Susan Winter
A Woman for All Seasons
The Pheasantry, London, U.K, November 2, 2015
Reviewed by Fiona Coffey for Cabaret Scenes
It was a cold, foggy day in London town, and on a Monday night after a weekend of Halloween revelry, even the most die-hard cabaret fans are hard to tempt away from the easy comforts of home. But those who did gather in London’s The Pheasantry to watch Susan Winter were rewarded with an absolutely exquisite hour of entertainment. Winter, whose stage persona is anything but wintery, invited her audience to “Make Yourself at Home” with such warmth and grace, that clinging to the British reserve we habitually deploy in dealing with newcomers proved impossible. Although Winter cast herself as a debutante—this was indeed her first performance outside of the U.S.—there was never any doubt that we were in the hands of a highly seasoned performer and a woman who is utterly at ease with herself in the self-declared “autumn stage” of her life.
Winter’s existing fans will know that she has enjoyed a highly successful run of A Woman for all Seasons at New York City’s Metropolitan Room and Don’t Tell Mama. Much has been written about her voice. She is billed as “a singer’s singer” and it is absolutely the case that her voice is a joy in itself. It is smooth, warm, assured and full of color. Winter can energize a song with gloriously long and strong notes; equally she can pare it down to connect us intimately with a song’s tenderness and vulnerability, most notably in “I Keep Going Back to Joe’s” and “Dance.” It is a delivery that is honest and straightforward in the best sense of the word. She is not a slave to her talent. That her voice can do whatever she wants is a given; everything is in service of the lyric, the mood and the connection with the audience. The easy rapport she was able to forge on stage on her first outing with London-based musicians—pianist Simon Wallace and bass player Tom Mansi—was a credit to her musicianship, as well as theirs.
Singers of this caliber are not two-a-penny in London, but success for our transatlantic cousins, even those with wonderful voices, is never guaranteed. It helps to know that, by and large, we Brits don’t like too much schmaltz or gush and, sadly, we do not give our love too freely. We want to be charmed, but at a pace we can stand, by someone with wit, sincerity and something new to say.
Winter meets this brief triumphantly. She can engage and befriend an audience and share compellingly with the natural authority of a mature woman who has lived, learned and found the humor and poignancy in everyday experience.
After the first twenty minutes in the warm bath of Winter’s home from home, with well loved songs and a segue of “I Enjoy Being A Girl” into “Girl Talk,” a small curmudgeonly voice inside my head did begin to ask whether there might be room for a little more edge. But, happily, at that very point Winter declared similar discomfort with the lyrics of “Girl Talk” and presented some self-penned verses that were bang up-to-date and delightfully funny. Thereafter, an already highly entertaining show started to soar. A sassy introduction to “You’re a Happily Married Man” led into a wonderfully inventive and sensuous arrangement of “Let Yourself Go” that suggested a whole new meaning to the words “you’ve got yourself tied up in a knot.
” Wallace and Mansi gamely offered some modest backing vocals on “Not That There’s Anything Wrong with That,” by which time the audience was entirely happy to sing along.
The final third brought new depths of emotional intensity, some braver and less familiar song choices, that really allowed the personal storytelling to come through. Pairing Amanda McBroom’s “Dance” with Irving Berlin’s “It Only Happens When I Dance with You” was a particularly touching juxtaposition. “Landslide” by Stevie Nicks and Carol Hall’s “This Is My Birthday” spoke in different ways to the re-appraisal of love in advancing years. The conclusion, “Don’t Fence Me In” was a message from Winter to all those who would seek to define and by implication limit her by the numerous roles she has been asked to play.
This was an impeccably delivered show, with an emotional journey at its heart, which left me wanting to know more about Susan Winter and her take on life, as well as hear more of what her fabulous voice can do. London venues are not fenced in by the one-hour format, in fact two sets with more room for chat and one or two more off-beat song choices would be the perfect, and perhaps the only way to improve upon this terrific show. I very much hope that Winter’s long overdue visit to these shores will not be her last.