Fireworks and Michael Parkinson at Henley Festival

WITH John Barrowman’s new TV series for BBC1, Tonight’s the Night, currently gaining a huge fan base across the country, the best news is he’ll be performing live at this year’s Henley Festival.

Fans can still buy tickets for John’s performance on Friday, July 10, where he’ll headline a show on the Festival’s Floating Stage enticingly called Pure Gold from the Silver Screen. Other luminaries on the stage with John that night are presenter Sir Michael Parkinson and leading lady Kerry Ellis, currently heading the cast as Elphaba in Wicked. The concert will be recorded by BBC Radio 2.

Interestingly, although John Barrowman hasn’t visited the Festival before, he has his finger firmly on the Henley pulse. The opening episode of Tonight’s the Night featured celebrity guest Katherine Jenkins — the very singer who is on the Floating Stage for the 2009 Festival’s opening night.

West End star John Barrowman is a unique talent in the British entertainment industry. With a high profile on a variety of primetime TV shows on both sides of the Atlantic, his biggest breakthrough was the creation of Captain Jack Harkness in BBC’s Dr. Who. The character was then memorably given his own show, Torchwood, the third series of which will return to the small screen this year.

Meanwhile, Pure Gold from the Silver Screen looks like being a massive hit for The Henley Festival and organisers expect all the best seats for his July 10 performance to go early. Says Stewart Collins, the Festival’s artistic director: “I am hugely looking forward to seeing this show and I always count my lucky stars when an artist lined up for the Festival suddenly gets further catapulted into the limelight prior to his Henley performance. All in all, this should be a fabulous show with John, the concert’s presenter Sir Michael Parkinson, West End star Kerry Ellis, the fabulous vocal outfit Cantabile, The London Quartet, and the BBC Concert Orchestra. So buying tickets early for this evening is definitely recommended!”

Don’t miss the spectacular fireworks, galleries and sculpture lawns bursting with visual art and Henley’s uniquely quirky roving street artists — all included in the price of your ticket.