SHIPTON Theatre Company has come up with an alternative to revues built around show songs.

This weekend's number one - likely to be One Night by a young hunk called Elvis Presley - will be the 1,000th since the charts began in 1954, and Shipton's show I Love Music marks that anniversary by celebrating 50 years of the hit single from Doris Day to The Darkness, at Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York.

"We came up with the title first, then the songs," says director Robert Readman. "Doris Day had the first number one in 1954 and The Darkness saw in 2004 at the top, so we have to have something by them in the show.

"The other songs were chosen through people auditioning with their choice for the show, and I also researched it myself in terms of what would work in this format and what Jackie Scott, Lesley Hill and Emma Bassett wanted to choreograph."

Robert has sought to give equal measure to each era in the 44-song set list. "There are a few more from the Seventies, which many people think is pop's worst decade, but I disagree. It was my decade."

"I didn't want to have the obvious songs, so there are only a few, like Bohemian Rhapsody and Imagine, because it has to work as a show in itself and have a flow to it and not be boring. It's not karaoke or an audition, so there'll be a band on stage and lots of movement rather than just having people stand there, and it's not Stars In Their Eyes. They're making the songs their own, rather than doing an impersonation."

Sunday and Monday's performances start at 7.30pm. Tickets: £8, children aged 16 and under £5; ring 01904 760682.

Updated: 15:52 Thursday, January 13, 2005