THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
Tony winner Lillias White finally made her London debut in two different shows at Crazy Coqs: Lillias White Sings Broadway and Hoagy Carmichael – Friends, accompanied for both by the acclaimed pianist and singer Billy Stritch. Stritch also interspersed his own critically acclaimed solo show with hers over the Easter period. The season is produced by Hoagy Carmichael Jr..
The two blend effortlessly like cream into coffee and bring to London a veritable masterclass in the art of cabaret. White reveals that she’s not just a Broadway veteran (with a string of hit shows to her name) but, can also lay claim to being a great jazz stylist herself. At times in numbers like ‘Ooh What You Said’ she recalls Sarah Vaughan, for her musical dexterity and authenticity or Nina Simone for that deep soul styling and an ability to quietly deliver an emotional punch with how she times a lyric or extends a note. But there’s also a great lightness to her too and, like Stritch, she understands that less is more.
This approach really pays dividends here when handling the songs of the great Hoagy Carmichael (1899-1981) which range from the wistful to merry and while they’re deceptively simple at first hearing, they have lasted because the tunes are immortal, and he always engaged the best lyricists. Think of ‘Stardust’, ‘Georgia on My Mind’, ‘The Nearness of You’, ‘Skylark’, all rendered here with both passion and intelligence, and you realise that neither the attitude nor the emotional truth in these songs has dated.
The songs are eloquently framed to give us just enough information. Stritch tells the poignant story of how Hoagy received a poem in the mail from a woman called Jane Brown Thompson and was so moved by it he set it to music, only to discover that she had died the night before it was premiered. That poem was called ‘I Get Along Without You Very Well’, like the song that would break your heart.
Stritch’s jazz piano playing is both joyous and masterful, he could be an orchestra. Known to audiences worldwide not just for his solo concert performances but as a regular accompanist and MD for the likes of Liza Minnelli and Tony Bennett, hearing him in this intimate setting is a great gift. Together these two are dynamite. Seek them out.
