“Bill Bugg and Friends – Part 6” is a comfortable show in several ways.
First, it’s the sixth installment of the show featuring songs from the Great American Songbook, so you know largely what you’re going to get.
Secondly, it has mostly featured the same cast, so you know largely what you’re going to get.
Lastly, that cast includes Bugg, Kristi Tingle Higginbotham, Jan Hunter, Dana Porter, Clint Pridgen and Stan Nelson, so you know largely what you’re going to get – wonderful singing, some big doses of humor and an evening filled with charm and fun.
That’s exactly what you get with this sixth edition of Bugg’s show, which runs this weekend at Homewood Theatre.
It’s 90 minutes of songs, including Broadway hits, pop hits and some rarely heard, sung by some of Birmingham’s best musical talent.
Each cast member has a couple of solos, and there are some rousing group numbers. Highlights are many, including Higginbotham’s “Weekend in New England,” Nelson’s “Invention,” Porter’s “Almost Like Being in Love,” Hunter’s “Hope” and Pridgen’s “At This Moment.”
A special mention to Bugg, who not only got his group of “friends” together to entertain, but continues to wow in his own right, this year with the haunting “Once Upon a Time” and the rousing “If I Were a Rich Man.”
They’re all ably backed by music director Adam King on piano, Chris Byars on drums and Tim Carroll on bass.
Kyle Bass packs his Homewood Theatre with fans of this group of singers, and it’s no secret why. They’re talented and at ease with each other, and we can only hope there are six more editions to come.
