Singer Liza Pulman and pianist Joe Stilgoe return to the stage with Hooray for Hollywood! Their tour has stops in Salisbury and Chichester before a six-performance run at Wilton’s Music Hall in London.
“The Hollywood musical feels like it’s been with us forever. Starting with The Jazz Singer in 1927, almost 100 years later, audiences are still flocking to the box office to watch the big screen come alive with singing, dancing, comedy and romance. Joe Stilgoe and Liza Pulman’s combined love and exhaustive movie knowledge is on technicolour display here as they bring some of these great movie-musical songs to life on the stage. No big screen, only big talents, great harmonies and lots of music and laughter. So, bring your popcorn as they bring you the magic of the movie musicals.”
Where: Salisbury Celebrate The Voice Festival; Chichester Festival Theatre; Wilton’s Music Hall.
When: 28 Oct’ 29 Oct; 3-7 Nov
Ticket link: https://www.lizapulman.com/shows/pulman-stilgoe-hooray-for-hollywood/
Your show Hooray for Hollywood celebrates a century of movie musical songs – do you each have a favourite song either to perform or listen to?
Liza: So many to choose from, and those are just the ones that made it into the show! For me, “Sunrise/Sunset” from Fiddler on the Roof.
Joe: Favourite song to perform is “Somewhere” from West Side Story – if we get it right it’s absolute magic.
Favourite from a film that we don’t perform is probably “Count Your Blessings” from White Christmas, OR MAYBE WE WILL PERFORM IT SOON….
You have been working together for more than 3 years now, and your first stage show, A Couple of Swells, played in 2023. What does your professional working practice look like?
Liza: Chaos!
Joe: Our working practice is actually rather sensible, and we do rehearse quite a lot, but within that it’s full of ridiculousness, made-up songs and snorts of laughter.
Liza, you are back with Fascinating Aida as well this year. What is it like working with Dillie and Adele and how do you keep things fresh?
Liza: The girls and I have been together so long now that we’re like one, gloriously dysfunctional family unit.
As for keeping it fresh, the world is keeping it fresh for us, so when we’re out on the road we are writing every day to reflect that.
Both of you are children of parents who have had their own successful careers, and especially for you, Joe, with the same surname. Did your parents encourage you into showbusiness, and was it a blessing or a curse to have that connection?
Liza: My father definitely didn’t want me to go into this business. My mum was more resigned to the fact that I was probably never going to do anything else. For me, it’s been neither a blessing nor a curse, but it definitely gave me a very real sense of how incredibly wonderful but also how incredibly tough this industry can be.
Joe: Absolutely not. They wanted me to do anything but show business. But I love it. And they have learned to love me doing it (joke).
Nostalgia is a core part of your show’s appeal – have you noticed any shift in the type of audiences you attract? Is nostalgia now popular?
Liza: I’ve always felt like I was born in the wrong era so for me nostalgia has always been my now, but I definitely think that as we move more and more towards a world generated by AI, where the hours spent looking at a screen increase all the time, and where the struggles of navigating an increasingly bleak future seem to grow daily, people young and old are reaching back to a time when things were more tangible, more real: vinyl, fashion, books, music, people are crying out for the warmth and the romance of another time even if they weren’t there to experience it the first time around.
Nostalgia feels real and comforting and important and we are really seeing that in our audiences.
Joe: For me, nostalgia’s not as good as it used to be.
Photo credit: Matt Crockett