As part of the Grade family, which so dominated television and theater in the mid-twentieth century, Michael Grade seems an ideal person to tell the story of the famous variety (vaudeville) theater in London, which played host to the biggest stars in Britain and the United States, and subsequently became the home for big-budget musicals such as BARNUM. The story is a familiar one, touching on the work done by British comedians such as Max Miller, the Hollywood invasion of the post-1945 era with stars such as Danny Kaye, Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra, the annual pantomime; and the gradual decline of variety and parallel growth of big-budget musicals. Perhaps there could have been fewer interviews with people who weren't really around during the Palladium's heyday, and more archive footage; but in general Grade tells an entertaining story of a great theater.
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