Variety Night at the Old Vic

Beth Gallagher reviews Tredegar's recent concert performance at London’s Old Vic

Tredegar’s remarkable year of
artistic ‘firsts’ was capped by this groundbreaking appearance at London’s famous Old Vic Theatre - a historic auditorium that, since 1818, has seen its stage spotlight fall on the world’s greatest actors and performers.

This, however, was no Shakespearean production featuring the likes of Laurence Olivier, but the first in what is hoped to be a series of Variety Nights aimed at celebrating the venue’s diverse artistic past, as well as raising funds for its future initiatives.

The idea came from newly-appointed Artistic Director, Matthew Warchus, who also directed the BAFTA Award-winning lm, Pride, which featured Tredegar playing much of the soundtrack written by composer, Chris Nightingale. Warchus is now a committed brass band fan and so the
invitation for this star-studded
event - headlined by the remarkable magician Dynamo, but also featuring the likes of singer/songwriter Tim Minchin, comedians Mark Watson and Sara Pascoe, and musicians The Beatbox Collective and Momento, came directly from him.

“I wanted the Old Vic to once again showcase the very best in artistic talent in all its forms,” he said on the night. “The remarkable history of theatre has always shown that,
so I couldn’t think of any better than Tredegar Band.”

Not surprisingly the evening sold out within two hours (and at over £60 a seat!), with Tredegar opening the second-half with Nightingale Dances (a requested musical ‘thank you’ by Warchus to his Pride film composer), as well as its Mnozil-inspired Lonely Boy routine that saw baritone player, Jack Lapthorn, suspended in the air whilst playing two trombones and two cornets with his hands and feet!

It was a ‘trick’ that impressed even Dynamo himself, who later came up to meet the band before it returned to the stage to join Tim Minchin in
a special arrangement of what will
be the headline song to his new musical, Groundhog Day, which will open at the Old Vic in 2017 with a three-month run already earmarked for Broadway in New York.


As the packed audience gave the Australian star and the band a standing ovation, he told them that if the show was even half as successful as the première of his new song, he would certainly be inviting Tredegar over to New York to join him. Now that would be another memorable first for the Welsh band!

PHOTO: Tim Minchin with Tredegar Principal Euphonium Matthew White