Dusty, Charing Cross Theatre, review: Wooden book is saved by elating sequences
It is hard not to feel sneaking affection despite the pedestrian format
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Your support makes all the difference.“I made my peace with disappointment a long time ago,” declares a producer when he realises that the “Queen of blue-eyed soul” is defecting to Atlantic Records. The line elicits a delighted cackle from the audience.
It's typical of the doggedly wooden dialogue in this juke-box tuner with its pedestrian format (we see Dusty's career up to “Son of a Preacher Man” through the eyes of a clunkily interviewed childhood friend). And by this stage of Act 2, it's certainly a sentiment to which we can all relate.
Yet I have to confess to a sneaking affection for the show which is billed as a “fusion musical”. True, the interplay between blown-up filmed footage of Dusty and the live bustle of the production keeps reminding you of the husky-voiced distinctiveness of the original that Alison Arnopp's impersonation can't hope to emulate.
But hers is a gutsily-sung, courageous performance and there are elating sequences amidst the dross of the book – Dusty becoming an honorary Vandella for a joyous evening with Witney White's excellent Martha; the duetting same-sex spin on numbers during the show's otherwise cursory treatment of her relationship with American song-writer Norma Tanega (Sienna Sebek); and the moment of deathless kitsch when Dusty dons her first blonde wig, eyes her reflection and says “Goodbye Mary”.
To 21 November; 08444 930 650
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