Janie Dee continues at Live at Zédel, London on 16 and 17 March 2018.
Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Janie Dee returns to cabaret after her sensational performance in the National Theatre’s production of Follies. After the ice cold Phyllis, Dee transforms herself into a sultry piece of mischief, sweeping into the room and singing a few bars of ‘The Glamorous Life’, a motif that recurs throughout her performance which provides the evening’s theme – recalling her life in the theatre.
Launching into ‘It’s Today’ and ‘Yes’, Dee prowls amongst the tables as though stalking her prey. Teasing and flirting with the men, chatting to the ladies and acknowledging friends. She certainly knows how to work a room.
Although this is a new cabaret there are some familiar numbers that help her ease into the new. ’Poisoning Pigeons’, ‘No one Believes I’m a Mermaid’, and ‘Copytype’ show off her talent for comedy with the former enhanced with facial expressions that can only be described as a maniacal Joyce Grenfell.
Acknowledging writers who have been major influences in her life, she shares anecdotes of Ayckbourn, Pinter and Sondheim. Also in the audience was Torben Betts who has written the play Monogamy in which Dee will appear at London’s Park Theatre in June.
Recalling the time early in her career when she ran a dance school in Italy, Dee speaks of her friendship with the young songwriter Gino Paoli and pays tribute with two of his songs ‘Perduti’ and ‘Il Cielo In Una Stanza’. Each beautifully delivered and filled with poignancy
Monday’s guest artist, Paul Robinson, took to the tiny stage where he sang ‘Our Love is Here to Stay’ and executed a dazzling tap routine.
Having shed the role of Phyllis, Dee could not resist the temptation to revisit her, closing the first half with ‘Could I Leave You?’
Returning with a chocolate ice lolly as a prop, Dee sings ‘Private Delights’, a song full of double entendres, about Queen Elizabeth I and her sweet tooth and craving for sugar. Another form of sweetness follows with ‘Count Your Blessings’, from Gill Rowe and Andrew Wells, and Tim Connor and Lia Buddle’s ‘Colour in My Cheeks’.
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘All The Love I Have’ allows Dee to introduce her pianist and musical director, Alex Parker, who recalls the help he received from Lloyd Webber when he started to write his own musical, The Railway Children. From this Dee sings the charming ‘The Light’.
Further homage to Sondheim includes ‘Like It Was’, ‘Send in the Clowns’ and the haunting ‘Night Waltz’.
Once again the delectable Dee, in addition to an evening of superb entertainment, delivers a masterclass in the art of cabaret performance.
Barrie Jerram
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