It is hard to believe it is just over a year since Geoff and I entered The Alhambra Theatre Dunfermline, at the start of its long journey back to its original usage. Its dingy appearance has somewhat changed in that year and the stage has been graced by some of Scotland’s, if not the worlds, top talent since that first band of 300 strong amateurs lead by West End Star Jeff Leyton in a Les Miserables medley.

The opening weekend last year ended with the Razz Big-Band and a few guest soloists playing for the launch party. One year on and the place has smartened up looking brighter and more like a working theatre. We also had a full evenings entertainment courtesy of Paul Gudgin, the Razz Big-Band, a chorus of extremely talented local singers, soloists and once again the wonderful Jeff Leyton.

Billed as ‘Broadway Swings at Christmas’ we were presented with numerous classics that have been in films and musicals sung by the choir and several soloists with the big band playing two or three instrumentals. The show was started off by Gary Gibb singing ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ followed by Bobby Mitchell and his rendition of ‘Mack the Knife’ these two very popular locals were followed by Jeff Leyton singing ‘Lets Fly Away’ and ‘I’ve Got You Under My Skin’. The evening started on a high and the quality just kept on climbing, the first half finishing off with the band playing ‘Sing Sing Sing’ and the chorus performing ‘One Singular Sensation’.  After a short interval we resumed with Jeff and ‘Lady is a Tramp’, four young ladies from the choir fronted ‘All That Jazz’ and after some other superb numbers the band did a ‘West Side Story Suite’, which had toes tapping and feet stomping. Two Christmas numbers ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’ and ‘Let It Snow’ followed this, with the whole evening finishing with ‘You Can’t Stop The Beat’.

I have not mentioned all the soloists partly because there were too many to mention and also did not get all the names. For me one of the highlights of the evening was Jeff’s beautiful rendition of ‘Maria’ just before the ‘West Side Story Suite’, his pure crystal tones enchanted everyone.

All in all it was another excellent evening at this up and coming venue. Future plans for which include The Enemy, Jimmy Carr, Australian Pink Floyd and an amateur production of Les Miserables. With the Alhambra’s versatility anyone from local amateurs, touring shows, comedians and pop stars could utilise the space and with its willing backbone of local helpers has the potential of becoming one of Scotland’s top venues.

The other point of the evening was to encourage locals to become Friends of the Alhambra for further information go to www.alhambradunfermline.com.