Horrible Histories Proms

Horrible Histories Prom (televised as "Horrible Histories' Big Prom Party") was a free family concert showcasing the original songs from the British television series Horrible Histories, along with classical music. It was held on 30 July 2011 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, and was that year's children's entry in the BBC's annual Proms series.

Louise Fryer presented the concert for BBC Radio Three with the help of Rattus Rattus, the black rat puppet "host" of the TV series. The featured performers were the six-member starring cast of Horrible Histories (Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond), supported by the Aurora Orchestra with Nicholas Collon conducting. The Music Centre Children's Choir and Kids Company Choir served as chorus.

The 65-minute televised version initially aired the following September. It featured a version of the concert edited to highlight the songs from the TV series, interspersed with snippets of the classical pieces and specially-shot linking sketches set in and around the concert hall.

Setlist

The concert was presented in two parts divided by an interval. As a general theme, songs from the TV series were paired with a classical piece composed in or otherwise relating to that historical era. Various comic interludes spotlighted notable moments in musical history. Several recurring characters and concepts from the series, including reporter Bob Hale, King Henry VIII and the Grim Reaper from "Stupid Deaths", made appearances.

Part 1

1. "Sunrise (Fanfare)" from Also Sprach Zarathustra - Richard Strauss
2. "Horrible Histories Theme Tune"
3. HHTV News: Bob Hale presents the Orchestra Report
4. "The Four Georges: Born 2 Rule" (from Horrible Histories, S01E01)
5. Interlude: George II discusses the role of the conductor with Nicholas Collon
6. Danse macabre (excerpt) - Camille Saint-Saëns
7. "The Plague Song" (from S01E07)
8. Interlude: Life under the feudal system
9. "The Truth About Richard III" (S03E06)
10. "The Death of Tybalt" from Romeo and Juliet - Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev
11. Interlude: Henry VIII discusses his marital history
12. Fantasia on Greensleeves (excerpt) - Ralph Vaughan Williams
13. "The Wives of Henry VIII: Divorced, Beheaded, Died" (S01E02)
14. "March to the Scaffold" from Symphonie fantastique - Hector Berlioz
15. "Charles II: King of Bling" (S02E02)
16. "La réjouissance" from Music for the Royal Fireworks -George Frederic Handel

Part 2

1. Marche pour la cérémonie des Turcs - Jean-Baptiste Lully
2. Stupid Deaths: Jean-Baptiste Lully
3. Interlude: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig von Beethoven argue over who most deserves the title of Greatest Composer Who Ever Lived
4. Overture from The Marriage of Figaro - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
5. "George IV: Couldn't Stand My Wife" (S02E05)
6. "Wedding March" from A Midsummer Night’s Dream (excerpt) - Felix Mendelssohn
7. Interlude: Queen Victoria cannot perform; Cleopatra steps in at the last minute
8. "Ra Ra Cleopatra" (S03E04)
9. "The Ages of Stone" (S03E09)
10. "Sacrificial Dance” from The Rite of Spring - Igor Stravinsky
11. "Ride of the Valkyries" from Die Walküre - Richard Wagner
12. "Literally (The Viking Song)" (S02E01)

Reception

The concert was given 4/5 stars from John Lewis in The Guardian. Describing it as "pitched somewhere between a pantomime, a Footlights revue and an old-school variety show", he added that "it is not clear how much Richie Webb's songs (with enjoyably daft lyrics by the likes of Terry Deary and Dave Cohen) benefited from lavish orchestral arrangements: with Cleopatra's Lady Gaga-inspired theme, or Charles II's swaggering Eminem pastiche, the strings were unnecessary, even intrusive."

Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Benedict Brogan also gave the show 4/5 stars, saying that "the clever touch was to bracket each sketch and song with a smartly chosen selection of classical greatest hits, which the Aurora Orchestra under Nicholas Collon ripped out with élan." He further praised the show's accessibility, noting that "Children who came to see their television heroes were cunningly exposed to music that might in future sound familiar, not frightening."