Lili’s Life Through a Rosewood Tinted Lens

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burlesque, cabaret, Cafe Royal Hotel, coco malone, Dusty Limits, London, rosewood hotel, sammy dinneen, scarfe's bar, variety, Vicky Butterfly, Vintage

There is a huge trend in London at the moment for what has been termed ‘luxury cabaret’. Many of London’s finest hotels boast their own resident cabaret show, including The Savoy and The Cafe Royal Hotel. Now one of London’s most glittering five star hotels has tossed its gilded cap into the ring with ‘Cabaret at Scarfe’s’ which is just starting the second month of its residency under the expert hand of one of London’s finest cabaret singers, and someone of whom I am immensely fond, Mr Dusty Limits.

The venue is akin to something you may find in one of the stately homes of England, a drawing room from an earlier time. Glitteringly dark, bedecked with velvet and displays of glass-domed butteflies. The fire flickers welcomingly, drawing you in with its soporific glow, inviting you to fill your glass and relax into the bosom of friends. Dusty’s aim was always to create something that felt like the post-supper gathering at a country house weekend. Not a show but a party, a collection of friends. With that in mind, the cast mingles freely before the show, sharing drinks with guests and creating an atmosphere of louche decadence. When Dusty takes to the floor to start the evening’s entertainment, the crowd is already warm and welcoming which makes it very easy to slip into the show.

Curated by Dusty, the performers are plucked from London’s finest; Vicky Butterfly bedecked in downy white feathers, the delicious musculature of Sammy Dinneen, the velvety honey drenched voice of Coco Malone and I; I sing a bit.
In a space not naturally designed for performance, the show emerges from different parts of the room, Sammy upended on a table, me seated on the bar amid glasses and bottles and Vicky Butterfly stalking the aisles in her glowing cloak. I hope that the audience feel included and enveloped by the proximity of the performers. It is quite an astounding thing to have a semi-naked hand balancer mere inches from your face, his toes threatening to dip into your champagne.

As any good party should, the night gradually grows in debauchery and crapulence, with the hosts ending up close to the floor, or on it, indeed whilst the strains of the the Lorde song ‘Royals’ are played by the incredible musicians, Michael Roulston, Jonathon Kitching and Tom Mansi. More recently, I have found that there has been a glorious return to live music in cabaret shows and that is a delightful thing. A backing track can never replace the comradery of having real live people playing real live instruments playing music with you. It would be a wonderful thing if we were to see a complete absence of shows with track, although I realise that this is utter pie in the sky.

The show ends and dancers, beautifully attired in vintage clothing, take to the floor as the band play Irving Berlin. The crowd watches enraptured and transported to another time and place, a place of decadence and debauchery, where echoes of those Bright Young Things resonate still.
Join me at Scarfe’s Bar next Sunday for the next one of these amazing evenings, meet me by the fire, bring champagne.

Love Lili.
x

Cabaret at Scarfe’s
Rosewood Hotel
Doors 7pm, show 7.30pm
Buy a ticket HERE

 

 

 

 

 

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Lili Sings Songs at a Sing-along Song Show

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Carradine, Champagne Charlie, cockney, east end, London, sing-a-long, Tom Carradine, Vintage, Wilton's, Wilton's Music Hall

Last month, I had the pleasure of an evening out at Wilton’s Music Hall for a new night called ‘Carradine’s Cockney Sing-A-long’. It’s rare that I get an evening out without working as much of my spare time is given over to child-rearing or sleeping, so it was a complete treat to hop on the train and saunter through the backstreets of the East End to find myself in an alleyway, outside Wilton’s; London’s oldest surviving music hall.

I ducked inside, welcomed in from the Autumn chill by the warm glow and the excited chatter. Seated at the piano was the ever dapper, and beautifully turned out, Tom Carradine, resplendent in a vintage suit with one of the finest handlebar moustaches ever seen in London. Beside him, cabaret’s cheeky charleston chap and co-host, Champagne Charlie perused the song sheet.

I ordered a glass of champagne from the divine bar keep (always a huge plus point for me – lovely bar keeps!) and scanned the song sheets to see what musical delights Mr Carradine had up his well starched sleeve. Like me, he is a connoisseur of vintage and rare songs and his attention to detail is pretty, bloomin’ flawless.

Soon it was time to start and we raised our voices in song. The packed bar made a motley choir of champagne saturated voices singing together in joyful chorus. If you don’t know it, just mumble until you get to the chorus, or take a well-timed glug of your drink. The more you drink, the easier it becomes as the inhibitions with which you are fettered drop away like descending scales. The line up of songs had something for everyone; War Songs, Cockney Classics and no Cockney sing-a-long would be  complete without an obligatory ‘Oliver’ medley and enough “‘Ave a Bananas” to keep enough the most dedicated ‘mockney’ happy!

This is not a show. It’s almost an anti-show. It’s a gathering of friends, in a shabby East End bar, singing songs. In this time encapsulated by the solitude of technology and the reliance on television, it is a tonic for the soul to be transported back to a time of community and such simple pleasures as lifting your voice in song next to a complete stranger, linked only by the shared knowledge of these old melodies that have seeped into our public consciousness.

The singing finished, and I skipped off into the night to catch the train, light of heart and step. To paraphrase and translate from the poem by Schober, ‘An die Musik’, I was indeed transported to a better world.

The next ‘Carradine’s Cockney Sing-a-Long’ is on the 11th of November. I shall be there ready to sing songs and celebrate the joy of community singing – I urge you to join us. Entry is free (although there is gratuitous hat passing – so bring your gold coins!)

Love Lili
x

Carradine’s Cockney Sing-A-Long
Wilton’s Music Hall
Grace’s Alley
8pm
FREE!

[photos courtesy of Carradine’s Cockney Sing-a-long]