Janie Dee

I’m a huge fan of Janie Dee. She’s one of Britain’s unsung heroines of the stage. She’s pretty, sophisticated, sexy, has the voice of a lark, is the recipient of two Olivier Awards, as well as an Evening Standard and Critics Circle Best Actress Award. She shines in all genres, from musical comedy to Shakespeare and Pinter. Because of this, it’s with great disappointment that her show left me a bit disappointed.

Don’t get me wrong, her show is very entertaining. She sings (in English, Spanish and French!) and moves beautifully, and her song choices are really terrific, but it felt as if she was trying too hard to show her versatility, which left the show slightly incohesive. She also has the ability to move us to tears or have us curled up with laughter, but never got to either end of that emotional spectrum.

Some of the evening’s highlights were “Copytype” (Alan Ayckbourn/Paul Todd), “Mon jardin d’hiver” (Henri Salvador) sung simply with guitar, “The Girl’s [Guy’s] in Love with You” (Bacharach/David) in which she “plays” a mean vocal trombone, and my favorite of the evening, “Light My Fire” (The Doors) which showed off her voice to perfection.

Janie had terrific support from Alexander S. Bermange on piano and David Shaw-Parker on guitar.

It’s certainly a good night out, but I missed that special electricity that Janie Dee can bring to a stage.

Harold Sanditen
Cabaret Scenes
July 8, 2011
www.cabaretscenes.org