Leanne Masterton – Crazy Coqs

Leanne Masterton performed her show Something Good at the Crazy Coqs, London

Leanne Masterton performed Something Good at the Crazy Coqs, London.

The tinkling piano strains to be heard over yet another packed house at the Crazy Coqs, as this most enchanting of London venues plays host to Leanne Masterton, performing her one-woman tribute to Richard Rodgers. A newcomer to this stage, Masterton has already performed in occasional cabaret in London at both Jermyn Street Theatre and The Pheasantry, but this gig comes as a result of the venue’s regular Open-Mic nights hosted by Harold Sanditen. The Open-Mic nights, held every Wednesday, show a commitment from the team at the Crazy Coqs to introduce more new voices to the London cabaret scene.

With Something Good, Masterton attempts to summarise one of the most prolific careers in musical theatre, whose work echoes through the 20th century, acting as the benchmark of American musical theatre. From his earliest collaborations with Lorenz Hart, through to the genre defining era with Oscar Hammerstein II, Rodgers’ back-catalogue of musical numbers has become the mainstay of any romantic cabaret. It is this shamelessly romantic style, mixed with a strong sense of narrative, that first attracted Masterton to the composer’s work, even as a little girl growing up in south Wales.

Slinking into the room with ‘Loads of Love’ from No Strings, Masterton works the floor, immediately establishing an intimacy with her audience, but also introducing us to her tone and style. Masterton’s is a warm, rich mezzo hiding a surprising belt, which lends a cracking finish to this perhaps little-known opening number. Her choices, from a body of work that encompasses 60 years and nearly 1,000 songs, epitomise that love of the romantic, although the singer is not shy of throwing a few curve-balls too. ‘Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered’ from Pal Joey and ‘My Funny Valentine’ from Babes in Arms are a couple of highlights from Rodgers’ collaboration with Hart, plus a personal favourite, ‘Manhattan’, from the 1925 revue The Garrick Gaieties.

Rodgers’ work with Hammerstein is given focus in the latter half of the show, with delightful renditions of ‘Out of My Dreams’, ‘Something Wonderful’ and a particularly successful arrangement of ‘I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair’, given a bluesy treatment and featuring a little honky-tonk on the piano, courtesy of Leigh Thompson. None of this compares to the liberties taken with ‘Shall We Dance’ from The King and I, which leaves its polka roots behind to focus on the tentative steps taken towards the romance in the narrative.

If the romance is going to be snatched from this evening of musical delights, then who better or more likely to do it than Stephen Sondheim? On his deathbed, Hammerstein urged Rodgers to collaborate with his then protégé, and while it was never a happy coupling, the result was Do I Hear a Waltz? Masterton sings the hilariously cynical duet ‘We’re Gonna Be All Right’ with Thompson, but using the Sondheim lyrics that were banned by Rodgers originally. Cynicism over and done with, Masterton wraps with a rousing ‘This Nearly Was Mine’ (South Pacific) and finally, the title number of the show, ‘Something Good’, from the movie version of The Sound 0f Music. Given that Rodgers wrote both the music and the lyrics to this number, it seems a fitting way to round up this tribute to the man who gave us one of the most successful musicals of all time.

Paul Vale