Straight from Birdland in New York, LORNA DALLAS brings her new one-woman show Stages to Crazy Coqs at Live at Zédel on 6 March 2019. Here the singer tells Michael Darvell us about the show and how it came about…
How did Stages go down in New York?
Ab fab! It was really wonderful to get this show “out there” and I couldn’t have asked for a better evening. I am so excited about doing it at Crazy Coqs in London now.
Did you choose all the songs yourself or did you have input from your director Barry Kleinbort and your musical director Christopher Denny?
I don’t call them my “Team Dallas” for nothing! We have lots of hours spent working out the theme of the show, going through suggested songs, and then pinning down arrangements that work. It is a real collaborative effort and something for which I am most grateful. Three minds are better than one. It is amazing what comes up even when just sitting and talking, an experience or story just kicks into a song reference, then how to put it in the jigsaw puzzle of the show. Some favourite songs make it and some don’t, that’s just the way it goes.
Sometimes something in a conversation will just lead into a spontaneous singing of a song and Chris starts changing keys, tempo. Barry will throw in additional lyrics, and I say: “Key change” and away we go! We have been known to fall about laughing at some of the silliest ideas, but then they turn out to be real gems in the programme.
Barry has an encyclopaedic memory of songs and it also is exciting to dig out material that hasn’t been done for maybe years, or cut from shows. Those “trunk songs” sometimes are real beauties. Also, life experiences will suggest material, both sad and sweet, and those songs become experiences to treasure.
Does Stages comprise favourite songs you have sung before, or is it a mixture of old and newer material?
A huge mixture of songs from various “stages” in life. Even with old material, we try put a new twist on it. Of course, it is always exciting to try new material. Life is ever changing so the music should go with it I hope to constantly surprise an audience with the material – in a good way. “Same old, same old” is boring!
No doubt both Ivor Novello, your favourite songwriter, and Jerome Kern figure in the programme, as you recorded an album of their work called The Girl I Knew.
Ah, yes. I must admit I have this deep affection for both and they do come up in some way in all of my shows. Even if it is an older arrangement, we might try something different this time around. But, hey! You can’t beat these guys. That Novello-Kern show is a cracker I’ve got to repeat that one day again.
As you have such a wide-ranging repertoire, was it difficult choosing songs for Stages, or just a question of deciding what to leave out?
A multitude of songs, oh my. The ones ‘that got away’, but then they are in the back of the brainbox for another show. I have a very thick notebook of ideas yet unused.
It was exciting putting this show together because it is a natural progression from Home Again which I did for my return after 20 years away from cabaret. That was my love letter to my darling Garry [respected agent Garry Brown, Dallas’ late husband].
This show is peeling away more layers in a life story, just in celebrating the joy of singing.
No doubt Stages is a mixture of standard material and show tunes, possibly from the likes of Show Boat, The King and I, Hello, Dolly!, Kismet and other musicals that you have appeared in?
Well, how could I not do something from shows I have done? There is some wonderful material in the show which I think the audience will find very interesting and hopefully they go out humming it and remembering the experience of hearing something special.
Early on you made your opera debut at the New York Metropolitan Opera House as Susannah in The Marriage of Figaro. Did you ever consider becoming an opera singer?
My professor at Indiana University would have loved it if I had but I found it to be a bit “square” and confining. I felt I was and am able to express myself more in musical theatre repertoire, but I do credit my opera training with a good technique. I really had some loving and great teachers and mentors.
You have a high soprano voice, possibly even coloratura, but you can also sing down low. Was this a natural ability or one that you had to develop? And has your voice changed over the years?
I would just sing for fun, and could go very high without even thinking about it, but just singing notes in that register isn’t as fulfilling as in a middle or lower register. I have worked on the lower register and learned a lot about that from singing with Cleo Laine. I think many people are quite surprised by my lower register… hooray! I don’t want to be classified as just a soprano!
Of course, the voice changes with maturity, not only in age but in the wisdom that comes with maturity and life’s experiences. I wouldn’t want to sing something in a high register that was about loss, as it wouldn’t be “truthful” and that is what is important to me in singing. Lyrics are first and foremost to me really.
Seeing you on The Good Old Days, you appeared to be so vocally versatile. Do you have any particular preference for singing opera, operetta or the good old Great American Songbook?
The Great American Songbook is a gold mine, a treasure trove. I loved doing The Good Old Days. It was such a hoot. Thanks for thinking of me as ‘vocally versatile’, that’s what I like and aspire to do/be.
But what is the definition of cabaret? It can be many things and I like to think that I present an intelligent, fun, warm and heartfelt programme, to take one and all on a journey.
Obviously in your cabaret shows you perform mainly standard numbers, although the Novello songs recall the days of operetta. Is that perhaps why you admire his work so much?
He was a great melodist and wrote so well for the female voice. I have often thought he would have had even more international success if he had worked with a lyricist like Oscar Hammerstein II or an Ira Gershwin. Those prospects to me are mouth-watering.
Do you have any other really favourite songwriters, apart from Ivor Novello? And what do you think of today’s pop music?
Sondheim, Irving Berlin, Newley, Bricusse, Harold Arlen, Cole Porter. I love a good rap, yes I do! Elton John, Beyonce and Mariah Carey all intrigue me. I love Alicia Keys. She’s pretty cool. I would love to sing with Bocelli, that would be heaven. Josh Groban also.
What do you look for in a song when you are considering performing it yourself? Does it have to have a message or just be a very good melody?
I really am taken by lyrics, and obviously, if the melody is good, then that attracts my attention. But I think I have been spoiled by singing material by the great writers of several generations, ie, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Kander and Ebb, Sondheim, Rodgers and Hart, etc.
Now, I have delved more into the material of my director, Barry Kleinbort, and find it so fulfilling. Jason Carr is another favourite musical director of mine here in the UK, he has also written some amazing material. Hey, you young writers out there, send me material!
Since your husband Garry died, are you working less than you used to? Do you do as much touring now as you did before?
I took a long time away from the business to be with the man of my dreams and it broke my heart to lose him, such a special soul. I lost the joy for singing for a while then, but I promised him I would “live life” as he so wanted and be positive. And that’s what I am doing. I have an angel on my shoulder guiding me. I just am so filled with the joy of singing and working now that I don’t want it to stop.
I am not so fond of touring, but this business dictates when and where we must go.
You still live in New York and London. Do you consider both capitals as being ‘home’?
London really is my home….
You have appeared in many great venues in New York such as Birdland, Carnegie Hall, The Oak Room at the Algonquin, New York Town Hall, 92nd Street Y, and in the UK too. Do you have a favourite venue where you always like playing?
Obviously to sing in the great halls around the world is thrilling, but then the material you sing would more or less dictate the venue, and to sing in an intimate venue is just as thrilling too. Shall I say: “any place I hang my hat is home?”
When Pizza On the Park closed it left London bereft of cabaret venues, although with Crazy Coqs at Brasserie Zédel, The Pheasantry, the Pizza Express in Soho and many of the other Pizza Express venues now offering live music, do you think cabaret is enjoying a renaissance?
I hope so! It is an art form and can attract all ages. I love the challenge of working so closely with an audience, the feeling is so palpable. Cabaret to me is like a one act play, with music. I want to relate a storyline, a journey for us all to take. It is being so personal and opening up your heart and soul to an audience. You have to be willing to do that.
But what is the definition of cabaret? It can be many things and I like to think that I present an intelligent, fun, warm and heartfelt programme, to take one and all on a journey.
Will you be taking Stages on tour around the UK or Europe, or possibly on a cruise ship? Could it be recorded live for CD or DVD?
I hope Stages can be repeated here in the UK and even back in New York. It is a great show, even if I do say so myself! And yes, we did film the show in New York and a recording might just come of it. Who knows?
You have done a limited amount of film and television acting work, such as appearing with Patrick Cargill and Telly Savalas and doing United 93 with Libby Morris. Is straight acting something you would still like to pursue?
Of course I want to do more straight acting! But people don’t realise that in singing, you are acting, well, at least I am. Singing to me is storytelling, but with dictated notes and pitches.
Paul Greengrass was a fabulous director to work for in United 93. I felt so honoured to be a part of that film.
Presumably you have no plans to retire, so what does the future hold for Lorna Dallas after Stages?
Retire? You must be joking! I enjoy singing too much for that. I am just beginning.
Compiled by Michael Darvell
- Lorna Dallas presents Stages at Crazy Coqs at Live at Zédel on 6 March 2019
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