Flanders and Swann Drop Another Hat
"It’s as if they’d never been away.” Thus wrote one critic about this lively and highly amusing musical show.
For over a decade Flanders and Swann played to packed houses in the West End of London and elsewhere in the UK, and successfully exported their quintessentially English humour to half a dozen countries across the world. Their gentle, intelligent, impeccably detailed comments upon society – animal, vegetable and mineral – are recognised and sung throughout the English-speaking world. Even those who claim never to have heard the names of Flanders and Swann will join in the refrain from their well-loved Hippopotamus Song: “Mud, mud, glorious mud!”.
In this revival, the audience is transported back to the era of intimate revues as performed in such West End locations as the Comedy Theatre, the Ambassador’s Theatre and the Fortune Theatre, home of Flanders and Swann’s original ‘Hat’ revues.
Michael Bernstein, who plays Flanders to Colin Stevens’s Swann, studied Drama and Education at the Royal Academy of Music. After a 35-year career in teaching, which he describes as “exhilarating”, Michael took early retirement and became free to pursue his first love – acting. He has directed and performed principal rôles at numerous venues including the Mermaid, Cambridge and Drury Lane theatres. He has narrated several pieces for Orchestra and Narrator, and has performed poetry and jazz with the late John Dankworth and Cleo Laine. It was while playing Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof in Tring that he met Colin Stevens, who was Musical Director for the show.
Colin Stevens is an accomplished pianist, organist and conductor. He was organist and choirmaster at Tring Parish Church for 12 years and since 1970 has been conductor and musical director of Tring Choral Society – a thriving amateur choir of some 80 singers which gives three major concerts each year. In the theatre Colin has spent most of his time in the "pit" on piano. He has accompanied countless performances, ranging from cabaret, music hall and operetta to grand opera, and has been musical director for a number of shows, including Fiddler On The Roof, My Fair Lady and Side By Side By Sondheim.
Fifteen years after their first meeting at the ‘Fiddler’ auditions in 1982, Michael finally persuaded Colin to leave the "pit" and make his first appearance on stage. Thus began a highly successful partnership which has taken this show throughout the UK. They have appeared at numerous arts festivals and venues including The Court Theatre, Pendley, The Queen Mother Theatre, Hitchin, The Ellen Terry Theatre, Tenterden, The Rose Theatre, Kidderminster, The Theatre Royal, Margate, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, and Carlisle Cathedral.
The audience response has been highly enthusiastic among all age groups. Whole families leave the performances sharing and singing what they have just heard, and there have already been calls from a number of venues for repeat performances.
In ‘Flanders and Swann Drop Another Hat’, Michael Bernstein and Colin Stevens are united in their devotion to the work of their mentors. As Richard Whitmore wrote: “Michael and Colin’s tribute contains all their finest work and there are some wonderful – almost uncanny – moments when you feel that the great originals are back with us again.” However, just like Flanders and Swann, Michael and Colin are two very different characters and they have begun to spark off each other as the show has developed, adding a further layer of subtle humour to the hugely enjoyable wit of these lovingly re-created songs.
PRESS COMMENT
“An outstanding evening with a delightful selection from the F & S canon, beautifully performed.” Peter Gooday on a (fourth) appearance at St Mary’s, Bramber.
“Above all they were funny! A hackneyed phrase perhaps, but I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house after “The English, the English, the English are best, I wouldn’t give tuppence for all of the rest!” Well done for creating a memorable evening.” Keith Baker, Capital International.
“Gentle satire in musical form is still alive and kicking, with the utmost discretion, in the English shires. The standard bearers now of an art that is unique to this country are the laconically-precise Michael Bernstein and Colin Stevens, a pianist and humorist of rare talent.” Dave Cooper, Thanet Extra.
“Michael Bernstein and Colin Stevens perform fascinating impersonations of Flanders & Swann, and they have a good following – sold out for four performances. Bernstein has considerable acting ability and he uses it with gusto, pointing precisely and with clarity to the comic songs that appealed so much to the British public during the fifties and sixties. Stevens is a talented musician and first-class accompanist. He plays for two hours, trading smiles and gestures with Bernstein and joining him for duets to his own piano playing.” Peter Tatlow, The Stage.
“Bernstein & Stevens recreate the wit, social comment and musical dexterity of the original shows much better than I dared hope. They left me pleased to have seen the original 40 year ago at London’s Fortune Theatre, and delighted to be in on the revival” Rex Cooper, Kent Profile.
“It is a delightful show, and it’s great that you’re making the material your own” Leon Berger, agent for Flanders & Swann estates.
“There was plenty of nostalgia and gentle satire in good measure, all skilfully delivered, and a fervent Englishness too. In fact, what they gave above all was a brilliant display of what the English do so well: delightfully good-humoured entertainment set to stylishly lyrical music that gives enormous pleasure. Indeed, the performance was such that it seemed Flanders & Swann were back again themselves – and there can be no greater accolade than that!” Edith Stokes, Canterbury Festival.
“Although Flanders & Swann gave their last performances more than 30 years ago, they still have an army of fans even today. Michael and Colin’s tribute contains all their finest work and there are some wonderful – almost uncanny – moments when you feel that the great originals are back with us again” Richard Whitmore, North Herts Comet and Hertfordshire on Sunday.
Doors open 7.00; Performance starts 7.30. Tickets £11 (members £10).
