MARLOWE THEATRE, CANTERBURY (2008)


'YOUR CANTERBURY' (July, 2008)

Amongst a huge repertoire of her many hits, Elkie Brooks at the Marlowe on Tuesday reprised Perry Como’s first million-seller hit “Till the End of Time” - released, as she told the audience “in 1945; the year I was born”.

To call a performer “legendary” is sometimes a euphemism for past a sell-by date, but here is a 63-year-old who can appear on stage in a stunning white satin dress with a body that would put to shame some women half her age, who can still electrify an audience (many of whom were contemporaries, but including elements of an age that would probably think Perry Como is a pear-flavoured alcopop) with a stunning range of singing styles, and still hold a note for so long that you cannot believe how all that air is contained in so slight a frame.

Is she a jazz singer? A rock singer, a blues singer, a ballad singer? Elkie Brooks is all of the above, and much more.

Her recording success is remarkable - Elkie has been recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the most successful British female album seller of the last three decades - but her live performances reveal the true, electrifying nature of her stunning ability. The power and richness of her voice has to be witnessed live to be fully appreciated.

She can hold a full theatre in thrall, and on this night she did so with a panache that is rarely equalled.

Human performance is a strange thing. When things go just right it can result in an athlete winning Olympic Gold, a mountaineer reaching a previously unclimbed peak. For my money, this is what Elkie Brooks achieved on Tuesday - a gold medal performance that reached a very lofty peak. 

After a selection that included many familiar hits (would the audience ever allow her to do a show without “Pearl’s a Singer” and “Lilac Wine”?), and many more recent numbers which will undoubtedly ensure continued album success, she finished with the most wonderful rendition of “We’ve Got Tonight”. 

The song contains the line “why don’t you stay?”.   The audience would have stayed all night, given half a chance.




(BJ Tritton)