Two for the price of one isn’t always a good deal, but Deux Grandes Dames with Melissa Errico and Isabelle Georges at The Crazy Coqs is a dynamic vehicle for the two “tall” and "leading” ladies.
Errico is a Tony Award-nominated Broadway actress, singer, and author and Georges; a chanteuse and dancer with a varied repertoire, so together they make quite the combination, and seeing them in an intimate venue like the Crazy Coqs is an experience in itself.
They’ve taken Deux Grandes Dames to both Paris and New York, and these two performances signify its London debut. The programme is a heady mix of work by Stephen Sondheim, Cole Porter, Michel Legrand, Marc Shaiman, Edith Piaf and other interludes from both French and American catalogues.
Legrand is the reason the two met, having starred in the same musical of his on different sides of the Atlantic, and connecting when they both featured in a performance sometime down the line.
If you believe in fate, it seems capable of great things, as having these two women in the same show, means one gets to savour and experience the spectrum of their performance capabilities. At times they're textbook; at others - anomalies.
The set list includes 17 songs, a collection of duos and solos, and allows the stars of the two-hander to really shine. Errico is the epitome of Broadway in her easy-breezy effervescence, and just when you think you've got her defined, she throws in a Piaf number that takes her presence to an honest, heartfelt place.
Georges offers Parisian sensibility; that almost unfathomable concoction of chicness with a heavy side of absurd, humorous avant-garde, and some extremely proficient tap dancing in the mix for good measure. And again…when you think you've worked it all out, she does a hypersensitive rendition of a Sondheim and turns everything upside down!
They're incredibly well supported by pianist Charlotte Gauthier and double bassist Sam Burgess, and even manage to include a few costume changes in the 75 minute-ish show ranging from Dietrich sophistication to Monroe glamour, and back again.
My only quibble is perhaps it would all benefit from a little more formal structure. The improvisational (in feel) segues between numbers are full of intimate, tête-à-tête but can also communicate as a tad overflowing/missing the mark at times.
I'm not suggesting they, or the show loses its natural feel, but actually with a defined structure artists can become even freer in the moment, because they know where they came from and where they're going.
The bijou venue was pretty full last night, but I hope Saturday evening is rammed. As what you get is worth way more than the extremely reasonably priced tickets at the Crazy Coqs. Melissa Errico and Isabelle Georges are major talents with ongoing major careers, and London, and any other city lucky enough to host Deux Grandes Dames should absolutely make the most of this mini spectacle of a show. Magnifique.
Deux Grandes Dames can be seen at Crazy Coqs on Saturday 13 July at 7pm
Photo credit: Danny Kaan
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