'The World Goes Round' at Union Theatre

Last Sunday we went to the matinee of 'The World Goes 'Round' at the Union Theatre in Southwark, a review of the songs of Kander & Ebb.

You might not know the names but you know their work - they wrote 'Cabaret' and 'Chicago' (and many more shows, such as 'Curtains' and 'The Scottsboro Boys', both of which I've seen). This review is something they put together in the early '90s to showcase their songs in another way. As far as I know, this is the first time the show has been put on in London since the '90s so it was worth seeing.

The Union Theatre is a small venue and I've been there before. It's another one of those little venues that seems to glory in not having seat numbers and investing in odd habits. Would it really detract from your artistic integrity to be a trifle more professional? Still, it puts on little played shows so that's a good thing.

Five mature singers and five young dancers present the show. There are no themes to try to pull the songs together, just a series of good songs sung by good singers. The show pulls together a range of songs from Kander & Ebb's career up to the early '90s so doesn't show their full repertoire, but it's a pretty damn good set of songs.

My favourites were 'My Colouring Book' and 'Maybe This Time' sung by Susan Fay and 'Class' sung by Susan and Emma Francis. Another favourite was about the end of the world with 'Coffee In A Cardboard Cup' sung by the whole ensemble.  The final song, acting as an encore, is 'New York, New York' in which the initial verses are all sung in different languages.

It's a great show (despite the theatre and having iron girders obscuring the action) so, if you've got the time, go and see it. It's only on for another few days so see it.