I have to admit, having taken on this review for her latest cabaret show – just a one-night engagement at the splendid Crazy Coqs (one of the more eye-catching venues and one of her favourite places to play) – that I knew nothing about Lorna Dallas. The name meant nothing to me, despite her stellar career, outlined in the programme and online, which has dated back over 50 years plus, including a 1971 Tony award winning version of Showboat (which featured at the end of her set, which blended standards and show tunes, only some of which were familiar to me), and which has centred on a 35 year collaboration in cabaret with Barry Kleinbort (her director, there with her and name checked several times) and Chris Denny. I was in the minority, an island of ignorance within a sea of support, but I mention it at the outset because it clearly impacted the respective reactions to her set of favourite songs and career highlights, with only one new number, ‘As I remember him’, a 1961 Portia Nelson song that she has been waiting for some time to fit into a cabaret set. The vast majority of the audience, a wave of white hair polka-dotted with the occasional shining pate, knew what to expect – and were glad of it; me, less so, on both counts.
To be fair, given her age, her voice has held impressively well, a strong soprano still able to scale the heights and command the admittedly intimate space, accompanied by her pianist (and occasional discreet prompt) Simon Beck. She has range, occasionally seemed to talk some of the lines and was, when offering a tribute to her friend, the late Dame Cleo Laine, towards the end of the show, able to demonstrate real emotion in her singing, switching from the version of a song she was hoping to sing in Show Boat – ‘Nobody Else but Me’ - to a deeper, more emotive rendition, more redolent of the version Laine had sung in the show. There was, for me, a need for more of this – though, admittedly, the premise of the Cabaret Files was for her to sing her favourites! Her brief version of ‘Over the Rainbow’ – in an artful arrangement with a version of the Wizard of Oz story, which I had again not come across – did not compare well with Jinx Monsoon’s deeper and dirtier version also playing in London at the moment. Dallas’ diction is crystal clear, almost Dench-like, but, with very crisp consonants in some songs, it almost verged on Kenneth Branagh-esque over-enunciation. Combined with a tendency to finger-point, possibly at fans and favourites sitting at the front, it felt a little like a senior school marm, though one with a twinkle in her eye at all times.
There were some musical highlights – the aforementioned tribute to Laine, who died last year, her duet with Beck – ‘You’re Gonna Love Tomorrow’ from Follies – and the opening arrangement, effortlessly blending ‘There’s No Business like Show Business’ and ‘A Glamorous Life’, a shout-out to show business that worked well in the room. There were also a few jokes at the current President’s expense, with a pointed comparison with the other famous files of late, noting that none of her show had been redacted. However, this was an exception to the more stilted banter and repartee that sought to bridge between songs and name-dropped in a manner that Gyles Brandreth would have been proud of. It demonstrated the problem, and helps explain why I have labelled the review the way I have. Her name-dropping included Frank Sinatra, Ethel Merman, Judy Garland, Ivor Novello – she is a huge fan and included two of his numbers in her relatively short set – and Jerry Herman, which dates her and distances her from a potentially new audience. These are of a veteran vintage, which brings with it positives and negatives.
Hence, a cabaret in the comfort zone – there is even a jaunty and amusing number by the Gershwins, ‘By Strauss’, which makes fun of others, perhaps more modern musical genres and situates her very specifically in time, if not in place (she is a cabaret star on both sides of the Atlantic). And this is not a criticism – a model of preaching to the already converted rather than reaching out to try and include and involve a newer audience has served her well, so if the formula works for the fans, why change it now? Longevity brings its own lustre and legend, durability its own devotees. Yet, the circle does not really expand – and will not include me. I learned a great deal, was entertained but enamoured and won't be adding my own grey hair to her audience’s wave of white when she no doubt returns to sing again. She said at the end of the show that, with Show Boat reaching its centenary next year, she hoped to still be singing Magnolia’s songs when she hits that same milestone. I hope she does so and, on that occasion, as with this one, her faithful fans will once again fill venues such as this. I just won't be with them.
Review: David Brown