For a couple of decades Connie Champagne has channeled Judy Garland in a series of well-received shows that have endeared her to San Franciscans. I saw Connie perform a few Dusty Springfield numbers in 1999 and was bowled over by her chameleon-like abilities. Connie’s shows have mostly been large, bold, exaggerated and somewhat campy – not Brand New Me.  Champagne as Garland is well acquainted with huge ballads and has dabbled in '60s pop and psychedelia with her collaboration with the cover band “The Whoa Nellies.”

The music of Dusty Springfield harkens back to the early days of female pop and blue-eyed soul superstars. Her music was brassy, heavily produced in layers of sound and that look – all eyeliner, sumptuous gowns and bee-hive bleached hair. Perfect fodder for another Connie homage, only this time Connie doesn’t deliver just what you’d expect of her. Instead, it's is a bold, self-revelatory, sometimes sobering work that illuminates much more about Connie than Dusty.

Working on the premise of similarities between the two women, the musical material proceeds through Dusty’s career and styles in a pared down piano accompaniment cabaret style, accompanied by between song patter that touches on very personal details of Ms. Champagne’s life: drugs, breakups, and touching moments about her battle with breast cancer. I’ve never seen this inimitable performer so bare, exposed and vulnerable.

Dusty’s big numbers are present in scaled down presentations: "I Only Want to Be with You," "The Look of Love," "Son of a Preacher Man," "Wishin’ and Hopin’’ and of course "You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me." Connie did her best to enervate the music and gave lovely renditions of "I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten," "I Just Don’t Know What to Do with Myself" and "Where is a Woman to Go?" Unlike any Connie Champagne show I’ve seen, we’re certainly seeing a “brand new Connie.”

Steve Murray
Cabaret Scenes
July 26, 2008
www.cabaretscenes.org