Writing theatre reviews is a funny old game. Obviously, it is at times funny ha-ha but it can also be funny peculiar. One very often goes to see something with very high expectations only to be disappointed and, surprisingly, equally often one is astonished when some routine review of something you know nothing about turns out to be a real eye-opener. Ladies GoDiva was an excellent case of the latter.
The three ladies who go diva, Helen Goldwyn, Katherine Mount and Suzy Bloom are all actresses, and it shows. All the material – music, lyrics and vocal arrangements – is by Helen Goldwyn, and brilliant songs they are too. They are songs essentially about being a woman but not in a pushy, right-on, PC sort of way; they just tell it like it is. The act, in a funny sort of way, harks back to days of yore – to Noel Coward, Tom Lehrer and the rest of the 60s satirists and even Flanders and Swann – a sort of sophisticated Mayfair night-club entertainment that involved a lot of dinner jackets, cocktails and cigarette holders.
The group’s publicity also mentions Victoria Wood as a comparable act. Now, I am a great fan of Victoria Woods but sometimes, in her solo songs, she’s a bit too clever by half and knows it. To me clever can be a pejorative term, it often comes across as self-congratulatory. What I liked about Ladies GoDiva is that they weren’t clever, at least not clever with a capital C. The songs are honest, relevant, sophisticated, humble even. And that’s what I liked about them; they were true. Although, as Ms Goldwyn pointed out, some of them were actually true, some of them less so.
All the numbers were very theatrical and all of them could easily have come out of successful West End musicals. In fact, if you strung them together with a decent book you’d probably have a successful West End musical. Firstly, let me say there wasn’t a bad song among them, they were all corkers. There was a good mix of humour and serious stuff and, for me, the solo numbers were almost the strongest. Katherine Mount’s OCD and Ethan’s Song were outstanding, as was Suzy Bloom’s Off Plan. The only “clever” song was the wonderful World’s Biggest Fan, a montage of phrases, both musical and lyrical, from big musicals. This was performed with gusto by Helen Goldwyn in only the slightest “aren’t I clever” sort of way. She has a bit of the Bette Midler about her, even perhaps a hint of Ethel Merman. Of the ensemble numbers Let’s Go Gay and No Sex in the City were probably the best, but as I said, all the songs and all the performances were outstanding. I know that’s a contradiction in terms, but you know what I mean.
Ladies GoDiva is a class act. Helen Goldwyn’s songs are exceptionally good and the performances by all three ladies were really brilliant. What was, in my diary, a routine visit to a show turned out to be something very special indeed which I thoroughly enjoyed. ★★★★★ Michael Hasted 18/04/15
