Lorna Dallas - Preview
I was lucky
enough to see Lorna Dallas in cabaret with her show, Stages, earlier this year.
Unfortunately it was, at the time, a one-off performance but I am delighted that
there are now two further opportunities to see her, once again, at the Crazy
Coqs at Zedel on Tuesday 29 October and Tuesday 5 November, both at 7 p.m. .
She remains
a must-see performer, so if you missed her master-class show last time, don’t
make the same mistake twice! Just for the record, and if you needed any more encouragement,
below is my 5-star review from last time!Lorna Dallas – Stages review
Lorna Dallas
is the epitome of a true Broadway and West End star. As she shimmered into the
Art Deco-inspired elegance of the Crazy Coqs at Zedel, she was at home. With an
audience clearly made up of dedicated fans, a few Dallas virgins, and, in the
front row, Christopher Biggins, Ms Dallas was away taking us on a musical romp
through aspects of her fulsome and wonderfully successful career.
Stages is
effectively part two of her 2017 show, Home Again, which was her return to the
stage after a 20 year hiatus. The stages in the title refer to those theatres
and nightclubs where she performed, having started out in a small town in Southern
Illinois and reaching the heights of Broadway and the West End. Devised by her two long time collaborators, musical
director Christopher Denny and director Barry Kleinbort, the show is classic
cabaret – great stories, name drops, and a stunning voice, and, without doubt,
Lorna Dallas is the quintessential exemplar of the genre.
With a 20-strong playlist,
Dallas took us through some classic Irving Berlin with There No Business Like
Showbusiness, Sondheim, Kander and Ebb, Jerome Kern and Cole Porter. She also
gossiped about working with lyricist Sammy Cahn in London who dubbed her
Priscilla Perfect before giving a superb rendition of Teach Me Tonight. She
also sang Stranger in Paradise in three styles, recounting how she was
performing in Kismet at the Shaftesbury by night, then dashing off to the Savoy
to do late-night cabaret, whilst simultaneously for two weeks flying to Germany
by day to record a TV special. And yes, she sang it in German!
There was also a great
story about turning down Anna in the King and I on Broadway with Yul Brenner –
love got in the way and she happily married an Englishman instead! And of
course, there was the story about the late Queen Mother, but enough.
The stories all make up the
perfect cabaret performance but above all Ms Dallas has the most exquisite
soprano voice which she uses with dexterous fluidity through this captivating
and heart-warming performance. She is the consummate, totally-engaging
professional and it was a joy and privilege to be present for the ultimate
master class in the art of stylish cabaret. A must-see when next in London!
Tickets £25
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