Star Rating:*****
There are people who are merely multi-talented, and then there's John Barrowman. Prowling the stage like a sultry panther procured from the depths of Hades, he need only expend the energy to extend one leg outwards - during the show's opening song It Better Be Tonight - to wheedle wild whoops from an expectant audience. When he then turns his back to them to wobble an entire toned buttock a few seconds later, the consummate showman has already ensured most of the crowd have had their money's worth.
Honed from a lifetime in musicals (and later television exploits), a sharp and sparkling Barrowman - resplendent in tight grey suit - brings the sort of schmaltzy bravado that immediately enraptures those who have come to see his first solo tour. His remarkable rendition of Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time is an early showstopper, the delicate interpretation preceded by an emotional monologue about a Louisiana friend having to come out to his family while also letting them know he was HIV positive.
And despite Barrowman's bubbly nature - obviously emotional, he straight away sniffles into an audience member's tissue and tells them they can make £600 on eBay for it - it turns out to be a night filled with teary-eyed moments.
Dispensing at times with his usual American accent, the song-and-dance man's back in the town of his birth - where he lived until an early age - and reverts at times to a seamless Scottish accent. He even has his own family in attendance. In a heartbreakingly sweet moment, he takes his 73-year-old mother on stage to sing a duet for The Wedding, to an emotion-filled reception. As one avid fan notes: "JB is as JB does," and, for one glorious night, it seems that Barrowman can do what he wants with most of Glasgow cheering him on.
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