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Birmingham by Royal command
Stars Barry Manilow, Andrea Bocelli, LeAnn Rimes and Charlote Church |
The Royal Variety Performance is to open outside London for the first time in 87 years, when the curtain goes up at the Birmingham Hippodrome.
Chart-topping pop stars Steps and Westlife will perform alongside showbiz favourite Barry Manilow at the event in front of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.
Award-winning LeAnn Rimes to make her Royal Variety debut |
The glittering show will be hosted by Brian Conley, while comics Ken Dodd, Joe Pasquale and Bradley Walsh will be providing the laughs at the event.
Until now, the show - which helps raise money for retired performers across the UK - has always been staged in London.
This year it is being held in Birmingham to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Hippodrome.
Preparations for the event have been going on for months at the theatre, which is due to close in February for a £28m rebuilding programme.
"Our theatre has been transformed. For the night of nights... the Hippodrome will look absolutely marvellous," said the theatre's director Peter Tod.
Ken Dodd will be appearing with the Diddykids |
From London's theatreland there will be excerpts from the hit musicals The Lion King, Great Balls of Fire and Mamma Mia.
The Royal Variety Performance was first staged in front of George V in 1912 at London's Palace Theatre.
It was stopped during the First World War but became an annual event in 1921.
It has only been cancelled for Royal mourning in 1936, the Second World War, the Suez crisis in 1956, and the Queen's pregnancy with Prince Andrew in 1959.
When George VI was too ill to attend in 1951, the show was relayed to his bed in Buckingham Palace.
The show is renowned for the occasional embarrassing moment - Chris de Burgh was stopped halfway through his 1989 performance of Lady in Red when a dancer's dress strap broke.
And violin virtuoso Nigel Kennedy played a silent rendition of The Four Seasons when his instrument was not plugged in.
The show was first televised in 1963 and alternates each year between the BBC and ITV.
The performance will be shown on ITV on Saturday 4 December and will also be broadcast around the world.
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08 Dec 98 | Entertainment |
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Spicy Royal Variety Performance |
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