An appreciation and review of Gay Soper – Flying Fish and Fallen Angels
Feature by David Munro
ONE of the pleasures of the very successful Sunday In The Park With George at the Menier Chocolate Factory is the return to the London stage of Gay Soper as George’s Mother in the first act and Blair Daniels, the art critic, in the second.
Gay has enjoyed a long and illustrious stage career – starting in her teens as a chorus lady in My Fair Lady and Jorrocks.
She soon graduated to featured roles in, amongst others, The Canterbury Tales, Godspell (opposite Jeremy Irons and David Essex), Michael Crawford’s fiancée (“the witch”) in Billy, Deborah (the future Duchess of Devonshire) in The Mitford Girls and revues such as Betjemania and Side By Side with Sondheim.
In recent years she has taken over the part of Mdme Thenardier in Les Miserables, which she played for three years and added to the mayhem and mirth of the never to be forgotten camp musical, Which Witch. I have a particularly fond memory of her as Anna, the proprietress of The Rink in Kander and Ebb’s musical at The Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond.
She is also well known as a cabaret artiste, as her sell-out performances at The Jermyn Street Theatre and Pizza on the Park testify.
As if this were not enough she has, if I may put it thus, dabbled in Opera and appeared, both home and abroad, with the Carl Rosa Opera Company singing significant roles which, sadly, has deprived the London stage of her talent for the past couple of years or so.
She has celebrated her triumphant return with a recently released CD, GAY SOPER – FLYING FISH AND FALLEN ANGELS (Dress Circle GAY 001) which should bring her name before a greater public and put her four square into the spotlight that she deserves.
The CD is in effect a re-creation of her cabaret act comprising a selection of show tunes and “point” numbers which display the range of her skills.
She proves she is just as at home with a Brecht /Dove song from Mother Courage as she is with a Bea Arthur number from a Ben Bagley revue.
Her show composers range from Coward and Rodgers and Hart to Sondheim; taking in Vincent Youmans, Jerry Herman, Kander and Ebb and Harvey Schmidt on the way.
I must raise a moan, however, at her selection of If Love Were All to represent Noel Coward. Whilst I cannot fault her performance – she makes it very moving and sincere – why does every cabaret artist feel this song is a “must” for their show? Coward did write other equally effective heart searching songs such as All My Life Ago which Gay might consider for her next recital record.
Her Sondheim selections have more merit even though in two of them, The Boy From……. and Can That Boy Foxtrot, she sounds like a Millicent Martin with talent, although she proves in her interpretation of Stay With Me that she can get full value from Sondheim in her own right.
It was good to hear again Sun and Fun which she first introduced in Betjemania (a revue worth reviving); Whilst today her interpretation may be more sophisticated than in 1978 she still manages to give the impression of the youthful innocence she brought to the song originally.
While I could wish for a souvenir from The Rink (again, perhaps next time) Kander and Ebb are well served in a little known song, Please Sir where she proves how well she can “sell” a number.
This talent is also displayed in the two humorous Sondheim ditties, already referred to, and in Sheldon Harnick’s The Shape Of Things from Ben Bagley’s Littlest Revue; her interpretation of this sardonic little ditty is, dare I whisper it, in Askelon, superior to that of Charlotte Rae, its originator.
Bea Arthur, too, should look to her laurels when you listen to Gay doing her number, Couldn’t Be Happier from another Ben Bagley show, The Shoestring Revue.
It is a very funny and bitchy number which both artistes do superbly – but for my book Gay wins on points.
Two other Kander and Ebb numbers from Cabaret, Fraulein Schneider’s So What? and It Couldn’t Please Me More (the latter in duet with a Mr Barry James) – a souvenir of her performance in that role with The English Speaking Theatre in Frankfurt – are pleasing examples of what a skilled performer can do with mediocre numbers. But my rapture was somewhat modified with her version of Rodgers and Hart’s To Keep My Love Alive which, to me, lacked the bite the lyrics called for and was sung a little too straight.
I was also a little disappointed by her rendition of More Than You Know, the big ballad from Vincent Youmans’ Great Day. This is a rich , torchy song which calls for emotional singing with all stops out.
At times Gay does let go but, in my opinion, not enough. She is sad and wistful rather than suffering out and out heartbreak; interesting and beautiful, but in my view, not the right interpretation.
It was nice to hear again Decorate Yhe Human Face from Harvey Schmidt’s Colette; a number which has charm and Gay must be congratulated for dragging it so delightfully out of obscurity.
The remaining numbers on the disc which, while still well presented and sung, are more ordinary and might well be described as “fillers”.
The opening recitation of a poem, The Flattered Flying Fish did rather take me by surprise and the jury is still out as to whether or not I find it charming or an error of judgement! Still, I suppose it explains the album’s title.
Nonetheless, despite my occasional note of disapproval I am convinced this is a disc which every lover of theatre or talented cabaret performers should possess. It shows what an artist with a good voice, well versed in theatre and an intelligent approach to her material can do to dramatise and give fresh meaning to songs which have not always sounded as good.
On her showing on this CD, I would welcome a disc of the Kurt Weill cabaret songs which have been neglected too long and might find in Gay a perfect interpreter and a new lease of life – over to you Ms Soper!
This, however, is not her only excursion into the recording studios as she can be heard in her original roles on the cast recordings of Jorrocks (LP – HMV CSD3591), as a barmaid among other things, Canterbury Tales (LP – Decca SKL4959), I and Albert (LP – TER 1004 [guest appearance]), Godspell (LP Bells – 203), Billy (LP Columbia – CBS 70113), Betjemania (LP – TER 1002), The Mitford Girls (LP – Phillips – 6359 088), Which Witch (CD Nota Bene Records NBCD 015) as a herb seller and Killing Rasputin (CD – Jumeira Records – DGC02), as a Russian Empress.
In addition, she has featured in the studio cast versions of, among others, Song of Norway (CD – TERCD 21173), Phantom of the Opera compilation (CDJAY – 1235), Les Miserables – complete symphonic version (CD – First Night Records MIZCD 1-3) in her role of Mdme Thenardier, Pride and Prejudice (CD – Dress Circle – PPDC 3) as a very put upon Mrs Bennet, Cabaret (CDJAY21311) as a Kit Kat Girl and Present From The Corporation (Private recording).
While not all of these may be still in print it is well worth a prowl round the charity and collectors’ shops or a trip to the internet – in particular www.dresscircle.com – to find them if you enjoy her present CD as much as I think you will. Happy hunting!