I’ve just had a great night out with a threesome, with incredibly well-oiled chops, in a swanky French bistro in Mayfair! At a time when Pizza on the Park is closing, and the new cabaret spaces in London seem to be devoted to neo-cabaret and burlesque-type shows, it’s great to see Gavin Rankin, proprietor of Bellamy’s, giving “real” cabaret a try.

Gavin started cabaret in his lovely restaurant last year, first with Sir John Standing, followed by Mark Nadler and then Nicky Haslam. His latest show is the debut of a trio in The Mayfair Songbook, with brother and sister Hal and Lara Cazalet, along with Eliza Lumley, and a terrific accompanist, Stephen Higgins.

It’s fitting this show began with Eric Maschwitz and Manning Sherman’s “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square,” seeing as how that location’s only a stone’s throw from the restaurant. It was beautifully sung by Hal, joined by the two women.

Eliza gave us two outstanding solo numbers with Zina Goldrich and Marcy Heisler’s “Bald” and Kurt Weill and Alan Jay Lerner’s “Mr. Right,” neither of which I’d heard before. Lara also did a nice medley of Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse’s “Feeling Good” and Arthur Hamilton’s “Cry Me A River,” which would have benefited from restraint, rather than belting. Those songs can haunt you musically and emotionally if you allow them to.

Each performer had his or her moment to shine in solo songs, but in the group numbers, they also shone, and their harmonies were gorgeous. The Gershwin medley of “’S Wonderful,” “They Can’t Take That Away from Me,” “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off,” and “Embraceable You” — ’s marvellous, and the arrangement of “I Got Rhythm” — ’s awful nice, taking us through various tempos and styles.

The showstopper, though, was an updated version of “Anything Goes,” with original lyrics by Cole Porter and P.G. Wodehouse, and new lyrics by Hal. It poked fun at the MP expenses scandal, Michael Winner’s waistline, “I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here,” Gurkha’s rights, Obama’s Nobel Prize, Tessa Jowell’s Olympic expenses and Tiger Woods!  It was fun and witty and relevant.

A good cabaret show needs to have quiet moments interspersed with the more lively numbers. Certain songs demand purity so that the lyrics can be “heard” and fully understood. So, here’s some very constructive criticism which should be simple to correct: The sound system desperately needs adjusting.  It’s not only too loud, but the reverb is over the top, making it next to impossible for the singers to perform emotional songs.

While most of their songs were upbeat and, therefore, worked, there were two in particular that really would have benefited from quiet. In George and Ira Gershwin’s “Ask Me Again” and Jerome Kern, P.G. Wodehouse and Oscar Hammerstein’s “Bill,” Hal and Lara, respectively, had to fight with a sound system that worked against the beautiful simplicity of these songs, but still they gave it a good shot. They sang really lovely versions, but all I can imagine is how moving they would have been — otherwise.

If you’re up for a swellelegant night out, with a delicious meal and some good, upbeat entertainment, make your way to Bellamy’s before March 27. The Mayfair Songbook is on nightly until then, with dinner at 8 pm and the show at 10 pm.  I look forward to seeing what else Bellamy’s will have up its cabaret sleeve.

Harold Sanditen
Cabaret Scenes
March 22, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org