Laurel & Hardy’s Centenary

A MUSIC expert is touring a centenary celebration of silent comedy’s most loved double act, bringing music, restored film clips and anecdotes to the historic Palace Theatre stage this April.
Neil Brand’s ‘Laurel & Hardy Centenary Tour’ takes audiences back in time to the era of the silent film, where the music was played live and often improvised alongside the moving picture.
The renowned duo also called into Southend themselves on a tour, playing at the Empire Theatre in Southend in 1952.
Two newly restored films, ‘The Finishing Touch’ and ‘You’re Darn Tootin’ will be screened at this new show, featuring Mr Brand performing his own acclaimed soundtrack.
Freshly restored clips from a further eleven classic Laurel & Hardy films will be shown, with a level of clarity never-before-seen.
Mr Brand said: “Every show on this tour will be different because – just as one hundred years ago – the music will be improvised.
“I am going to take audiences back in time: we’ll run the films and I will improvise dramatic music at the piano. The Laurel & Hardy Centenary Tour is designed to give people a great night of entertainment, a little history and a chance to witness, in remarkable new clarity, the starting point of a partnership that revolutionised global entertainment.”
Mr Brand is a world authority on silent films and the music behind them.
After featuring with Paul Merton in Paul’s acclaimed BBC4 Series ‘Silent Clowns’, Mr Brand presented his own BBC4 series ‘Sound of Cinema’ (2013), ‘Sound of Song’ (2015), ‘Sound of Musicals’ (2017), ‘Sound of Movie Musicals’ (2018) and ‘Sound of TV’ (2020).
This new show, which premiered this January at the Southbank’s BFI, will finish with an audience Q&A.
For tickets for 19th April performance, call the Box Office at: 0343 310 0030
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