An Evening with Billy Stritch at Crazy Coqs, London.
Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Alongside his concert with Lillias White, legendary musical director and pianist singer Billy Stritch, best known for having been Liza Minnelli’s companion and confidant for decades, does a solo turn. It’s a live version of his highly successful, virtual show Billy’s Place, which also now boasts a companion CD, recorded in Nashville in the summer of 2020.
Opening with ‘Old Devil Moon’ from Finian’s Rainbow, Stritch does wonders with his specialty of mashing up two songs in a magical way, starting with ‘Come Fly With Me’ and ‘Up, Up and Away’, ‘Glad to Be Unhappy’ and ‘Falling in Love with Love’, ‘I’ve Got You to Lean On’ and ‘Old Friends’ as a tribute to Stephen Sondheim, and finally, ‘That Old Feeling’ and ‘I Thought About You’, with which he closes the concert.
An excursion to Brazil with the Bossa Nova ‘Coffee Song’ and a moving ‘Skylark’ demonstrate Stritch’s eclectic choice of material, including some unknown gems such as Peter Allen’s ‘Fly Away’, taking on a whole new meaning in the world of today.
Some rare Cy Coleman material, including ‘Let Me Down Easy’, is always welcome aside the more familiar classics such as ‘The Best is Yet to Come’. The moving ‘My Love Went to London’ is also a tribute to the city Stritch is obviously happy to be performing in again, especially after the lockdown years, even though his successful streaming and CD of Billy’s Place kept him more than busy. Another unexpected highpoint was the guest appearance of another viral YouTube sensation with whom Stritch has already connected virtually, the insanely talented Debbie Wileman.
A duet to ‘Since You Left New York’ was followed by Wileman’s breathtaking impersonation of Judy Garland singing the title song from I Could Go On Singing, complete with patter and hand gestures, and Stritch’s joyful rendition of ‘Singin’ in the Rain’.
On top of his warm voice and pianistic virtuosity, Stritch really has the gift of communicating with his audience and holding them in the palm of his hand, even though his hands are often on the keyboard!
Patrick Honoré
- An Evening with Billy Stritch is also being performed on 18 April 2022
- Lillias White Sings Broadway and Hoagy Carmichael & Friends continue until 23 April 2022
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