Part 3: THEATRE AT SEA cruise on Cunard’s Queen Mary II - Showtime on board
Photo credit: Nick Wayne
The team created a series of shows just for the voyage and together with the Cunard’s technical team on board, lighting and sound, did a remarkable job in creating such high-quality shows. Any one of them could have graced a West End cabaret stage and we feel sure would sell well to the wider public!
A Little Bit of Lerner
The lyrics of Alan Jay Lerner were the focus of the first show, which was compared by Liz Roberston herself. It was a delightful dip into his catalogue, not just his familiar hits but some of his less well remembered words from songs like ‘On a Clear Day (You Can See Forever), a song which Lerner said took nine months to write for the show originally staged on Broadway in 1965, and from which Linzi Hateley sang ‘What Did I Have That I Don't Have?’. The musical 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, which we discovered is the address of the White House, was written in 1976 but closed after just 7 performances and 13 previews on Broadway! Equally Dance a Little Closer, written with Charles Strouse opened on 11 May 1983 and closed after the opening night.
Of course, we heard some of his better-known lyrics like those from the charming ‘If Ever I Would Leave You’ from Camelot and ‘On The Street Where You Live’ from My Fair Lady, both sung by Tobias Turley. While Norman Bowman gave us ‘Almost Like Being in Love’ from his first hit show Brigadoon, and Ben Stock sang ‘The Night They Invented Champagne’ from Gigi. Liz closed the show with the wonderful ‘Wouldn’t it be Loverly’ from My Fair Lady. It was a joyous celebration of his words and a great opening night to the cruise.
Life Upon a Wicked Stage
During the next day, we saw a cleverly constructed show based on the words of famous playwrights acknowledging that the Olivers are not only about musicals and having references to being on stage. It was performed by Liz Roberston, Ben Stock, Tom Carradine and Professor Richard Schoch. It included speeches from William Shakespeare (As you like it, All the worlds a stage, Henry V ,This Wooden O, and the Tempest, Insubstantial pageant) and witticisms and songs from Noel Cowerd. We heard Liz and Ben do Oscar Hammerstien’s “Life upon a wicked stage,” Liz do the music hall number “My mother does not know I’m on the stage” and then Ben do the Noel Cowerd song “Why must the show go on.” We heard Sondheim’s “Everything is coming up roses” from Gypsy, TS Eliot’s Gus the Theatre cat, and Irving Berlin’s “There is no business like showbusiness,” Critics even got a mention with the quote about the opening on Oklahoma! “No girls, no legs, no chance” before the show went on to run on Broadway for over 2000 performances!
It proved that there is nothing like a life upon a wicked stage.
The Best of British Oliviers
The second evening show focused on British shows and was hosted brilliantly by Ben Stock. It started with music from Charlie Girl, the 1965 musical comedy by Heneker and Taylor, and the song “Fish and Chips”. Then we had three Andrew Llloyd Webber compositions with Shanay Holmes singing “I don’t know how to love him” and Hugh Maynard doing “Heaven on their minds” both from Jesus Christ Superstar, before Shanay sang a song from the Evita 1996 film “You must love me”.
Hugh retuned for a fabulous “Circle of Life” from Lion King (a 2000 nominee) and then Ben Stock and Tom Carradine had fun with “We are looking for a piano” from Julian Slade’s 1954 musical Salad Days. Bringing us right up to date Tobias Turley sang “The Explorer and the Bear” from the 2026 Best musical winner Paddington. Shanay reprised the moving “Where is love” from Oliver! and the tone was lightened by Tom and Ben doing the Monty Python Spamalot (2007 nominee) song “Always look on the bright side of life”.
Before the show closed Tobias sang “Tomorrow” from the new musical Hot Mess and Hugh powerfully delivered “Bring it home” from Les Mis (a 1985 nominee) and then whole cast joined together with the upbeat and fun “Flash Bang Wallop” from the 1963 musical Half a sixpence leaving us admiring “what a picture to stick in our family album”.
The Scot and the Showgirl
The third night saw Frances Raffelle and Norman Bowman do their cabaret show The Scot and the Showgirl on stage. Described as a wee musical thingmajig it a comically retelling of the ups and downs of their relationship when they met again at Edinburgh train station in a romantic song cycle. Starting with Bowman provocatively swinging his kilt in “Donald, Where’s your Troosers” the succession of songs included Sondheim, Burt Baccarat, the Proclaimers and Rogers and Hammerstein. It was a quirky love story with the couple later in life behaving like love sock teenagers!
Don’t Dilly Dally
On the fourth night we saw something completely different in Tom Carradine and Ben Stock’s singalong celebration of the great British Music hall songs. With a song sheet in hand containing twenty-one well known songs we cantered through the repertoire with most in the audience hardly needing look at the words! Favourites of the night were Ben singing “When father papered the parlour,” Shanay Holmes playing the abandoned bride in “Waiting at the church” and a succession of banana related songs from David McMullen and Ben. It was a silly fun night, and you could see that the cast were having as much fun as us! We expect to see the show on tour later this year in a full two version.
Masterclass in Special effects- “Peppers Ghost”
Paul Kieve has a formidable reputation in the industry as one of the foremost stage illusionists with an impressive CV which includes Groundhog Day: The Musical ( 2017 nominee) at The Old Vic, Mary Poppins (2005 nominee) at the Prince Edward Theatre, London, Matilda the Musical (2012 winner) , Ghost the Musical (2012 nominee) and Lord of the Rings (2008 nominee). But he was also the illusionist on Before the Dawn, the Kate Bush concert at Hammersmith Apollo in 2014. Having started as a kid’s party magician and on cruise ships, he won a Blue Peter badge cutting Janet Ellis in half on Blue Peter. He found fame as the illusionist of “The Invisible Man” as the Theatre Royal Stratford with 53 illusions included the unmasking effect.
Though a member of the magic circle he was able to explain the secrets behind the Peppers Ghost illusion which he adapted for the stage show Ghost . John Henry Pepper a scientist adapted an idea first written about in 1589 work Magia Naturalis and developed by Henry Dirks in 1858 for the stage. It use three key elements, a trap in the stage to an under-stage space where an actor can perform , a bright light and an angled glass in stage through which the reflection from the trap can be seen. It creates a ghost like reflection which actors on stage can appear to pass through.
He concluded his workshop with a demonstration of the Blades of Opah, Robert Harbin’s final illusion in which two blades are seen to pass through a victim trapped in a stock like body trap. He did not explain how it worked but was a great conclusion to the workshop even if it was not a cutting-edge illusion!
The Oliviers in Concert
The highlight of the whole cruise was a seventy-minute show celebrating the musicals featured in fifty years of the Olivier Awards superbly compared by Julian Bird and ensuring a full house at the Royal Court Theatre featuring all the stars we had met. Linzi Hateley opened the show with “Any dream will do” from Joseph followed by Tobias Turley with “Tonight” from West Side Story .
Liz Robertson sang “Tell me on a Sunday” , Hugh Maynard reprised his “Bei Doi” from Miss Saigon and Shanay Holmes sang “Season of Love” from Rent before Ben Stock did a powerful rendition of “I am what I am” from La Cage aux Folles.
Tom Carridine accompanied Linzi Hateley on the piano for “Tell me it’s not true” from Blood Brothers ( 1983 winner) before being joined by Jamie Safir and Ben Stock for a brilliant mashup with all three playing the grand piano for twenty-two West End Musicals from Olivier awards , each appearing on the digital proscenium arch. It is the sort of routine that you want to see twice to really appreciate all the shows and their delivery. It covered Me and My Girl (the 1985 winner) with “Lambeth Walk” through to “Marmalade” from Paddington ( the 2026 winner).
Frances Raffelle sang “On my own” from Les Mis before they recreated a little magic with a silver ball by Paul Kieve in “Magic to do” from Pippin. Norman Bowman returned with “I won’t send roses” from Mack and Mabel and Hugh Maynard did “He lives in you” from the Lion King (2000 nominee).
They staged a brilliant medley from Mama Mia ( 2000 nominee) with the Royal Court Theatre company ending with “Dancing Queen.” As we built to the finale Shanay Holmes returned to give a stunning version of “As long as he needs me” from Oliver! and then the whole company joined the on stage for the first Oliver Best Musical winner in 1976, A Chorus Line including “What is did for love”.
Rarely do you get a chance to hear so many great award-winning songs sung by so many award-winning performers packed into such a tight show. It was a memorable night, as Julian said , a one-off night, but it would surely attract an audience on an y stage in the UK .
This was an exceptional cruise packed with high quality performances and with great insight and credibility . It was less starry than the Stages cruises pre-covid with Michael Ball and Alfie Boe or the enhanced Imagine cruises with Anton Du Beck and Russell Watson but the better for it. There was so much to enjoy, and the artistes seemed to enjoy sharing their stories and music with us. What’s more when you arrive in New York at 4am and see the Statue of Liberty illuminated it adds to the magic before diving into what’s on offer on Broadway . We recommend the trip for any musical theatre lover and suggest keeping an eye open for who is booked to join the next two trips M730 from 20TH to 27th October 2027 and M833 from 25th October to 1st November 2028.
Bon Voyage
Nick Wayne