Melinda Hughes – Satirical Diva at Live at Zédel, London.
Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Melinda Hughes, billed as the ‘Princess of Satire’, returns to Live at Zédel where she wowed her audience last March.
This classically trained singer contrasts her operatic career with highly successful cabaret performances using material written in collaboration with her musical director, Jeremy Limb. They provide fine examples of deliciously wicked political and social satire.
Inevitably Donald Trump and Brexit get a good bashing in a show that is bang up to date.
The show gets off to a lusty start with ‘The Opening Song’, a guide to hooking an audience. It demonstrates Hughes’ operatic range as well as a little musical trickery that intersperses snatches of lyrics from classic musicals.
‘Britannia Waives the Rules’ compares American/British vocabulary and the differences in syntax. ‘A French Affair’ has a Gallic émigré lamenting life in England as she “sips her rosé at the Café Rouge au coin de South Kensington station”.
Another station features in ‘Waterloo Sunset’, the only number in the set that is not self penned. Hughes gives this Kinks standard a gentle and evocative rendering.
Noel Coward is brought to mind in a couple of pastiche numbers. ‘Please Don’t Invite Me to Your Country Estate’ is a Chelsea Girl’s condemnation of rural delights encountered at country weekends.
‘I’m Going to Meet Prince Harry’ finds the same young lady getting steadily drunk at a reception due to the late arrive of the Prince. Both show off Hughes’ comedic acting talent.
The recent exposure of the dark side of Hollywood and inappropriate male behaviour is sent up beautifully country and western style. In ‘Old Fashioned Guy’ a man bemoans how his life has changed as he looks back to the good old days when sexual harassment was the norm. The predatory nature of Hughes’ caricature is emphasised by the wearing of a big game hunter’s hat.
Turning from comedy for a while, Hughes launches into the very dark ‘We’ve Been Here Before’, a song that dwells on the fact that we learn nothing from history.
An oversexed young lady asks ‘Why Are All the Best Men Gay’ and laments the fact that she can no longer get her five-a-day.
Hughes’ singing qualities are complemented by witty anecdotes, audience interaction and banter with her musical director.
Amongst these humorous interludes are appearances from Melania Trump reading from her diary. In one entry she reveals how Donald is sulking at not not being invited to the Royal Wedding. She even gets her own song ‘I Am Going to Make Donnie Die’.
The encore number starts as a tender remembrance of a romantic holiday only to segue to the obsessive world of ‘Selfies’. A hilarious finish to a marvellous evening that gets a well-deserved thunderous ovation.
Musical accompaniment is provided by Limb (piano), Robert Rickenberg (double bass) and Paul Cavaciuti (drums).
Barrie Jerram
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