Fringe 2023 The Look of Dusty theSpaceUK 5th August Review
The Look of Dusty at theSpace @ Symposium Hall is a new show for this year from Night Owl Productions, and is one of eleven shows that they have on at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Like all Night Owl shows this one is a tribute to the music of an artist (or band) and not attempting to be a carbon copy tribute band production, so if you are looking for a Dusty Springfield look-alike/sound-alike wearing all of those dresses that she was famous (or infamous) for, then this might not be the show for you.
If, however, you are someone who wants to hear some of the biggest hits of Dusty Springfield performed by a very competent and versatile singer, Hannah Richards, and a good band then “The Look of Dusty” is well worth a visit.
The format of Night Owl shows is now a tried and tested one – give some background history of the performers and proceed with the music chronologically, so we start with Dusty Springfield (born Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien, b1939 – d 1999) and her early days with hit pop band “The Springfields” and her early hit “I Only Want to Be With You”.
Dusty Springfield was always an enigma to the public and hugely private about her off-stage life and loves, and some of this is covered in this show, but it is those wonderful songs that we all remember Dusty Springfield for and of course those very unique “Dusty” tones in her voice. For me, Dusty was a very special singer that no one has ever come close to sounding like ever again and I was not expecting Hannah Richards, whom I have seen in many different Night Owl productions over the years, to reproduce vocally. What Hannah did in this show though was prove to me just how comfortable she was as a singer with Burt Bacharach & Hal David classics such as “The Look of Love” and “Anyone Who Had a Heart”. There was a very good cover too from Hannah of the 1960s classic song of female power and identity “You Don’t Own Me” (originally sung by Lesley Gore). Oddly though, this song was written by two men, John Madara and David White.
If there is one song that many people still identify with Dusty Springfield it is her only No 1 hit, “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me” and to be fair to everyone on stage today, this is one song that really needs the lush orchestral arrangements of the original recording and it is this very sound that in part attracted Dusty to the original Italian song "Io che non vivo (senza te)" ("I, who can't live (without you)") performed by Pino Donaggio at a music festival she attended in 1965. The melody was acquired for Dusty and new English language lyrics and story were added and the end result was a perfect moment in musical history. Within the limits of what they could do on-stage with this huge production song, Hannah and the band did a good job with it.
This show also touches on Dusty Springfield’s championing of soul music in the 1960s, refusing to even do a soul television special unless some of the original recording artists from the USA were brought over to perform their own songs. With the song “Spooky” we also get a glimpse of Dusty Springfield’s popularity on the Northern Soul dance floor.
After some years off the musical radar, Dusty returned to perform with The Pet Shop Boys on their 1988 hit “What Have I Done To Deserve This” and looking back with the hindsight of time, this song (well performed today) had much more to say than its throw-away pop single nature at first indicates.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
If, however, you are someone who wants to hear some of the biggest hits of Dusty Springfield performed by a very competent and versatile singer, Hannah Richards, and a good band then “The Look of Dusty” is well worth a visit.
The format of Night Owl shows is now a tried and tested one – give some background history of the performers and proceed with the music chronologically, so we start with Dusty Springfield (born Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien, b1939 – d 1999) and her early days with hit pop band “The Springfields” and her early hit “I Only Want to Be With You”.
Dusty Springfield was always an enigma to the public and hugely private about her off-stage life and loves, and some of this is covered in this show, but it is those wonderful songs that we all remember Dusty Springfield for and of course those very unique “Dusty” tones in her voice. For me, Dusty was a very special singer that no one has ever come close to sounding like ever again and I was not expecting Hannah Richards, whom I have seen in many different Night Owl productions over the years, to reproduce vocally. What Hannah did in this show though was prove to me just how comfortable she was as a singer with Burt Bacharach & Hal David classics such as “The Look of Love” and “Anyone Who Had a Heart”. There was a very good cover too from Hannah of the 1960s classic song of female power and identity “You Don’t Own Me” (originally sung by Lesley Gore). Oddly though, this song was written by two men, John Madara and David White.
If there is one song that many people still identify with Dusty Springfield it is her only No 1 hit, “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me” and to be fair to everyone on stage today, this is one song that really needs the lush orchestral arrangements of the original recording and it is this very sound that in part attracted Dusty to the original Italian song "Io che non vivo (senza te)" ("I, who can't live (without you)") performed by Pino Donaggio at a music festival she attended in 1965. The melody was acquired for Dusty and new English language lyrics and story were added and the end result was a perfect moment in musical history. Within the limits of what they could do on-stage with this huge production song, Hannah and the band did a good job with it.
This show also touches on Dusty Springfield’s championing of soul music in the 1960s, refusing to even do a soul television special unless some of the original recording artists from the USA were brought over to perform their own songs. With the song “Spooky” we also get a glimpse of Dusty Springfield’s popularity on the Northern Soul dance floor.
After some years off the musical radar, Dusty returned to perform with The Pet Shop Boys on their 1988 hit “What Have I Done To Deserve This” and looking back with the hindsight of time, this song (well performed today) had much more to say than its throw-away pop single nature at first indicates.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com