Review: Legendary Dionne Warwick Returns to her Hits at Westbury Music Fair

Six years ago, the legendary Dionne Warwick was closing in on the age of 80. She announced a world tour called “She’s Back: One Last Time.” It was put on hold and rescheduled a couple of times due to COVID-19 and announced for 2022. “One Last Time” wasn’t meant to be the last time for all performances, but the final time she’d tour the globe to perform for crowds with a crowded schedule — not stopping, but making fewer stops: fewer cities, fewer dates. Well, she’s back at it. In December, she’ll turn 85. Nobody expects a vocalist of that vintage to have the verve and volume of her youth, but, as witnessed on March 8 on Long Island, the wonder that is Warwick still has that charisma, stylishness, and grace. Her distinctive, powerful voice had the vocal support of a chorus of hundreds of people. Well, it wasn’t a paid, rehearsed chorus: I refer to the many, many fans in the audience who – when encouraged by Miss W. to sing along – proved that they know the lyrics, music, and tempi.

This began with the first selection: “Walk On By,” one of her many hits from the 1960s written by composer Burt Bacharach and lyricist Hal David that made the set list. Their collaborations made up the bulk of the program – not surprising.

One of those Bacharach/David gems – and one made especially effective as she sang it in the concert  –  was “Alfie,” benefiting from the more quiet, slow, reflective phrasing choices that made it more of an introspective acting piece, less dependent on the flow of melody.  This questioning of the meaning of life and its values felt especially invested, culminating in the line “I believe in love.”  In a similar vein, the writing team’s “What the World Needs Now Is Love” inevitably resonates strongly not as a cozy feel-good bit of sweetness but in the unsettling context of a politically divided nation, hate speech, and wars in other parts of the world.  

A somewhat lesser-known Bacharach/David item that arrived with poignancy is titled “Message to Michael.” It’s the poignant story-song about sending word to a struggling performer: “He sings each night in some cafe/ In his search to find wealth and fame/ I hear Michael has gone and changed his name” and, though he’s not succeeding, the message is that “to me, he will always be a star.”  Dionne Warwick “will always be a star.” She’s had that status and was able to “find wealth and fame” ever since the 1960s, and she’s still finding all that, with the latest feather in her cap being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame late last year. Her 2025 tour doesn’t find her as someone who “sings each night in some cafe,” but filling rather big places such as The Flagstar at Westbury Music Fair (a LiveNation venue) where I saw her holding court and holding the audience’s attention, prior to her trips to a 2200-seat arena in California and then places in Jamaica, Austria, Sweden, and the Netherlands. Another comparison to the hopeful performer in the aforementioned piece is that name-changing thing. She was born Marie Dionne Warrick and decided to go by her middle name. And she wasn’t planning to change her last name, but an uncaught typo on the record label at the start of her career mispelled it as Warwick and she decided to keep it that way. At another point, a low point, a numerologist told her luck would change if she increased the total number of letters in her surname by one, so for a while she billed herself as Dionne Warwicke. And, on the subject of name changes, the song was originally titled and released as “Message to Martha” (sung by Jerry Butler).   

Those of us who’ve been longtime followers and have had the catchy hits indelibly burned into our brains (whether we sang along or not) still had to listen a little harder than is usually necessary at a concert to hear the lyrics. The small band, fortunately, didn’t overwhelm the vocals. (They were splendid: Andre “Chez” Lewis on the piano; Renato Brasa on percussion; Jeff Lewis on the drums; Danny DeMorales on bass.) The real problem in audibility/clarity happened often when the star was speaking: Was it the mic? Was it the sound system? What it was, was frustrating. Some audience members apparently caught more words because they laughed or clapped at some comments that sounded mostly like muddy muttering to me (otherwise very happy to be in the third row of a mammoth auditorium). The latter part of the evening was “family time” as Dionne Warwick brought out her son David Elliott to share some singing, banter, and teasing and to share "I Say a Little Prayer." Their comedy shtick involving challenging each other to deliver a big ending with embellished drama on one of her hits was cute at first, but went on too long for too little payoff. But the apple doesn’t fall from the branches of the family tree; he sings with panache and command.

Granddaughter Cheyenne Elliott has some Dionne Diva DNA, too, as well as charm and musical smarts of her own — something I’d become aware of several years ago when this skilled young lady did a solo show in Greenwich Village’s cabaret room, The Duplex, singing standards and more. The three family members combined forces for a fond rendition of the loving musical message “That’s What Friends Are For.”  As they sang “Keep smiling, keep shining…” there were lots of smiles in the concert hall and love was shining through. Memory Lane was shining, paved with gold.

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For more information on Dionne Warwick and where to follow her, visit her website at www.officialdionnewarwick.com

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