By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

SETLIST: Old Friends; No One Is Alone; There Is Nothing Like A Dame; Fever; (When I Marry) Mister Snow; It Might As Well Be Spring; In Buddy’s Eyes; Losing My Mind; Rent (Outtake); With So Little To Be Sure Of; Children Will Listen; Before The Parade Passes By; So Long Dearie; You Gotta Get A Gimmick; Send In The Clowns; Being Alive; Kramer’s Song

WHEN?: Monday 12 August 2024, tour runs in the US through 23 November 2024

Yesterday was the hottest day in the UK so far this year and Peters certainly raised the temperature even higher in London’s Theatre Royal Drury Lane.

• Read on for reasons including how this was a rare evening in the company of a star who seemed to enjoy the experience as much as we did

During a cover of Peggy Lee’s finger-clicking Fever Peters climbed stairs in heels to lounge languorously on the piano lid of musical director Alfonso Casado Trigo (Sondheim’s Old Friends, Gielgud Theatre) as she sang and he accompanied her.

Peters made her West End debut in that show last year and transfers with it to Broadway in 2025 and a number of songs that featured there also appear here in a show with multiple mid-show standing ovations.

The 1st is for Sondheim’s Losing My Mind from Follies and it’s a performance that reminds us why Peters is regarded as 1 of the finest interpreters of the genius’ work as he said of her: ‘Like very few others, she sings and acts at the same time.’

This is the only UK gig Peters plays in a tour which continues across the US throughout the rest of this year.

Another showstopping moment is when she is joined by 2 of her co-stars from Old Friends – Bonnie Langford and Joanna Riding – for You Gotta Get A Gimmick from Gypsy.

The 3 play auditioning burlesque dancers becoming increasingly desperate to wow with Peters playing a horn between her legs at 1 point and Langford stealing the show as she did in the West End’s Old Friends and doing the splits while singing.

The show takes us on a journey through some of Peters’ favourite musical numbers and begins with her wonderment at her parents’ record collection and the work of Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Peters also displays a playful sense of humour telling a number of jokes through the show as well as anecdotes about her career and the people she has worked with.

Here she is backed with an 11-strong band and we are reminded why she is regarded as 1 of the greatest ever stars of musical theatre with a voice during best song Being Alive from Company that swoops and soars in a beguiling version that is more uptempo than we were familiar with.

Some of the song choices were a little niche but overall this was a rare evening in the company of a star who seemed to enjoy the experience as much as we did.

• Main picture via Facebook courtesy Bernadette Peters Tickets
• Have you seen Bernadette Peters before and what did you think of this show? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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