Back to Colchester’s Mercury theatre last week for the new Girl Talk show featuring Barb Jungr, Mari Wilson and Gwyneth Herbert. Bit concerned that this might be one for the fairer sex and the males were certainly the minority of the not quite sold out audience. Needn’t have worried…..
My musical faves don’t usually run to cabaret but the combination of British jazz vocalist Herbert, musical cabaret queen Jungr and popster-turned-classy jazz diva Wilson are a little bit more than a run of the mill cabaret act. “Girl Talk”, telling a story loosely based around the ‘female journey’, is a novel way of pulling together an eclectic mixture of songs from, well, just about anywhere. There aren’t many shows where you hear a cheesy Doris Day number alongside Redbone’s ‘Witch Queen Of New Orleans’ and the Rolling Stones’ ‘Under My Thumb’.
Plenty of emotional torch singing, excellent interpretations of great songs and what can perhaps be described as ironic interpretations of the dated ‘Where Do You Go To My Lovely’ and ‘Never Been To Me’ – if the men don’t spot the tongue in cheek nature of using songs like these, there’s always a clue in Jungr’s clowning and knowing asides when she pushes out these lyrics. Always an exuberant performer, she’s probably one of a select few who can move in a heartbeat from the amusing to an emotional ‘Woman In Love’ and still keep you with her. Very difficult not to enjoy a Barb Jungr concert, Herbert was a fine addition (having replaced Claire Martin from previous Girl Talk outing) and Mari Wilson was a revelation if you only knew her from her 80s pop heyday.
Possibly the journey in Girl Talk needs a little more definition, maybe sequencing a little differently to emphasise the overall premise. But nevertheless a very enjoyable night out (says the stick in the mud, blues, R&B and soul fan!)