Craig Revel Horwood is touring to promote his debut solo album, Revelations and is accompanied by his musical director and long-time friend Ben Goddard on piano.
The set depicted a living room with a large red leather swivel chair, a small bar and a piano; there is a large video projection screen on the black backdrop. This set remains constant throughout.
Videos of Horwood’s stage and TV work were projected onto the screen as Goddard loudly announced Horwood’s entrance, describing him as “A National Treasure’, ‘A Living Legend” and he arrived on stage resplendent in a bright red jacket, black polo neck sweater and black trousers. He started the show singing ‘Everything’s Coming Up Roses’ accompanied by Goddard on the piano, who is wearing a black jacket adorned with rhinestones. Pictures of Horwood as a baby and growing up into an adult are projected as he sings.
Horwood then described the format of the show telling the audience there will be a Q & A session when they can “Ask me anything” and he gave a synopsis of his new album, Revelations, a picture of which was displayed on the backdrop.
Horwood, encouraged by Goddard, started reminiscing about his childhood, particularly about his recorder playing and a video was shown of him at school playing the recorder at which he excelled. There was then a recorder duet by Horwood and Goddard, Horwood mentioning that his recorder cost £300 and was the same one bought by his mother when he was young for seven pounds. This then led to a recorder solo by Horwood of ‘Hello Dolly’ and a video of him dressed as a woman singing the same song with Horwood exclaiming how when he was playing ‘Hello Dolly’ on the recorder all those years ago, he never expected to be singing the same song and getting admiration for it many years later. This is all very ‘look at me’ and how successful I am, with Horwood stating that he is now wealthy enough to have his own tennis courts and swimming pool. He follows this with a rendition of ‘Waltzing Matilda’, encouraging the audience to sing along.
A catalogue of work Horwood has been involved in follows – he is an author, dancer, choreographer, conductor, theatre director, and former drag queen, as well as the longest serving judge on Strictly Come Dancing, since 2004; this was accompanied with some very risqué jokes and innuendo and Horwood drinking from a bottle which he said contained vodka which he is very fond of. He then went on to describe his pantomime history followed by a rendition of Ursula’s song, ‘Poor Unfortunate Souls’, from The Little Mermaid; he squeezed into a black dress with inflatable tentacles and put on a blonde wig before prancing off in it for the interval.
After a welcome short break, Horwood delivered a tribute to The Vivienne, James Lee Williams, who he worked with before his passing earlier this year and sang ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ dedicated to his memory, along with showing a video of him wearing a pair of boots he had made especially for him.
Then came an unusual cooking segment where Horwood demonstrated his cooking ability, mentioning he won the TV Christmas Special of MasterChef. He cooked peanut butter cookies on stage as he related how a previous 15 year relationship had broken up involving the discovery of peanut butter in his pantry every time he returned home from being on tour. He later distributed the cookies to the audience.
The audience Q & A came next with Horwood using Strictly-like paddles with numbers on to award points for the questions. Many of the questions revolved around Horwood’s personal life especially about how he met his partner and plans for his wedding which has been delayed a few times plus who he thinks is the best and worst judge on BBC TV’s Strictly.
Horwood then detailed how his family life with his abusive, alcoholic father, led to him leaving home at the age of 15 and how his love of dancing helped him deal with an unhappy childhood; this was accompanied with photographs of his four siblings, his mother and his father through the years before he passed away. There were some personal disclosures which were uncomfortable to hear at times as his father had tried to shoot his mother and his brother-in-law and then spent a short time to prison only to be released when his mother dropped the charges. However he paid tribute to his father by singing his favourite song, Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’, which he said he sang at his father’s funeral.
His encore was Shirley Bassey’s ‘This Is My Life’ for which he adorned himself in a very over-the-top long pink frilly coat, Goddard describing it as ‘Very camp’, telling the audience how honoured he is to be Bassey’s friend and how along with his friend, Queen Camilla, he is an Ambassador for the Osteoporosis Society, and relating the amount of money he has donated to the cause.
The auditorium was about two thirds full with a lot of empty seats, which affected the atmosphere, despite this Horwood (and Goddard) performed as though to a packed house but unfortunately, I noticed some people leaving during the performance and before the end of the show.
Horwood, at times reminded me of the late Kenneth Williams, sounding so much like him when he exaggerates his vowels when speaking, such as when he frequently uses the words ‘Darling’ and ‘Fab-U-Lous’ for which he is known.
This show is a very indulgent personal performance which will appeal to Horwood’s fans, many of whom were in the audience cheering him on. It is a platform for him to exhibit his talents past and present, an almost ‘This is Your Life’ in pictures and songs delivered by him, for him to smugly give himself a pat on the back for his achievements whilst also relating personal moments through songs such as ‘Memories’ and ‘This is Me’.
Whilst fans of BBC TV’s Strictly or musical theatre may find entertainment in the behind-the-scenes gossip and disclosures, it may not have wide-ranging enough demand to fully engross a wider audience.
Craig Revel Horwood is on a UK tour
until the end of June.
For tour dates see https://www.craigrevelhorwood.com/
Reviewer – Anne Horne
On – 21st June 2025
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