But best of all was the affection with which she recalled Noël Coward and accordingly, he popped up more than once in the set-list, Phillips being equally at home with his playful lyricism as with letting her rich tones glide through the melancholy of If Love Were All. Other highlights for me were the half-spoken, half-sung If You Go Away (one of my all-time favourite songs), Cole Porter’s Laziest Girl in Town performed as Marlene Dietrich, an amusingly weary trot through Sondheim’s The Boy From… and the ‘possibly-sponsored-by-Rohypnol’ (as she introduced it) Madeira M’Dear which was so very very wrong yet hysterical.
There’s a great pleasure in seeing people do things so supremely well. It may sound simple, but too often cabaret shows are just thrown together with any real thought to the flow of the show, the links and anecdotes that pepper the evening and the skill to truly demonstrate the passion for the material. Siân Phillips manages all of this with an effortless grace and matched with the wonderful acoustics of Wilton’s, Crossing Borders makes for an evening of real class.
Running time: 90 minutes (without interval)
Booking until 21st January
Setlist
Makin’ Whoopee (Donaldson & Kahn)
Let’s Regret It In Advance (Susan Worner)
Uncle Harry (Noël Coward)
Madeira M’Dear (Flanders & Swann)
If You Go Away (Ne Me Quitte Pas) (Jacques Brel)
Laziest Girl In Town (Cole Porter via Marlene Dietrich)
Liaisons (Stephen Sondheim)
The Boy From... (Stephen Sondheim)
Welsh hymn (Traditional)
I Wish I Were In Love Again (Rodgers & Hart)
So What? (Kander & Ebb)
A Bar On The Piccola Marina (Noël Coward)
If Love Were All (Noël Coward)
Falling In Love Again (Hollander & Lerner)
I’m So Lucky To Be Me (Leonard Bernstein)
It Was So Nice To See You Again Again (not sure what this song was, sorry)