Sarah Carson
A Welcome in the Hillside—My Love Letter to Wales
Don’t Tell Mama, NYC, February 18, 2026
Reviewed by Bart Greenberg
The elegant Sarah Carson paid tribute to her Welsh heritage in general and to the indomitable matriarchs in her family with her new show A Welcome in the Hillside—My Love Letter to Wales at Don’t Tell Mama. Her show was illustrated with numerous projections of scenic views, newspaper clips, and, most importantly, family photographs as she took her audience through four generations of both social and family history. With musical and vocal contributions from her music director/pianist Tracy Stark and fine tuning from her director Lennie Watts, this was a polished and heartfelt occasion.
The songs Carson chose to illustrate her story were wide-ranging and highly varied; they led to a series of surprises that can make a good cabaret show. She opened with the haunting, traditional hymn “Calon Lan,” then sang the show’s lovely title tune (by the Welsh band The Blims). Next came a delightful “Never Call a Welshman English,” a parody version of “A Modern Major General” (W.S. Gilbert/Arthur Sullivan, with new lyrics by Carson).
This was not the only song in the show for which Carson penned her own lyrics. The town of Lanfairpwllgwyngyll (one of the longest city names in the world) was celebrated with her “I Survived Llanfair,” based on “I Will Survive” (Freddie Perren/Dino Ferkaris). This provided an hysterical moment that wisely balanced some of the more somber tales. There was also a spirited tribute to local hero “Owain Glyndwr” based on the hit “Delilah” (Barry Mason/Les Reed) by local boy Sir Tom Jones.
Of course the entire evening was not made up entirely of upbeat material. A somber section dealt with the World War II with the charming song “The Sweetest Song in the World” (Harry Parr-Davis) about the candy available at the time of conflict along with the World War I classics “Keep the Home Fires Burning” and “Soldier Boy” (both by Wales mega-star Ivor Novello). Even more tragedy came when Carson spoke about a coal-mining mountain that had collapsed onto a school building. With this she delivered a soul scorching version of “Total Eclipse of the Heart” (Jim Steinman).
This wide range of moods and music showed what a wonderful talent Carson is. If all of this doesn’t tempt you to see the show, you could hear about her grandmother who married three different gentlemen named Morgan who weren’t even related to each other.
Sarah returns to Don’t Tell Mama for another edition of her show Tuesday, May 26 at 7 pm.
