End-of-the-pier show's seaside getaway

Richard Batson

Cromer's successful summer show is heading down the coast to Suffolk for an end-of-season weekend break.

For the Seaside Special is charting new territory by moving lock, stock and barrel to Felixstowe for a three-day run of six shows in early October.

The Spa Pavilion is run by Openwide International, the same company that manages Cromer Pier.

Spokesman Bruce Stratton said the decision to extend the season with a mini-run at Felixstowe had just been taken following a good response to marketing the show in Suffolk.

It was “an attempt to prove that variety is still alive and well, and can be presented in any theatre if there is the right quality of production.”

The 892-seat Felixstowe theatre on the seafront has no summer season, but hosts a summer youth theatre project and touring professional shows, which this month include Glenn Miller, musicals and comedy from Joe Pasquale and Jimmy Carr.

The curtain falls on the Cromer show's end-of-the-pier run on September 20. Then, after a short break, the end-of-season combination show, taking the best of the alternating shows one and two, will move to Suffolk for October 2, 3 and 4, doing two performances a day.

It would continue to be called the Seaside Special, and the only changes would be some tweaks to the local jokes by comedians Peter Piper and Johnny Mac.

If the move proved a success, Openwide would do the same again next year, and look at extending the run if there was demand for more performances. But Mr Stratton stressed that any developments at Felixstowe would not be at the expense of the Cromer show.

Seaside Special will also be reappearing in its festival mode at Cromer this year, with the Christmas show running from December 5-27, headlined by comic Johnny Laff, who is joined by comedy magician Mark Worgan, vocalists Joanne Kyprianou and Eddie Bushell, and local entertainer Keith Loads.

t www.thespapavilion.org

t www.cromer-pier.com