GOOD EVENING! And welcome to… THE GIG REVIEW! “The leaves of brown came tumblin’ down, remember, In September in the rain.” – quoth Al Dubin, ‘September in the Rain’ As we progress into the ninth month of the year it always feels to me as though things begin to slow down a bit. The …
GOOD EVENING! And welcome to… THE GIG REVIEW! “Augustus Gloop! Augustus Gloop! The great, big, greedy nincompoop!” – quoth The Oompa Loompas, ‘Augustus Gloop’ Sure as eggs is eggs, August follows July, and thus it was no surprise for me to awake on the day after 31st July to find that I was yet …
One of the reasons I play so many different instruments is that I really enjoy performing in pit orchestras for musical theatre productions. In these ensembles, each individual woodwind musician is frequently called upon to swap between 3 or 4 instruments, and this practice of ‘doubling’ allows orchestrators to maximise the palette of sounds available …
I’ve got to the point now where I’ve played in a fair few musicals, however one that’s doing the rounds at the moment but had eluded me until recently was ‘The Addams Family’. This all changed last month though, when I got the chance to play Reed 2 for the show and find out what …
The other week I had a delightful time performing with pianist extraordinaire Jack Mitchell Smith for a wedding in Tabley House (near Knutsford). But if you don’t believe me, I HAVE EVIDENCE! Here are some videos taken from our performance on the day, as well as a couple of clips from our rehearsal: There’s …
I’ll readily admit that I’m a little behind the curve with this news, as the aforementioned album was actually released a few weeks ago now. But you know how it is – you’ve been busy, I’ve been busy, etc. etc. At least I got round to it eventually. The album in question is …
HEY GUYZZZ!!! I did a couple of zhowz recently, and made a couple of videoz zhowcazing zome clipz of my playing. Zo I thought I’d zhare them with you in caze that’z the zort of thing you’re into for zome reazon. Ready? Zteady? GO!!! Oliver! Footlooze
Now that Peter Pan-tomime is officially finished (and believe it or not we managed to get through the full 66-show run without a single cancelled performance!) I think it’s high time I made some attempt to publicise it. So here is a selection of piccies I got over the course of my festive season at …
Ahoy tharrr! Shiver me timbers! That’s just a small preview of the kind of banter you can expect to enjoy if you attend Lichfield Garrick Theatre’s 2021 pantomime: All-New Adventures of Peter Pan! And as if that wasn’t enough, you can also expect to hear: Me playing the clarinet. Me playing the …
Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great pleasure that I announce the premiere performance of the U.K.’s newest and quite possibly greatest ever musical ensemble: The Dunleavy & Dimplesauce Showtime Orchestra! Yayyyyyyyyy! The orchestra was formed in mid-2020 by the legendary (and also mythical) characters of Beatrice Dunleavy and Ericona Dimplesauce. Their mission was a …
