Defiant Dames
Louise Gold featured as one of the strong women
performers on the album, recorded at Angel Recording Studios on 26 September
2002.
Album sold in aid of Breast Cancer Campaign
Cast
Featuring
Sharon D.
Clarke
Janie Dee
Louise
Gold
Yvonne
Howard
Diane Langton
Marie
McLaughlin
Elaine
Paige
Eddi
Reader
Joan
Rodgers
Claire
Sweeney
Ruby
Turner
Also includes
Giles
Adams
Pupils From Alleyn’s
Junior School
Lani
Bannach
Douglas
Brown
Anne
Elliott
Emma
Hancock (violinist)
Eva
Stanley Refnov
Jane
Spiers (flutist)
Lone
Tonsgaard
Accompaniment
Jason
Carr (pianist, and,
arranger)
Barbara
Dalton (conductor)
Wendy
Gadin (pianist)
Michael
Hancock (pianist)
Clement
Ishmael (pianist)
Ian Laws (guitarist)
Steve
McManus (bass
player)
Gerald
Moore (pianist)
Gareth
Roberts (drummer)
Production Team
Producer - Lani
Bannach
Recording
Studio Time - Gloria Luck and Gary Thomas at Angel Recording
Studios Ltd
Musical
Director - Wendy Gadian
Production
Assistant - Andrew Lynwood
Creative
Services - The Elliot Partnership
Marketing - Frances
Tew of Testdata Web Design
Composers - A.
Agalbato, E. Angus, Banks, Irving Berlin, Leslie
Bricusse, Eriksen, Hampton, Jimmy Haynes, Hewerdine,
Jackson, Kreisler, Jim Marr, Anthony Newley, Wendy
Page, Henry Purcell, Eva Stanley Refnov, Richard Rodgers,
Rossini, Schubert, Stephen Sondheim, and, Arthur
Sullivan
Lyricists - A.
Agalbato, E. Angus, Banks, Irving Berlin, Leslie
Bricusse, Eriksen, Jacopo Ferretti, W. S. Gilbert, Oscar
Hammerstein II, Hampton, Jimmy Haynes, Hewerdine, Jackson,
Jim Marr, Anthony Newley, Wendy Page, Eva Stanley
Refnov, and, Stephen Sondheim
Thanks To - Clive
Rowe, John Abulafia, Nina Mehra, Sue Anderson, Sandra
Blanc, Robert Fitzgerald, and, Jonathan Gee
Track Listing
1. Feeling Good
(by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse from The Roar Of The
Greasepaint, The Smell Of The Crowd) - Performed by Elaine Paige
2. Four Legs In A Bed
(by A. Agalbato and E. Angus) - Performed by Janie Dee
3. La Gitana (by Kreisler)
- performed by Emma Hancock (violin), accompanied by Michael Hancock
(piano)
4. Hark The Echoing Air
(by Henry Purcell) - Performed by Joan Rogers, accompanied by Gerald
Moore (Piano)
5. The Girl Who Fell In Love With The
Moon (by Hewerdine and Eriksen from Simple
Soul)- Eddi Reader
6. The Sun Whose Rays
(by Arthur Sullivan and W. S. Gilbert from The Mikado)
- performed by Louise Gold, arranged and accompanied by Jason Carr
(piano)
7. Goodbye For Now (by
Stephen Sondheim from Reds) - Jane Spiers (flute)
and Carys Hughes (harp)
8. Do-Re-Mi (by Richard
Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II from The Sound Of Music)
- performed by Pupils From Alleyn’s Junior School, conducted by Barbara
Dalton
9. Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better
(by Irving Berlin from Annie Get Your Gun) - performed by Lani
Bannach, Anne Elliott, Eva Stanley Refnov, Lone Tonsgaard,
Giles Adams, and, Douglas Brown
10. Angel In Disguise
(by Eva Stanley Refnov) - performed by Eva Stanley Refnov, Ian
Laws (guitar)
11. ‘Ave Maria’ Opus 52 No. 6.
(by Shubert) - Marie McLaughlin, accompanied by Gerald Moore
(piano)
12. Non Piu Mesto
(by Rossini and Jacopo Ferretti, from La Cenerentola)
- Yvonne Howard, accompanied by Murray Hipkin (piano)
13. If You’re Ready (Come Go With Me)
(by Banks, Jackson, and,
14. I’m Still Here
(by Stephen Sondheim from Follies) - performed by Diane
Langton, accompanied by: Wendy Gadin (piano), Gareth Roberts
(drums), and, Steve McManus (bass)
15. Don’t Quit
(by Jimmy Haynes) - performed by Sharon D. Clarke, accompanied by
Clement Ishmael (piano)
16. When You Believe
(by Wendy Page and Jim Marr from Claire) -
performed by Claire Sweeney
Janie Dee and Clive Rowe appeared at the Regents Park 70th Gala
Diane Langton sang I’m Still Here
in Follies, she has also appeared in Chicago & Company, The Royal Variety Performance
(1982), and, Mary Poppins her recording
credits include Cole Porter - Night And
Day, The Great Musicals - Wonderful Tales,
and, The Great Musicals – Laughter And Tears.
Claire Sweeney was the Lady-Opener at Dress Circle’s Grand Reopening. She
also presented the BBC series A Week In
The West End.
Janie Dee, and, Diane Langton may have appeared
in Comedy Tonight for which Steve McManus
probably played Bass.
Louise Gold and her accompanist
Steve McManus also played in A Time To Start Living, plays bass on the
album Noel/Cole: Let’s Do It.
He has gone on to play in the pit orchestra for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and on stage
for Happily Ever After.
Louise Gold
has gone on to appear on stage in the G&S operetta, The Gondoliers, in 2003.
Janie
Dee may have previously appeared in Dear Ralph; she has gone
on to appear in Side By Side By Sondheim 30th
Anniversary Gala.
Review
by Emma Shane
This
album is a bit of a mixture. Which, given the purpose for which it has been
compiled is probably a good thing, in that it will attract a wide ranging
audience, ranging classical to easy listening. But one won’t necessarily be enamoured
of every single track, but of course the great thing about a CD is that once
you’ve heard it all, you can so easily just play your preferred tracks. Any
listeners liking of individual tracks
probably depends a good deal on their personal tastes in music, and
indeed in performers. For example, when I played the CD through, for me it got
off to a bad start, because I really wasn’t all that keen on the first track, Feeling
Good, - well it didn’t make me feel particularly good, but if you like Elaine
Paige then you’d no doubt enjoy it. Similarly I wasn’t too convinced by I’m
Still Here (preferring Millicent Martin’s recording on the
original Side By Side By Sondheim cast album) but again, if you
happen to be keen on Diane Langton, you’ll probably enjoy it.
Overall
I wasn’t too struck by some of the more operatic bits, but I liked them enough
to find them to be entirely pleasant background music, and I was rather
impressed by Joan Rodgers’s performance of Hark The Echoing Air.
My tastes in music do tend towards good old showtunes, so naturally I was very
interested to hear the ones on this album, such as: Do-Re-Mi,
and, Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better. I enjoyed Anything
You Can Do I Can Do Better, for the simple reason that one can hardly
go far wrong with a good Irving Berlin song from Annie Get Your
Gun. Here it is given something of an unusual arrangement, and
performance, this is definitely not a purists version of the song. But
like many good Irving Berlin songs (especially from the Annie Get
Your Gun score) it stands up well to the treatment, and is altogether
rather run to hear. Of the good old show tunes on this album, I’d say I liked Do-Re-Mi
the best. It just seems to be such a nice performance by the children of Alleyn’s
Junior School.
So
in general does this seem to be an album which one might buy almost by more for
charitable purposes, to support the Breast Cancer Campaign, then because
of the individual tracks? Well it almost might be, except such is the wide
range of performances on it, it is quite likely you may find some tracks on it
that make it well worth buying, recordings you just have to have in your
collection. Which tracks those are will depend largely on your individual
taste. But for me, two which really stand out, and make the album worth having,
are: Four Legs In A Bed and The Sun Whose Rays. The
former is a hilarious number, expertly performed by Janie Dee, a singer
who seems to know how to portray a sweet girl who you initially think might be
innocent, but who comically isn’t so innocent. Four Legs In A Bed
really brings out that quality in her. The Sun Whose Rays, as
sung by Louise Gold does not come across as operatic, rather more it is
a sweet but at the same time defiantly powerful musical theatre song. This is
partly thanks to its arrangement by Jason Carr, who also plays it, but
above all this version of the song is fierce and bold in fiery Gold, her
glory’s all effulgent.
Critics Comments
.
Links about Defiant
Dames
Order Defiant Dames form that CD’s own website: http://www.defiantdames.info/
