KeithD
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Re:Guy Singleton - 2008/04/14 18:59
For an am-dram performance, which this was, it was actually better than acceptable. But the main problem was that you need to be very good, and quite possibly you need to be Jake himself, to carry a whole unadulterated evening of Jake's songs. Guy said on stage that he was not worried about the songs since they would stand up for themselves, but in fact the songs need help to do that. Without the stresses and the other idiosyncracies of Jake's delivery, the songs aren't given the best chance to stand on their own. For an example, think back to the Irish guy whose name I've mercifully forgotten, who, in Sister Jo, sang "No longer will the cloister toilet seat stand a-PRIGHT". Now unless you sing "seat ... stand ... up ... right" you've thrown the best line of the song away. Timing and delivery are as critical to Jake's songs as to jokes.
If I'm honest, I didn't enjoy the evening. Guy was close to word-perfect, which was a huge feat, and his voice is OK, but he struggled to carry the first set and for me failed to carry the second; too many songs fell flat. But then Thursday was the first time he'd done the show, and indeed the first time he'd performed as a musician since he was in a band many years back.
The previous one-man Jake show that I went to in the East End of London (forget the guy's name now but could look it up) was better, because the performer was more energetic and better on the guitar and so gave the songs a much better chance than did Guy. But even then the last quarter was very samey - and a bit desperate, trying to fit in as many songs as possible. When Malcy does his annual Malcy nights he mixes Jake and Tom Lehrer and Flanders and Swann and others, and though I've never been to one, I am sure that the variety and change of pace will make Malcy's evenings more successful than a whole evening of any one of those artists.
I think we have the recipe right at Jakefests and with the JT Experience: many performers each doing a handful of numbers.
Post edited by: KeithD, at: 2008/04/14 19:02
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