Friday 12 October 2018

REVIEW: Liza Pulman sings Barbra Streisand - The Albert Halls, Bolton.



The ‘Streisand Sassy Songbird’ Liza Pulman came to the stunning Albert Halls in Bolton for one night only with her promise of an evening of music, laughter and storytelling whilst celebrating the fantastic career and success of the iconic Barbra Streisand.

Liza was accompanied by the amazingly talented 6 piece orchestra Stardust Ensemble: Tom, Andy, Steve, Richard, Dave and Joseph Atkins, Liza’s Musical Director.

The show isn’t a biography about Streisand’s life neither is it Liza Pulman doing an impression of the singer, It is a cleverly put together cabaret performance of some of Barbra Streisand’s songs. Liza does give some background information on the songs and aspects of Streisand’s life so you do learn some interesting facts as well as hearing the wonderful music we have come to love over the years.

Pulman graced the stage wearing a stunning white playsuit with coral shoes and an array of glittery bracelets and belted out the iconic song ‘Don’t Rain On My Parade’ much to the audiences delight. Followed by a Carol King’s song from the 1971 Barbra Joan Streisand album ‘Just Call Out My Name’, ‘Miss Marmelstein’, from the 1962 show ‘I Can Get It for You Wholesale’, the comical song ‘Sam, You Made The Pants Too Long’, and the 1976 Grammy award record of the year ‘Evergreen’.

Some songs were instantly recognisable whilst some were unfamiliar ballads; however Pulman sang them all effortlessly and pitch perfect, although she does not look like Streisand at all she does have a striking similarity to the famous icon's voice.

Streisand did many duets over the years and Pulman gave the audience a fantastic array of some of those ballads with the stars like Billy Joel, Judy Garland and Neil Diamond.

The second half Pulman returned wearing a stunning black and gold dress with black shoes and wowed the audience with Streisand’s songs from the two musicals she starred in ‘I Can Get It For You Wholesale’ and ‘Funny Girl’ where she played the role of Fanny Brice. My personal favourite of the evening was her rendition of ‘Second Hand Rose’ where you saw Pulman at her finest and this clearly was also a crowd-pleaser, followed closely by her stunning vocals in ‘Memories’, ‘The Way He Makes Me Feel’ from Yentl, and her finale ‘People’ from Funny Girl.

Liza Pulman is most definitely an incredibly strong cabaret singer who seems to enjoy performing on stage and has mastered her art in storytelling, comedy and fantastic vocals whilst remaining true to her love and admiration of Barbra Streisand.

Although we see many touring singers and artistes as a theatre reviewer the outstanding difference in Pulman’s tour is the immeasurably talented Stardust Ensemble where I found my eyes constantly gravitating to the saxophone, clarinet and trumpet players Steve and Richard who played magnificently throughout the evening.

Liza Pulman’s Tour continues in London this month then runs until 2019, tickets and tour dates can be found on her official website: www.lizapulman.com/tour-dates/ 

Reviewer - Katie Leicester
on - 11/10/18


No comments:

Post a Comment