It’s A Mystery is one of Toyah Willcox’s most well known tracks but from her ‘Up Close and Personal’ performance at Lowdham Village Hall it was no mystery that her career has been such a success, spanning 30 years. The Warthog Promotions event, part of Lowdham’s Book Festival 2015, featured Wilcox talking about her life and selection of acoustic performances.
Supported by Chris Wong and Colin Hinds on guitar, Willcox belted out numbers from across her career: Good Morning Universe: Be Proud, Be Loud, Be Heard; Jungles Of Jupiter; Echo Beach; and, Bird In Flight which was number one in the first ever Indie record chart. Diminutive and self-effacing off-stage, once in the limelight, bedecked in bright pink dress and silver bangles, the ‘rebel’ commanded the arena.
• Continue reading at the Nottingham Post.
Forever a member of the exclusive Mononymous Club, Toyah is perhaps best known to most today as a TV personality appearing on quiz shows and umpteen celebrity reality programmes.
To others she will always be remembered as the once wild woman of British mainstream pop who in the early Eighties broke the mould for female singers who previously only sang songs about unrequited love. Starring roles in iconic films Quadrophenia and Jubilee cemented Toyah’s reputation as being bold and rebellious further still.
Gigging consistently since the beginning of her career the interestingly titled latest tour, Songs From The Intergalactic Ranch House, named after her original fan club, is a retrospective celebration spanning the 1979 release of her debut album, Sheep Farming in Barnet through to her last solo studio album In The Court Of The Crimson Queen.
• Continue reading at the Bristol Post.
Toyah Willcox is one of those performers who seems to be in the public eye but these days is never quite as much in our faces in the way she used to be. Known more these days for TV appearances and her acting it’s easy to forget that she took that acting talent onto the music scene to establish herself as one of the most intense performers to have survived the 1970s UK punk scene.
Tonight she lived up to that reputation from the moment she came on stage exploding into the energy of All In A Rage, her voice still perfect, and making it plain that she was the star here and the focus. She took to the front with her band in darkness against the back line to emphasise her presence. The crowd was here to see her and she was not about to disappoint them.
• Continue reading at Birmingham Live.
A short, but glowing, four-star review of Toyah’s Acoustic, Up Close & Personal concert at Ropetackle Arts Centre, Shoreham, by The Latest.
While everyone has been raving about Kate Bush’s recent gigs, another female singing national treasure, Toyah, has been on tour. Mixing her acoustic set with amusing anecdotes and asides from a pop and acting career spanning 37 years, Ms. Willcox proved more than capable of enrapturing a capacity crowd, with classic numbers like ‘I Want To Be Free’ and ‘It’s A Mystery’, alongside impressive cover versions of Guns ‘n’ Roses’ ‘Sweet Child o’ Mine’ and Billy Idol’s ‘Rebel Yell’. “The Lisping Rebel” may look more middle England than hardcore punk these days, but she’s lost none of her impressive vocal range or zeal.
• Continue reading at The Latest. View their previous reviews of recent Toyah tours, and browse the remaining 2014 Acoustic, Up Close & Personal tour dates at toyahwillcox.com.
It is often said that small is beautiful and Toyah Willcox provided indisputable evidence.
In the court of the Crimson Queen, aka the Stroud Subscription Rooms, the diminutive, one-time punk princess demonstrated why after 35 years she still deservedly draws the crowds.
Opening appropriately with Good Morning, Universe, she cruised triumphantly through her greatest hits, strikingly revamped as a frothy acoustic set.
Instead of a full band, the entire performance was powered by accomplished guitarists Chris Wong from her current outfit The Humans, and Colin Hinds, formerly of China Crisis, thrashing out any number of solid chords and sizzling breaks.
• Continue reading at the Gloucestershire Echo.
A great review, of Toyah’s Crimson Queen/Greatest Hits…Live! gig at The Apex in Bury St Edmunds, by In Suffolk.
Toyah – In Suffolk Review
I expected a build-up, a fanfare, some dry ice at least. Suddenly, I blinked, and there she was : coming straight at me at 100 miles an hour.
There are some people who are just not quite of this world. All you can do is stand back and watch. Toyah leaps. Toyah dances. Toyah sings note perfect. Toyah doesn’t seem to even break into a sweat. Toyah does not stop for an hour and a half. In the middle ages you’d get burned for less.
Toyah doesn’t mean to intimidate me. She is warm and funny. She asks the audience if they “want to hear some 80′s rock and roll”. We all cry out: “YES!” Toyah dedicates It’s A Mystery to pensioner at the back of the hall. She tells self- depreciating stories about playing holiday camps and how her song Spectacular, that was intended for the 2012 Paralympics, ended up being used in Patsy Kensit’s Weight Watchers commercial. She laughs with us. She makes us feel she doesn’t want to be anywhere but here. Toyah is truly in the moment.
• Continue reading at In Suffolk. Browse all of Dreamscape news on the Crimson Queen tour here. View photos from The Apex and other dates at Dreamscape Gallery.
A review, by Darren Lock of ‘Prog Review’, of The Lady Or The Tiger. He says: And so I look at Fripp & Toyah’s first official collaboration (excluding them both appearing on the “Stranglers & Friends” live album).
A five star review, of Toyah’s gig at Concorde 2 last night, by Brighton & Hove’s The Latest.
What a night everyone had! Toyah Willcox is back with a vengeance in her new tour full of new and classic hits. She not only refined her singing voice so it had a beautiful rock-opera style to it, but also kept the staging and props simple, yet with scope to be dramatic.
• Continue reading at The Latest.
A review of the opening gig of the Love Is The Law & More Tour, by Jo Oliver of Jowheretogo.
Review: Toyah “Love is the Law Tour”
First date Newcastle Legends 18/10/2013
Toyah is on tour to reanimate the 1983 album Love is The Law, and this she did. She expressed in her interview with me on NE1fm this week, her love for the album, and the fact it represents one of the best years of her life. She said this again tonight.
Toyah is a natural performer. Decades of acting, performing music, voiceover work, interviews and taking whatever the showbiz world threw at her has given her an amazing ability to present these songs in the way only she could. Her voice has, if anything, become stronger, more resonant and quite beautiful. She looks utterly at home still being the Toyah we remember.
• Continue reading at Jowheretogo. (Photo © Jo Oliver)
A comprehensive review of the recent Jack Up The 80s festival, including kind words about Toyah, by eFestivals.co.uk.
Jack Up The 80s hits all the right notes on the Isle of Wight
Toyah is an artist who is as well known for her TV work these days as she is for her music, however despite her other career, music is still her first love, something that she showed today, even though she was performing to a small crowd, you could see that the buzz she was getting. Her performance was still as vibrant as when she first started. This emotion spilled over to the crowd, who despite only being familiar with a few of her songs quickly warmed to the show.
• Read the full review at eFestivals.co.uk. View the full version of their Toyah photo here. (Photo © eFestivals)
Exploring the joys of being a woman
Women of a certain age, with a handful of men in tow, turned out in force for Hormonal Housewives at the Palace Theatre, Newark, on Saturday and had a belly full of laughs.
The show, written by John McIsaac and Julie Coombe, saw her, Toyah Willcox and Sarah Jane Buckley, dress in pink outfits to talk about what makes them tick and what annoys them in life.
All three women, including Toyah on a pair of pink crutches, were hilarious from start to finish and did not mind poking fun at themselves as well as each other.
• Continue reading at the Newark Advertiser.
Monday’s Hormonal Housewives show at the Bristol Hippodrome has been reviewed by The Post.
REVIEW: Hormonal Housewives,
Bristol Hippodrome, 9/10
The new Hormonal Housewives show has played at the Bristol Hippodrome following on from successful tours in the past two years.
Toyah Willcox, Julie Coombe and Sarah Jane Buckley star in the show written by husband and wife team Julie Coombe and John MacIsaac.
The girls strode onto the stage to Queen’s hit, I Want To Break Free and definitely spent the next hour or two doing just that.
• Continue reading at The Post/This is Bristol.
A review of Hormonal Housewives, published by the Manchester Evening News on Friday.
Hormonal Housewives at Palace Theatre: Girl power as strong as ever
Denise Evans laughs along with everyone as she enjoys Hormonal Housewives at Palace Theatre
The Spice Girls’ hit Wannabe blasts out to warm up the audience before the show. Who better than the girlband that reinvigorated the girl power movement to start off a play which firmly puts men in their place.
For the handful of men braving a spot in the audience the constant put-downs and snide remarks made it a squirm- a-second experience they had no choice but to laugh along with.
• Continue reading at the Manchester Evening News.
A selection of recent Hormonal Housewives reviews.
• Shropshire Star: Review: Hormonal Housewives, Wolverhampton Grand: A tiny sprinkling of very brave males turned out in support of their WAGS at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre last night, as 1980s pop princess Toyah Willcox and the cast of Hormonal Housewives flew into town on their broomsticks to begin a run of this hilarious comedy. It’s a light-hearted look at all things female through the eyes of three middle- aged woman, and providing you can see the humour in someone else’s sex life, PMS, bodily functions and other personal aspects of growing older, you’ll be entertained. (Photo © Shropshire Star)
• This is Devon: Review: Ellie Cox sees Hormonal Housewives at the Queen’s Theatre: Lighthearted sense of humour? Check. Gaggling group of girls? Check. Lover of sparkle, pink fluff and gym lycra? Check. If you ticked all of the above criteria, then this is a show for you.
• It’s On Cardiff: Hormonal Housewives: I have to say, I haven’t belly laughed like that in a long time! The show was packed with humour from start to finish as the ladies acted out different sketches on stage (with the help of their not-so-fetching male accomplice – Zeus), portraying different scenarios in a woman’s life.
Various recent press and reviews for the newly released Region 1 DVD box set of Maigret: The Complete Collection.
• USA Today: DVD extra: Michael Gambon’s ‘Maigret’ out this week: New boxed set features complete collection of episodes from 1992 detective series ‘Maigret’ starring Michael Gambon (Harry Potter’s Hogwarts Headmaster Dumbledore).
• Sentinel Source: Old ‘Maigret’ returns to DVD in new edition: “Maigret” has now been reissued in a boxed set of 4 DVDs holding the 12 episodes that comprise Series 1 and 2 of this wonderful police drama.
• HK Film News: Maigret: Complete Collection – DVD Review: A woman’s body is discovered in the basement of an upperclass hotel in “Maigret and the Hotel Majestic”, which finds the detective getting physical with an irate prostitute (Toyah Willcox) and receiving some nasty scratches across one side of his face.
• Blog Critics: DVD Review: Maigret, Complete Collection: There are some actors who have the ability to make everything they do seem effortless. Somehow they manage to make their characters seem like a natural extension of themselves.
• DVD File: Maigret: The Complete Collection: DVD Review: Maigret: The Complete Collection isn’t must-see crime drama programming, but Gambon’s performance really is something special, so fans of the subgenre shouldn’t hesitate to give these discs a spin on their rental queues. A/V quality isn’t sensational (and there are no bonuses included at all), but from the right vantage point, these episodes can be pretty fun.
A review of the second show of the Hormonal Housewives tour. Praise for Toyah and the cast by the Ipswich Star.
Men were definitely in the minority at the Ipswich Regent.
There was an element of men-bashing, and with such a female-biased audience, it obviously went down well. But running deeper than that, most of the audience will have been able to pick at least one thread they could relate to, giving them a unity with the cast.
A great girls night out.
• Read the full review at the Ipswich Star. Also at EADT24.
Another new review for Sleeping Beauty, now into its final 10 days at The Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury. High praise for the production, and Toyah, by the British Theatre Guide.
As soon as ‘Bring Me Sunshine’ sweeps across the auditorium spreading its melodic happiness during the overture, the audience knows they’re in for a good time. Last year’s Cinderella at the Marlowe Theatre was a resounding success, but somehow Evolution Productions has managed to top it with this year’s festive treat Sleeping Beauty.
Not only does the production boast an excellent Comic and Dame, it has one of the finest Villains in Pantoland in the form of Toyah Willcox’s Carabosse. An experienced pantomime performer, Willcox knows how to work an audience and ensure she gets the boos her character so desires. Her involvement in the schoolroom scene works well as she tries to think up ways to prick the Princess and a mysterious birthday card efficiently lures Beauty to her fate.
• Continue reading at the British Theatre Guide. Read more Sleeping Beauty reviews here.
Toyah is mentioned in ‘SFX’ magazine’s review of Doctor Who: The Legacy Collection box set, referring to one of her appearances in More Than 30 years In The TARDIS when she says she found the Cybermen “sexy”.
More Than 30 Years In The TARDIS is an extended version of a documentary that celebrated Who‘s 30th anniversary. An impressive array of talking heads includes celebrity curveballs like Toyah Willcox perving over Cybermen. Dramatic sequences riff on classic Who moments, with, for example, First Doctor companion Carole Ann Ford purused by flying Daleks…
(Thanks to James Armstrong for the scan)
A second review, published on Thursday, of Sleeping Beauty by Kent Online.
Where the mishaps are magical
The mark of a great panto is how unscripted those apparently off-the-cuff moments appear. Great writers weave in sequences where things seem to go wrong, that are in fact, carefully choreographed mishaps. Equally the mark of a great pantomime actor is how convincing they can make these “slip ups” appear. In both cast and script, Sleeping Beauty at the Marlowe Theatre had these qualities in abundance.
The crowd were even left wondering whether members of the audience were in fact, strategically placed crew members, such was the hilarity of some of the heckles. “Don’t touch it!” shrilly screamed someone at the back as Carabosse, played deliciously devilish by Toyah Willcox, revealed the last working spinning wheel in the land to Beauty, played by Faye Brooks.
• Continue reading at Kent Online. Read their other review, from 6th December, here.
Another positive review for Sleeping Beauty at The Marlowe Theatre, this one by Inquire Live.
Sleeping Beauty is the pantomimic treat at the Marlowe theatre this year. Paul Hendy’s vibrantly stunning, glittering, unashamedly hilarious show will have you in gleeful spirits and ready for the upcoming holidays. Where else will you find a heart-warming fairy tale, countless gags, sing-alongs, wacky costumes, and a well-rounded cast of actors, comedians, dancers, and a fire breathing dragon, all in the same place? I’ll give you a clue: Nowhere.
Toyah Willcox as Carabosse was sassy, edgy, and her rock numbers were electric.
• Continue reading at Inquire Live.
A great review of Toyah’s London Changeling Resurrection II gig at Islington Academy by Record Collector.
Next, Toyah pounced into the opener Good Morning Universe, dressed in a black flowered kimono, her bright red wig in flamboyant geisha style. She held court, playing a large chunk of The Changeling, celebrating its 30th anniversary…
• Continue reading at Record Collector.
