we are in love” from Oklahoma but a less familiar Kander and Ebb number and another little-known song from Frozen could not be fully appreciated.



It was billed as musical like you had never heard before but for much of the time it was simply music I had never heard before, and therefore a bit of a waste of the talent on stage.



Night cap with Rachel Tucker ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐️



Without doubt the most enjoyable session was the fabulous Rachel Tucker in conversation with Paul Taylor Mills and singing songs that have meant something to her. This Northern Ireland songstress played Elphaba in Wicked in over 2000 performances and she inevitably gave us the classic “Defying gravity” from that show but also many other wonderful tunes. She out shone Sheridan Smith with her Fanny Brice Funny Girl medley and the classic tune from the song Cabaret.



She also had great fun rewording the Liza Minneli song “Liza with a Z” as “Tucker with T” and she sang a tune from the new show Dear Evan Hansen, “Waving through a window”.



However, she really shone in her song from her current show as Beverley in Come from away “Me and the sky “, which reminded us what a simply wonderful heart-warming and modern feeling show that is.



Avenue Q ⭐⭐⭐️



 I had never seen the hit adult puppet musical Avenue Q when it played the West End and U.K. Tour but had heard a great deal about it and so watched with great anticipation this shortened cabaret version. The two-act format was cut into a one-hour version without formal settings or much dialogue and in doing so the songs lost context and sub plots. As a result, it was a case of enjoy the songs and admire the puppetry.

It is a curious show tackling a range of social issues from racism to homelessness and internet porn to homosexuality and using the puppets to make the portrayal acceptable and funny. It works in places with some of the songs but in the ship setting the mix of actors and puppetry did not fully engage nor tempt me to see the full show.



Jenna Russell – Discovering Sondheim ⭐⭐⭐⭐️



Another brilliant highlight was the Stephen Sondheim master class which Jenna lead with Lois Morgan Gay and Alyn Hawke where she took three songs from Sunday in the park with George and one from Into the woods and discussed how to perform the songs and the meaning behind his lyrics and distinctive musical style .  It was fascinating to observe, brave of the performers to expose themselves and left you wanting more of Jenna and the music of Sondheim.



Mia Mammas ⭐⭐⭐️



The Sing out sisters delivered a lively entertaining singalong Cabaret show of ABBA’s biggest hits as if recreating the finale of the stage show and film. It was interactive and fun although the backing track sounded distorted the girls looked like they were having fun and easily engaged the audience in joining in.



Collabro ⭐⭐⭐️



The Britain’s got talent winners returned for a second Stages cruise and once again the collaborators as their dedicated hard-core fans are called filled the first few rows of the Palace Theatre and applauded every move and song. They are a slick well drilled foursome who deliver well known musical theatre classics in an entertaining one-hour show. Much of the show was the same as 2018.

They were not helped by a poor sound mix with the band too loud at times. However, they are an ideal act for the Stages cruise as they stick to well-known titles and have polished routines. They gave us “Grease is the word” , “Send in the clown” , “Beauty and the beast” , “Rain on my parade” , “Lion king” , “A star is born”, “Bring it home” and “Dreamed a dream”  (from Les Mis) and “For good” and” Defying gravity” (from Wicked) before ending with a Jersey Boys medley .



Wonderful ⭐⭐⭐⭐️



Alice Fearn returned to the Studio B stage for a tribute to Stephen Schwartz the composer / lyricist whose name is not as well-known as the musicals he has written which include Pippin, Godspell and Wicked. Fearn selected songs and arrangements that appealed to her, freed from the show format by the cabaret.  Although they were not as familiar as better known versions her outstanding delivery and relaxed style made for a very special session building to three songs from Wicked , “Wonderful”, “Defying gravity” ( third time in headline shows!) and “For good” where she was joined by Kelly Mathieson and a lively encore from Godspell of “Bless the lord”. Wonderful!



In between these headline shows we enjoyed some excellent insightful panel interview style sessions on choreography, design and producing with Paul Taylor Mills, Ben Rogers, Lizzie Gee and her Musical director husband Phil Bateman.

However the best undiscovered talent was Steph Parry ⭐⭐⭐⭐who threw herself into every event having explained in a session how she was the understudy who ran down the road from her dressing room for 42nd street to Mamma Mia to step into the lead 20 minutes into the show . She was also a willing auditionee for West End Producers Edinburgh Fringe show casting for a new musical Free Willy.



The comedy was provided by Joe Pasquale ⭐⭐⭐⭐in an old-fashioned prop filled routine that had the audience in stitches even though so many of the gags had been seen before. He is a natural showman and has honed his skills to play the audience beautifully. Sadly, we missed his Q and A and guest appearance in one Alfie Boe concert which were reportedly even funnier.

The Festival organisers did a great job improving the scheduling and eliminating queuing that plagued the first Stages cruise but there remain some issues with the event that need to be ironed out to justify the large price hike for 2020. The Explorer of the seas⭐, is an old ship with insufficient lifts to cope with peak demand around show times and mealtimes meaning that for those who could not manage stairs it might take 15 minutes to rise two decks.

The scheduling of the popular Ferris and Milne⭐⭐⭐ in the small Schooner bar created a massive bottleneck in the only walkway past it. The Windjammer and Sapphire dining room food was not up to usual cruise standards, often poorly presented, little daily variation and rather bland tasting. In addition, the inability to arrange a table for four people booked to travel together was inexplicable and led to a daily worry about where we would dine together. And there was very little space to just sit and relax as in other ships due to the allocation of bar and merchandising spaces in favour of quiet spaces.


This is a great development for people who like Musical theatre and the organisers do a great job in getting the talent on board but they need to get the balance right between the commercial drive (pricey drinks packages ,pushing bookings next year, the cheapened food offer, packed rooms and ridiculously early disembarkation unless you pay a premium )  and creating a truly memorable unique experience that builds repeat business .



Overall ⭐⭐⭐⭐️









Cunard Queen Victoria - California Suite

In my view it is long overdue that the cruise lines used their wonderful facilities to stage straight plays for their customers as an alternative to the usual fare of musical revues , so it was a real pleasure to see California Suite staged in the Royal Court Theatre on the Cunard Queen Victoria on a UK and Ireland cruise.

The Neil Simon's seventies play was made famous by a film starring Maggie Smith and Michael Caine and is a witty comedy which descends into farce in some of the scenes. However, it does feel rather dated now with its attitudes and stereotypically written female characters and has not fared as well as the Restoration comedies. It is written in four separate scenes over two acts each using different characters linked only by the setting, a Los Angeles hotel suite and explores the relationships between different married couples. Despite the limitations of backstage space on board the suite is created by a full box set of the fully furnished sitting room and bedroom of the carpeted suite and looks excellent getting a ripple of applause when the front tabs pulled open.

Director Keith Myers guides the four Principle singers from the Royal court shows in what must make an enjoyable change for the performers from their usual reparatory of 45-minute musical revues and they all attempt the required American accents to varying degrees of success. Joseph Bishop gets the best roles playing William Warren, the twice married LA resident meeting his estranged ex-wife to discuss the custody of their teenage daughter in Act 1 and then Sidney Nichols , gay husband of an Oscar nominee actress in Act 2 scene 1 and finally the unstable Stu Franklyn whose friendship is tested after a vicious tennis game . Opposite him is Hannah Jo White as his estranged wife in Act 1, the neurotic actress with a dress that gives her a hump in Act 2 scene 1 and his tennis wife in the last scene. Act 1 scene 1 works best with its "smart arse conversation" and witty "New York banter" as they test each other out about their lives since separating. 

In Act 1 Scene 2, Matt Colyer plays Marvin who wakes to find an unconscious Bunny (Amy Simpson) in his bed just as his wife, Beth Clarence arrives from Philadelphia. It is a fairly predictable farce as he tries to first wake her up, then remove her from the bed and finally explain her presence. It is a frantic panic ridden thirty minutes in the tradition of Brian Rix or Ray Cooney comedies. It's fun but rather unbelievable.

Matt and Beth return in the final scene as the tennis opponents injured, "it wasn't tennis, it was War" and then put out by their best friends’ behaviours. It is again comically over the top as each injures another and ending with them all laying flat on their back.

However in the first scene the wife concedes shared custody with her husband rather readily, in the second forgives her husband dalliance rather easily, in the third seems weak and neurotic and in the final scene both wives are by standers laying on the bed watching their husbands feud and you long for a better written stronger female character with something to say.

Nevertheless, it made for an entertaining afternoon on board ship and the appreciative audience showed that it is an innovation worth repeating on other cruise ships but rising to the challenge of finding plays suitable for available cast, facilities and the cruise audience but with something more interesting to say.

Nick Wayne

Three stars

Stages Cruise 2018


A Festival of Musical Theatre at sea is a wonderful concept, the equivalent of Glastonbury for the grey pound! The Floating Festival producers, Jonathan Blackburn, Peter Taylor and James Ibrahim secured an amazing line up for the inaugural event and promised a great few days in their excellent social media pre cruise campaign. Could they deliver on board the Navigator of the Sea, chartered from Royal Caribbean International? The answer is a resounding YES despite a few frustrating teething problems along the way.

The cruise planner was packed with full scale concerts, intimate cabaret sets and Q & A’s all executed with great supporting musicians and an excellent sound mix. The headliners were all good but some of the other events turned out to be the biggest highlights of the trip. And the whole event was in the presence of leading Theatre bloggers West End Wilma and her sidekick Ed (23,000 followers) and the mysterious West End Producer (61,500 followers).

Part 1 - Day 1 and 2

Beverley Knight headlined the first night with her powerful soulful voice; the beautiful lady from Wolverhampton  rocked the 1300 seat Metropolis Theatre at the front of ship with her pop and soul songs as well as the show tunes that established her second career as Musical Diva. We enjoyed her performance of Memories (from Cats), Natural woman (a tribute to Aretha Franklin from Beautiful) and songs from the musicals Memphis and The Bodyguard. She showed her delightful charm in a wonderful Q & A the next day.

The first night support was a really excellent Kerry Ellis with a sweet intimate set in Studio B which included two songs from My Fair Lady , Losing my mind from Follies ,  songs from Wicked and  The Greatest Showman together with a couple of songs from her partnership with Brian May including A crazy little thing called love.

We also saw John Owen Jones

whose deep rich welsh voice delivered very fine versions of This is the moment from Greatest Showman, Music of the night from Phantom, Evermore from Beauty and the Beast, Bring it home, Les Mis and Anthem from Chess.  Both showed why they are wonderful leading Musical Theatre performers.

The day finished with a late night set the dynamic duo of Ferris and Milne who were fresh lively and highly entertaining. Best of all were there mass ups of the whole of West Side Story in seven minutes and later songs from all the current West End shows in seven minutes. They were brilliantly written, played and sung in a frantic 45 minute set.

But it was during day 2 that the frustrating issues emerged as it became apparent that the large dedicated and committed female fan base of  Michael Ball , Lee Mead and Collobro were desperate to see their heroes close up again (for they had all seen them multiple times before). The queues for the main theatre where they all headlined became long, hot and fractious and the less mobile in wheelchairs, zimmer frames or with sticks were ignored or left standing for long periods while the sound checks continued before the doors opened.

The behaviour was quite shocking but James Ibrahim fronted up to the problems and as far as I could see everyone who wanted one got a seat.

We missed Ben Evans in a Frank Valli set as we choose to see Arlene Philips in a wonderfully produced chat show that spilled the hot gossip from the innovative choreographer. So innovative that she has twice been the subject of debate in parliament!

We heard of her work on Ridley Scott's commercials and then Elton John I'm still standing and then her work in Hollywood on the films Annie with John Houston , The meaning of life . However it was her work on Musicals that we most wanted to hear about and she talked about Starlight express , Wizard of Oz, Saturday Night Fever and We will rock you . And of course she talked about starting and being fired from Strictly Coming Dancing. A wonderful insightful 75 minutes.

The second day headliner was Lee Mead a charming young man who seemed much more comfortable as an actor in character than as himself chatting between songs but he delivered a very enjoyable set including Dancing through life from Wicked, Bring it home with Les Mis, From now on from The Greatest Showman and two songs from Joseph Close ever door and of course Any dream will do complete with the multi-coloured coat!

This was followed by Showstoppers, an extraordinary group of performers who created a brilliant improvisation of a brand new off musical titled by a member of the audience as Chatty Chatty Bang Bang. I have seen them three times before and can attest that every show is different as the group of five performers , a producer and two members of the band create  the story (if not the routines and tunes) on the spot and include audience selected musical styles. In our show the selections were Hamilton, Rogers and Hammerstein , the Greatest Showman., and Sondheim. Brilliant creative musical theatre.

The late night show was a late addition to the schedule in the main house opened by Christina Bianco who is a skilful female vocalist impressionist and does a very good job with her efforts of Bette Midler, Celina Dion, Barbara Streisand, Julie Andrews, Lisa Minnelli and Shirley Bassey but the highlight was Edith Piaf does ABBA.

However the mood changed as Bobby Davro arrived on stage to the tune of I could walk 500 miles and we were treated to a hilarious madcap fun hour without any regard to today’s political correctness madness. He went down a storm with the audience with his own impressions of Frank Sinatra, Donald Trump , Billy Joel, Ozzy Osborne, Tom Jones and Elvis with a 3 girl backing group dragged from the audience! He then persuade Lee Mead who had done pantomime with him to do a duo of  You raise me up .  Davro proved he is a very good vocal impressionist as well as being highly entertaining and energetic.

Day 3 to 5 of Stages

Day 3 was in Amsterdam, a 350 nautical mile trip that had taken 36 hours to reach and a wonderful stopover for a few hours with the city centre within walking distance of the ship's berth. A chance to swap out headliners for the return journey!

As we departed up the long canal and ship lock out of Amsterdam that evening the headline show was the main event of the cruise for most people but the Festivals team worked hard to get everyone settled for the show. It was opened by Christina Bianco who repeated some of her late night impressions and a few others who I didn't know the artistes names let alone recognise their voices but she did add Adele and Judy Garland to the mix.

Finally it was time for Michael Ball with his nine piece band with every song being greeted by a standing ovation from the front row! He gave us You'll be back from Hamilton, This is me from The Greatest Showman, I won't send roses from Mack and Mabel , Tell me it's not true from Blood Brothers , Not while I am around from Sweeney Todd , Jesus Christ Superstar  , Empty Chairs from Les Mis , Anthem from Chess and a final song of  You can't stop the beat  from Hairspray  before returning for an encore of The wonder of you.  He has a strong stage presence and powerful voice but for me is at his best when he looks like he is having fun!

The final sea day started with a rare and insightful interview with Don Black by the musical director, Barry Robinson who discussed his amazing catalogue of lyrics for film including five Bond films and my first west end musical the adorable Billy . He explained his success with a quote “songs from the heart they come, to the heart they go”. What made this a truly magical interview was that the chat was punctuated by performances from his repertoire.

Lee Mead gave us a song from the 1974 musical Billy written with John Barry , Some of us belong to stars which was followed by three film songs sung by Ian McKenzie , the Italian Job, The Born Free and Thunderball themes. Barry said all Bond themes should have a whiff of the boudoir. This was followed by work with Andrew Lloyd Webber Sunset Boulevard , Aspects of love and Tell me on a Sunday sung by the lovely Marti Webb .

Then to the delight of the audience Michael Ball repeated Love changes everything. Then finally we were given a Matt Munroe song  If I never sing another song , sung by very good young talent Holly Brewer . If anything I would like to have seen more of these style shows in the Festival.

Before dinner of the final night we returned to Studio B to see one of the best sets of the cruise performed by the amazing Cassidy Janson who performed for two years as Carole King in the lovely musical Beautiful. She and her band gave us I feel the Earth move,It’s too late baby, Will you love me tomorrow, So far away, You've got a friend, A Natural woman, and Beautiful reminding us again of Carole King’s phenomenal output.

The final headline act was the Britain’s Got Talent four piece boy band Collabro of Matt, James, Michael, and Tom. Four likeable lads who look like they can’t believe the success they have had over the last few years! They ran through a selection of Musical theatre hits with their own delightful harmonies and standard boy band choreography. We enjoyed This is the word  from Grease, Maria , West Side Story, On my own from Les Mis backed with a scratch choir  from the cruise , Never enough, Greatest showman, Bui Doi from Miss Saigon,  For good and Defying gravity from Wicked and  Stars from  Les Mis. They finished with an excellent Jersey boys medley including December 1963 (Oh what a night). It was a lively and entertaining end to the programme in the main house.

But as the ship stated to sail toward the Solent and various rooms closed down the party atmosphere continued in the Star lounge with first the band Sway and then the return of Bobby Davro with impressions of Neil Sedaka , Cliff  Richards, Elton John and a repeat of his Frank Sinatra routine before ending with a This is your life montage while he sang it's a wonderful world . It was a great way to round of the trip.

This inaugural Musical Festival Theatre cruise was a great success with the headliners all delivering for their fans although my highlights were the Arlene Philips and Don Black sessions and the wonderful Cassidy Janson set together with the comedy of Bobby Davro.

I hope next year’s cruise to Dublin while raise the standards again, delve more into the historical musical theatre catalogues with its headliners of Sheridan Smith , Collabro and Alfie Boe being supported by more produced content featuring a wider range of Musical theatre styles and exciting young talent.

You can book now for this Musical Theatre lovers "must do" trip.