From 1923 to 1925 Spike Hughes - who describes himself as 'aged 28, going bald' - was studying music in Vienna, where he went to the opera nearly 450 times, and always stood at the back of the gallery with a score in his hand. Whether this has anything to do with the writing of Nikki Makes News is difficult to say. It is a romantic and sometimes satirical comedy 'founded very faintly' on Hans Andersen's story 'The Real Princess', the tale about the mattress and the split pea. But little of the fairy story remains. There are songs about Vienna as it really is, and songs about Vienna as the entertainment world would like it to be, digs at commercial broadcasting, and sidelights on the faded aristocracy of Central Europe. Altogether Spike Hughes's latest effort promises to be as amusing as his I Scream Too Much, and Bianca. Jan van der Gucht, who will be heard tonight, appeared in the latter production in January.
'Nikki makes News' will be repeated in the Regional programme tomorrow at 9.0.