Vol. 6, No. 1295 - The American Reporter -
March 24, 2000

LORNA DALLAS BRINGS US A 'GLAMOROUS NIGHT'
By Lucy Komisar
American Reporter Correspondent
New York, N.Y

"GLAMOROUS NIGHT." The music of Jerome Kern and Ivor Novello. Sung by Lorna Dallas. Directed by Barry Kleinbort. Christopher Denny on piano. Bob Renino on bass. New York: FireBird Café, 365 West 46th Street. 212 586 0244. $30 cover, $15 minimum. Through March 17, 2000.

A cabaret of sophistication and wit.

NEW YORK -Lorna Dallas has a rich soprano voice, a sophisticated, jazzy style, and infectious charm. Add to that the clever words of lyricists such as P.G.Wodehouse and the music of Jerome Kern and Ivor Novello, and you have a superb evening of cabaret at the FireBird Café.

Ivor Novello? He was a British composer for the musical theater who, like Kern, worked from the 1920's to the 50's. He is most famous for "Keep the Home Fires Burning."

Dallas adopted England as a second home after she went to London in 1971 to play a leading role in the revival of Kern's "Show Boat." She displays a strong affection for England and has picked up the Brits' dry, wry wit.

With marked acting talent, her face expresses strong emotion and she makes an electric connection with the audience. The songs become intimate conversations shared with you personally over a drink.

We learn that "London's foggy, also dirty, and they close it at 12:30" ("London, Dear Old, London," Kern/Wodehouse, 1922). And, "There's nothing so trite or so rightly polite as an Englishman in love," ("An Englishman in Love," Novello/Melville, 1951).

And most delightful, the Novello/Wodehouse "Nuts in May" in which a lady collects swains like a squirrel does nuts: "Get a load of handsome Gilbert; he is my latest filbert."

Other works are more familiar - The Kern/Hammerstein "The Last Time I Saw Paris," written in 1941 after that city fell to the Nazis. And several tunes from "Show Boat."

Lorna Dallas, who was trained in opera, has spent the past three decades in a career in revues, cabaret, concert halls and television, mostly in London. She's an elegant addition to the cabaret scene in New York.

Lucy Komisar, Editor of the American Reporter Theater Review, welcomes your comments. Please send them to lkomisar@echonyc.com.