BWW Reviews: PURE IMAGINATION - THE SONGS OF LESLIE BRICUSSE, St James Theatre, September 29 2015

The excellent programme tells us that Leslie Bricusse won his first Ivor Novello Award with a song he wrote in 1954 - so this guy has been in showbiz for quite a while! In that time, he's also worked with a Who's Who of transatlantic music A-listers: Anthony Newley; Henry Mancini; John Barry; Qunicy Jones and many, many more. Topping off this extraordinarily rich history is the fact that Bricusse works in all three elements of musicals: the book (story); the lyrics; and the music itself. He's got a decent claim to be the British Sondheim - even if such comparisons are somewhat trite!

So it's no surprise that Danielle Tarento and Christopher Renshaw have got together with the man himself to create a glorious retrospective of his work - Pure Imagination The Songs of Leslie Bricusse (continuing at St James Theatre until 17 October). They came up with 50 numbers that combine to create an evening rich in nostalgia, but one not without its surprises too, as old favourites mix with tunes you've heard before (but can't place exactly) and others that make you say to yourself, "So he did that one too!" (My son claimed to have heard one on an episode of The Simpsons and we both thought that half a dozen or so would work perfectly as a Brian and Stewie song and dance routine on Family Guy.)

Everyone will have their own favourites, but my top three are: The Candyman, a song so wonderful that it stood up to my weekly warblings at Karaoke Night in Tooting; You Only Live Twice, oozing mid-60s Bond glamour; and My Old Man's A Dustman, Lonnie Donegan's hit that I would play (at 78rpm) on my parents' Dansette record player when I was just a kid.

Bricusse has provided hits for so many great singers - and Rex Harrison (Talk to the Animals) - so it must be quite daunting to cast a show that features a full half-century. Fortunately, our five voices can call upon West End pedigrees and are well up to the mark, sometimes going solo, sometimes combining and always served superbly by Michael England's excellent six piece ensemble.

Dave Willetts and Siobhan McCarthy are the slightly older pair, but, boy, do they make a great Bond and Bond Girl! Niall Sheehy and Julie Atherton are younger and more flirty, but no less impressive in interpreting the music and lyrics of their numbers. Giles Terera has a lot of fun as The Joker, a playful presence most of the time (make sure you catch a sweet from The Candyman) but he becomes a sad clown to bring the house down with an epic What Kind Of Fool Am I? adding his astonishing interpretation to the classic's 1000-plus recordings completed in the 54 years since it was written.

And then, after two hours that simply flew by, it was done. I'm off to YouTube to see how Sammy Davis Jr, Shirley Bassey. Dusty Springfield, Tony Bennett and er... Kermit the Frog and so, so many more sang the songs that Leslie Bricusse wrote.

Photo Annabel Vere

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