{"id":3805,"date":"2017-09-24T19:39:35","date_gmt":"2017-09-24T18:39:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.larkreviews.co.uk\/?p=3805"},"modified":"2017-09-25T09:01:29","modified_gmt":"2017-09-25T08:01:29","slug":"even-stephens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/?p=3805","title":{"rendered":"Even Stephens"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steve Corke and Stephen Page at the Church of St John the Evangelist, Hollington \u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Saturday 23rd<\/sup> September 2017<\/p>\n

St John\u2019s Church Hollington welcomed an audience of over a hundred to a captivating evening presented by Steve Corke, a leading member of the Hastleons, and Stephen Page, well known local organist and pianist. Their followers came with high expectations and were not disappointed.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cOn with the Show\u2026\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 opened with a rousing organ medley including There\u2019s no Business like Show Business, <\/em>and I do like to be beside the Seaside<\/em>. \u00a0<\/em>Stephen continued with Bach\u2019s Toccata in D minor,<\/em> thus introducing us to the versatility of the organ, which was further demonstrated by John Addison\u2019s A Bridge too Far<\/em>. By contrast, Stephen played the church\u2019s digital piano for Monti\u2019s dance Czardas<\/em>, familiar even if one couldn\u2019t name it! \u00a0The evocative Dream of<\/em> Olwen<\/em>, and Shostakovich\u2019s popular Romance<\/em> followed, and Stephen\u2019s dexterity in Billy Joel\u2019s Root Beer Rag <\/em>dazzled us all!<\/p>\n

Steve\u2019s voice delighted, moved, and amused by turns, and his sensitive characterisation transported us into the contrasting worlds of the musicals. We experienced the fairground, the Opera, the French Revolution, and the Cold War. We enjoyed favourites like This Nearly was Mine, Anthem, Stars <\/em>and The Impossible Dream, <\/em>indulged our nostalgia with For Once in my Life, <\/em>and remembered less familiar shows like The Fantasticks.<\/p>\n

There were engaging surprises! Reminiscent of Just William, the pair gave a hilarious rendition of Terry Scott\u2019s My Brother<\/em> (\u201cWho put fireworks in the coal? Who put a real live toad-in-the-‘ole?)\u00a0 During Godspell\u2019s pacey but thought-provoking All for the Best, <\/em>Stephen left the piano to sing with Steve, and the instrument continued apparently playing itself!<\/p>\n

Steve and Stephen\u2019s infectious enthusiasm and relaxed enjoyment of performing together, suggested years of experience, though this was their first full-length collaboration since schooldays. The appreciative audience clearly hoped the duo would continue, and that St John\u2019s Hollington would develop as a concert venue.<\/p>\n

Donations were earmarked for church roof repairs.\u00a0\u00a0 As this work will soon start, the organ recital by Stephen Page at 3.00 pm on October 14th<\/sup>, will now take place at St Peter and St Paul\u2019s Church, Parkstone Road, TN34 2NT.\u00a0 Hope to see you there!<\/p>\n

Chris Edwards<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Steve Corke and Stephen Page at the Church of St John the Evangelist, Hollington \u00a0Saturday 23rd September 2017 St John\u2019s Church Hollington welcomed an audience of over a hundred to a captivating evening presented by Steve Corke, a leading member … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3805"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3805"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3805\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3809,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3805\/revisions\/3809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}