Q&A WITH KEN BRUCE

Ashlawn School student Tilly

Measures and Rugby School sixth former Annie Hyde speak to Broadcasting Legend and Host of our opening Night at the Musicals show, the fabulous Ken Bruce, about his favourite songs, his love of musicals and even manage to squeeze in a quick game of 3-in-10 in this exclusive interview for The Festival on The Close 2023.

Hi Ken, thanks for taking the time to speak to us today and welcome to Rugby and The Festival on The Close Well, it's lovely to see you. Thank you so much. I hope you're going to be able to get along to the concert. Are you?

Yes, we‘re really excited about it, it’s going to be great. What do you consider the era of greatest hits to be?

Well, that's very difficult because you know, most people will choose the year that they were teenagers as the period where the greatest hits were. And I'm probably no exception to that, because I was a teenager in the 1960s and that was the time of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who and bands like that. So to me, that was a great era.

Growing up and in the 70s, you'll get Elton John and the 80s, you get Dire Straits and bands like that. I'm sure today in the 2020s there are songs that will still be around in, you know, 20, 30, 40 years' time. But for me it will always be the 60s because that was a musical awakening.

What song will always get you on the dance floor?

Oh, I’m a terrible dancer so I avoid getting on the dance floor at all costs! However, songs that might get me up will be those 60s ones I mentioned. Those are very probably the songs that most get me thinking about going on the dance floor and then sort of moving from side to side while I stand stock still and the side of the room!

I mean there's a great record by Frank Wilson called Do I love you? (Indeed I do). And that is just one of those songs that you can't help moving a little bit to; moving your shoulders and, you know, thinking about dancing.

Coming more up-to-date, Happy by Pharrell Williams - that's a great song. Scissor Sisters I Don't Feel Like Dancin’. That is going to make you move. So there are a few. But as I say, Strictly won't be coming knocking on my door anytime soon!

Imagine you're only allowed to have one playlist on a longhaul flight. Would it be a Songs-from-The-Musicals playlist or an Acoustic-Tunes-With-Important-And-Meaningful-Lyrics playlist?

I would very definitely be a Musicals mix because that has such a wide variety of types of music. You get slow ballads, you get magnificent overtures, you get great sing-along songs as well as the best showstoppers. So, I always go for songs from musicals. If you choose musicals like Showboat from the 1920s and Hamilton from just the last few years, that compilation of great show songs can cover a huge range of Musical history really, just in one mix. So next time I head up to Glasgow, I'll definitely have some musicals playing on the flight.

Why do you think that the musical theatre genre grows yearon-year in popularity?

Because I think it touches people. There's nothing quite like it in theatre when a story is being told in song. And if it's a good musical, the song will come out of the story naturally, a natural progression of the story. You can feel what the characters are going through and the song, if it's the right song, just enhances all that feeling. So, I think that people have a really strong connection to musical songs.

You've met and interviewed so many stars of the stage who work in musical theatre. Does it strike you as being one of the most demanding performance disciplines?

Well, it is, isn't it? Because you know, you get great actors, but they don't have to suddenly start singing. And musical theatre performers not only have to reach the back of the stalls with a song, they have to dance and act convincingly as well. So, you know, it is the ‘triple threat’ as they used to call it and musical theatre performers have to do all these things. They are the very best in their profession.

I went to see The Buddy Holly Story and the actors not only had to sing, they also had to play an instrument, and more than one instrument in some cases. I think it's just marvellous. People doing musical theatre are the very best of their profession, really.

Well, that leads nicely onto the next question because we're here for The Festival on The Close and we've got the BBC Concert Orchestra joining us for A Night at the Musicals… Do you play any instruments?

I do play drums in a band. It’s just a local band where I live here and we're all completely amateur in every sense of that word. But we all enjoy it and there's a great pleasure in being able to play music together as part of an ensemble of any size. You know, if it's a duo or trio or up to a full-sized ensemble like the BBC Concert Orchestra. I have actually played tambourine with the BBC Concert Orchestra in the past and that was a tremendous privilege. I was quaking, really, in case I should get just the slightest quaver wrong, but I think I got away with it!

We are all so excited to see the performers that are coming to Rugby for A Night at the Musicals. Firstly, I'm a huge Louise Dearman fan. Are you a fan of the musical Wicked?

Yes, I think Wicked is a fantastic musical. I mean, it's got great songs and Louise I've worked with a lot in the past. She is a tremendous performer and again the huge variety of what Louise can do is amazing. She can sing almost anything and make tingles go down your back. So, Louise will delight and amaze our audience. She's a great actor too. So, even if she wasn't singing, she would be a fantastically convincing and affecting actor. But when she sings, the whole thing just takes off.

And we've got Dean Chisnall, who has done over 550 performances as Jean Valjean in Les Mis. Are you a Les Mis fan? Yeah, I think Les Mis is possibly one of the finest musicals that's been written in the past 40 years. And the very fact that it is playing in theatres all around the world to this day shows just