A review of a show – key and notes

‘Barbershopera’ is based on a very simple, very silly premise. An all-male barbershop quartet are preparing for the Eurovision Barbershop Contest in Ljubljana when their tenor, Tony, walks out on them. The three remaining members then stumble across a female opera singer Toni who has just lost her job at the Royal Opera House and, after some initial misgivings, the unlikely foursome agree to work together and travel to Slovenia to take on a sinister Swiss team, the Tax Havens, who dominate the event. Rob Castell and Tom Sadler’s show has even less dramatic substance than the average pantomime – but the numbers are so rapid-fire and witty, and the singing so sublimely accomplished, that it barely seems to matter. Daft but delicious fun.
On at the Barbican until July 20 / July 20th. Box office: 020-7978 7134

Punctuation: Did you remember to write in ….
a comma in ‘very simple, very silly’?
capital letters in the title of a competition – the Eurovision Barbershop Contest; the Royal Opera House and the Barbican; for a country and a nationality – Slovenia / Swiss; in the title of a group ‘The Tax Havens‘
the hyphen in all–male because it was used adjectivally?

Vocabulary:

to hail – verb – means 1) call out / signal to someone to attract attention – eg ‘He hailed us as we walked down the street.’ ‘It’s pouring with rain – I’ll hail a taxi 2) acclaim sth / sb enthusiastically – "She’s been hailed as the best dancer since Sylvie Guillem."
premise – noun – an idea or theory on which a statement or action is based
barbershop – noun – a type of singing in which four, usually male, voices in close combination perform popular romantic songs, especially from the 1920s and 1930s
walk out on sb – phrasal prepositional verb – i.e. it has 2 particles that are never split – leave suddenly. Eg They were talking such nonsense, he just walked out on them.
stumble = to trip or lose your balance momentarily, but stumble across / on / upon – phrasal verb = find by chance
initial – adj – existing or occurring at the beginning
misgiving – noun – a feeling of doubt or apprehension about sth
unlikely – adj – unexpected, improbable
foursome – noun – a group of four people
a tax haven is a country or independent area where taxes are low, or non-existent for outsiders who invest or live there. Switzerland is one such country.
substance – noun – seriousness, weight, significance
number – noun – a song, dance or other musical item
rapid-fire – adjective before noun – describes questions or jokes which come very quickly one after another, without hesitation – eg quick-fire / rapid-fire answers
sublime – adj – of such beauty or excellence that it inspires admiration or awe
sublimely – adv – extremely
It barely seems to matter – it hardly seems important
daft – adj, informal – silly, foolish
on at the Barbican – being performed at the Barbican

Names: Some English names have different spellings according to whether they are names of men or women. Joe, Leslie,and Tony, are men’s names while Jo, Lesley and Toni are women’s.
For names such as Sam, Sandy or Chris you may not know whether these are men or women until you hear a full name – Samuel / Samantha, Sandy / Sandra, Christopher, Christian / Christine, Christina, Christiana etc.

Did you notice how the plot of a film / play or show is related in the present tense?

In the date, at the end, did you notice how the speaker said ‘the‘ in ‘July the 20th, but this is not written – July 20 / July 20th?