THE SU POLLARD SHOW
Salford
1987
In
an era where too many top earning singers and
comics are content to throw together a collection
of songs or a string of gags and call it a
cabaret show, it’s an unusual pleasure
to find a performer who is prepared to pay for,
and rehearse, a full blown stage production. Su
Pollard is such a perfectionist.
Having premiered her new act at the
Lakeside last month, she presented it to a
Northern cabaret crowd for the first time at the
Willows Variety Centre in Salford. It
was not Su Pollard but gawky Peggy from Maplin’s
who ran through the room to tell us her turn hadn’t
arrived yet.“This is my big moment” she
cried, clambering on stage and going in to Look
For The Silver Lining.
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A smart pair of boy
dancers joined her for Everything’s Coming
Up Roses, lifting her off stage to change
while they filled in. Su Pollard’s
re-entrance was in spectacular style, her
flowing yellow cloak at first concealing the
pantomime principal boy’s outfit she was to
wear for the next 70 minutes. The pink and
silver top looked like an enormous Quality Street
wrapper. Anything less outrageous
would have been out of place and quite
insufficient. What followed was a
painstakingly constructed act in the true and
traditional sprit of cabaret. An
ambitious ‘all round’ entertainment
designed to work anywhere from Sunderland Empire
to the QE2. The quickfire comedy was
punctuated with several original songs and well
time dance routines.Everything was just right
from the augmented orchestra of eight musicians
to the use of radio mikes and stools.
I’m On My Way is a confident progress report
on Pollard’s career to date. |
To the tune of Sam’s
Song,she complains that lyricists write their
best stuff for men to sing. She develops a
Frankie Howerd-style relationship with her lady
pianist, introduces the two boys as ‘Salford’s
answer to Wham’, and works well
when she makes a brief excursion into the
audiences and suddenly staunches the flow of
laughter with a totally ‘straight’
version of When I Fall In Love. Just
like Ken Dodd and Norman Wisdom before her, this
fool seeks acceptance as a serious singer and has
released an album to prove it. The act has
been written by Peter Langridge, the
original songs are by Richard Kates, the
show is directed and choreographed by Kenn
Oldfield and the pianist and musical director is
Leslie Burdett.
Tony
Barrow - The Stage 2/7/87
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