Rachel Tucker Live

St James Theatre, 13th October 2013.

It seems only appropriate that my first proper blog post would be about the incomparable Rachel Tucker, as she (along with Louise Dearman) are the original two performers who caught my attention in the Westend. As such, I forewarn you that I have a lot of love & respect for this woman, so let the waffling commence…

In true Rachel fashion, she made a rather hilarious though slightly delayed entrance, but frankly it was a stroke of pure genius that the first lyrics the crowd heard her vocalize were “Problems have all gone,” right before another slight hitch. Rachel took it in her stride as she does & used it to her advantage, cracking jokes & moving right along like the pro she is. From the moment she appeared out of the cheeky side doors, she embraced the audience with an openness that helped us settle in for what was going to be a beautiful/uplifting/lighthearted & emotional journey through her influences & career to date.

She greeted us with the Bette classic ‘Friends.’ Any follower of Rachel’s career would be joining me in the flashbacks to her ‘I’d Do Anything’ days, but its a whole different kettle of fish seeing someone perform it on the television versus being in a room surrounded by some of Rachel’s family, closest friends & her adoring fans most of which she has met & taken the time to get to know on at least some level. So having her sing that song to this room, couldn’t have been more apt in that moment. She was quickly joined by Stevie Tate-Bauer & Jenn Tierney, to take us back to the 40’s for the classic that is, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy. The trio’s voices blended so beautifully together, with gorgeous harmonies & some snazzy moves, you could see the chemistry between these three just exuding out of them, it is always such a pleasure to see talented friends sharing a stage together.

(Please note: All photos belong to me, please do not repost/use without permission.)

Rachel moved straight on to ‘I’ll Cover You’ (which features on her debut album ‘The Reason’) from Rent, a show that she herself starred in very early on in her career & that clearly means a great deal to her. I’ve always said that Rachel Tucker is the quintessential story teller & it is in beautiful stripped back & personal moments like this that her face shines as well as her voice which paints a glorious & perfectly clear picture for you. Tucker’s version of this song also gives a divine insight into just how masterful she is with those vocal chords of hers, doing so effortlessly what many others would struggle to do in such an intimate & pure moment.

Tucker is one of those performers who is so natural & at home on stage, you can’t help but feel at ease when she starts speaking, so much so that you almost want to leap into a conversation with her whenever she takes an opportunity to engage with the audience.

Next up Tucker got in touch with her sultry side, with a bit of Nina Simone’s ‘Sugar in my Bowl.’ A song I was not familiar with but just as Rachel & her Mum became obsessed with it after the first time they saw it performed, (as she was kind enough to share with us), I now have it on repeat in my head. It is incredible getting to see a performer embark on a concert such as this, especially when you are used to seeing them play one role. All of a sudden you are seeing not only an insight into what makes them tick but a plethora of different & in Tucker’s case evocative characters that they can bring to life through their own direction. She let herself get lost in the character she envisioned for this song & performed it with so much gusto whilst reintroducing us all to her signature growls that frankly, I can not get enough of.

‘My Immortal’ from Evanescence is such an intensely haunting song already but the stripped back arrangement that builds into a complete explosion of passion & grit is an absolute triumph not only on Rachel’s part but for her musical arrangers/director both on the night & on her album. Tucker’s ability to so purely emote continually blows my mind & i’ve seen her perform a fair few times now.

Now to steal a phrase Rachel herself used, next she treated us to her ‘Handbag song,’ you know that song every performer has in their arsenal that they never get sick of performing & you never ever tire of seeing/hearing. ‘Stars & The Moon’ by Jason Robert Brown is hers & every time i’ve had the pleasure of seeing her smash this song out of the park, she’s taken me on an exquisite journey of reflection on love & life, as she takes that moment to sit back with us.

Sticking with the incredible music of Jason Robert Brown, we were next treated to ‘Climbing Up Hill.’ As someone who likes to go to a lot of cabarets i’ve seen numerous performers give it some in this song, but none with the same pizazz as Rachel, even completely smashing past the previous time I saw her do this. She made it her own everywhere she could & had clearly taken the time to figure out exactly where & what to emphasise for the best laughs. Rachel could be a comedian & her performing this song just solidifies that point to me, she had the crowd in the palm of her hand, eating up every morsel of this wonderfully honest & brilliant song that Tucker just had to round off with her own little Irish Jig.

Tuckers jig was the beginning of what was to become, for most what would be considered a marathon but she just kept going & going with unlimited energy stores, even when she jokingly said she was exhausted after dancing her boots off, she continued to pounce around that stage. Those who were lucky enough to catch the album launch earlier this year in the Studio downstairs, will have seen just how much Tucker likes to let her hair down in the more uptempo songs, like ‘Stone Cold Sober.’ It seemed almost criminal to be confined to our seats for this song as Rachel bounded across the stage, I defy anyone in that audience to have not at least gotten a bit of a sway & head bop going on along with her as she pulled out all her signature ‘Stone cold’ moves along with the lovely talented ladies Jenn & Stevie.

Now on to a personal favourite segment of the evening, when Rachel took us back to her childhood, I believe she said she was 8 or 9 years old when her mother introduced her to ‘The Wizard of Oz’ & the one of a kind that is Judy Garland! Rachel perched down on the corner of the stage & took us on a sublime & rather intimate voyage through some of her classics, starting with ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow.’ My heart literally leapt out of my chest with the first chords of the song being so masterfully played on the keys. It’s a song i’ve been dying to hear Rachel sing live for a long time, so to get a taster in this medley made my night. The arrangement flawlessly transitioned into ‘Moon River’ & through to ‘Smile,’ before rounding off the medley with a return to ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow,’ with Rachel getting back up to her feet & heading for the crowd to find her Dad, the awe-inspiring Tommy Tucker, who helped her finish off the song with the sweetest whistling of birds you could imagine.

From one of Rachel’s biggest influences (Judy) to who is surely the biggest, her father Tommy giving us our first ‘surprise’ of the evening. You know when someone just oozes charisma like Tucker, well when you see her on stage with her father it’s easy to see where it & the talent comes from. Hearing the stories of Rachel’s early years on the stage with her Dad make the ‘Judy & Jolson (with a bit of Sammy) medley’ something else entirely. I don’t think there are words ample enough to describe this breathtaking moment of magic shared between Rachel & her Dad. It is beautiful to see people not only paying homage to the greats that inspired them but also to see Rachel paying homage in a sense to her father, who started it all for her, in such a sincere way. You could see the twinkle in her eyes as she soaked up every moment, reliving her childhood memories of performing this exact number with her Dad all those years ago.

From the ‘Wizard of Oz,’ through to what Rachel is possibly best known for ‘Wicked.’ It was her portrayal of ‘the green girl’ that reeled me in hook, line & sinker, I don’t want this to turn into a recollection of her time in Wicked but I do have to say that if it wasn’t for Wicked & Rachel I wouldn’t have gotten to know what seems like almost all of the people in that theatre, the connections it/she has helped us all make & the lives that have changed (yes i’m going to go there) ‘for the better’ is just completely astonishing to me, I am dumbfounded by the fact that if not for this show all of the people I consider my closest friend’s, I wouldn’t even know existed & without them I don’t know where I’d be.. moving swiftly along to Defying Gravity. Being the …. passionate ‘fan’ that I am, let’s just say i’ve heard Tucker cast this enchanting spell ‘live’ more than 50 times & not once has she ever let me or herself down. That song, with her voice & the perfect amount of passion will always be beyond compare or comprehension. There are just some performances you will never be able to actually explain in words, you need to be sitting with a like minded friend that you can turn to & just give them the “what the …. face” & head shake & then you both understand each other as much as not understanding the miracle you just witnessed. When it was first announced that Tucker would be putting a version of Defying Gravity on her album, we all had the thought in the back of our minds, that desperate need/hope for them to just let her do it like Rachel & not change it so much like every other Elphaba seems to do. I understand that it needs to be different from the show version but at the same time I can’t help but think ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ I was so overjoyed when we heard this rendition for the first time live, to discover that they had stayed as true as they possibly could to the Defying Gravity that she did night after night, whilst still managing to rearrange it enough to make it stand apart. Hat’s off to the musical geniuses behind that masterpiece. Rachel Tucker’s Defying Gravity will always be the heart stopping moment for me when she truly lets her voice & her heart soar beyond anything you can possibly imagine. So as she stopped all the hearts in that room, it seemed only appropriate for a interval or what I like to call ‘recovery time.’

After almost enough time to recover it was straight back into it all with another upbeat number from Tucker’s album ‘The Reason.’ ‘One Night Only’ is one of those stand up & take notice songs, especially when Tucker puts her spin on it so it seemed like the perfect choice to get us back into the groove of things for act 2. The things this woman does with her voice in this song blows my mind, the energy and power behind every note is mind boggling as always and all whilst once again strutting some serious moves. Another moment when the audience were all (i’m sure) just waiting for that one brave soul to rise to their feet & boogie along, so they could join them.

Slowing it right down for ‘No One But You’ the Queen classic which Rachel sung time & again as Meat in ‘We Will Rock You,’ her first Westend Show. I don’t think i’ll ever get over not being around when she was gracing the Dominion stage but getting to see her perform this beautiful and heart wrenching song in her own way is something rather special to hold on to instead. At her launch Tucker told us about how much this song means to any ‘We Will Rock You’ cast member & that she’ll only ever think of ‘Freddie’ when she sings it. It’s one those songs that is timeless & such an emotional roller coaster, specially when done the right way. Boy does Tucker do it justice, so gentle & subtle where it should be, she sings it with such a meticulous & conscientious manner. Every note, riff or breath seemed to be timed & delivered to perfection.

Now for another highlight of the night…. Rachel Tucker does TINA TURNER! I said earlier that I believe Rachel could be a comedian, well her Tina impression could be her main act, I did not know Rachel could do that. I think she shocked us all bringing that out of her back pocket. She lead into this performance by telling us how much of an influence Tina had, had on her & that she taught her to belt at the age of 9, well all I can say is Thank you, Tina! Rachel seemed to be almost possessed by Tina as she talked us through some of the famous mannerisms of hers in the lead up to the song.

(I don’t usually post pics where people are pulling ‘funny’ faces, but it’s the Tina faces, I think it had to be done).

There really are no words for how perfect this set was, once again the audience was lapping it up & she showed us something we’d never seen from her, not only was she embodying Tina but she was even singing it with a Tina voice, this was basically a Masterclass by Rachel Tucker on how to be Tina, if only we’d been allowed to film, then I could relive it & learn how to shake my tail feather. Maybe it’s time for a Tina Youtube session. What struck me is that i’ve just recently seen ‘Soul Sister’ the Tina musical with Jenny Fitzpatrick playing the role of Tina & she has Tina locked down & I mean LOCKED down, but seeing Rachel doing it she too has got Tina locked down. Another reason this was a highlight was having her engaging so much with Jenn & Stevie again & bringing them back out for some more centre stage action, all teaching us how it’s done. The energy they put into this was exhausting just to watch, so much energy, which may explain the slightly blurry pictures, below, sorry.

After that I think the entire room was in need of a breather, so the perfect time to slow it down with something a bit more personal & meaningful to Rachel ‘Gone Too Soon,’ the song from the album that she added after the loss of her Mother. This intimate moment that Rachel shared seated next to her guitarist Drew Lowe (I believe i’ve got that right) was so poignant & captivating as the emotions from the whole room just poured out, you had to just sit back & reflect, soaking it all in & getting lost in the meaning the song has for you.

I guess not being british, or perhaps I was just born in the wrong era, but somehow The Beatles have never really been on my radar except for the massive classics, like ‘Imagine,’ ‘Hey Jude,’ ‘Across the Universe’ & ‘Here Comes The Sun,’ (Thank you Louise Dearman). I mean I probably know more of their songs than I think, but if someone played me a song & asked who it was, I probably couldn’t say & after hearing Rachel smash ‘Oh Darling,’ out of the St James I’ve decided I was a deprived child & will have to have words with my parents. Rachel told us of an audition for a Beatles musical that she got the almighty ‘Next… please’ for before singing this & after her rendition of this song, I am left downright baffled as to how anyone could ever say ‘Next… please,’ to Rachel Tucker, I am pretty sure the appropriate response to any performance she gives should be along the lines of an immediate standing ovation & demanding an encore, ‘she’s the one we need!’ Just my humble (possibly biased) opinion.

‘Small Bump’ is my most played song from Tuckers album so far, I just love it. It is simply beautiful, so much heart & soul & it’s just an immaculate rendition of a precious song. Knowing that Rachel added it to the album for her then ‘bump’ now baby Ben just adds a whole other dimension of allure to the song, drawing you in as she tugs at your heart strings. When I watch her perform it I can’t help but think one day Ben is going to be old enough to comprehend that she did that for him, it is just so precious.

Now for the part where I literally died right there in my seat, I still don’t believe my heart has gotten back to it’s regular rhythm. This segment again started with an interesting story about an audition she was passed up for & a sneaky trip to London to see a show which happened to be Chicago. Rachel grabbed some props and prepared us for her dance number. It’s funny I’ve always considered Rachel to be a triple threat even though I hadn’t actually really seen her dance, so the thought of her doing a proper wee dance number had me taken back for a split second until I realised that for the last 2 years my friends & I have been going on about how we though Rachel & Louise should be in Chicago & that we just wanted to see them dance, then the excitement & curiosity set in.

There of course was that longing glance over at Louise who just happened to be sitting at the end of our row &  the thought of how could she not be performing as she had told us time & again. Then back to Rachel to soak in this thing that was completely new to me. There she is singing away & suddenly Louise leaps out of her chair and grabs the props too. Cue and entire audiences jaws dropping to the floor. Can someone remind me to call the St James & see if they can deliver mine back to me at some stage.

I don’t think i’ve ever seen a stunt like that pulled off so well before, they sure had us fooled. I knew Louise is a dancer & as with Rachel have been wanting to see her dance for forever, so this was just gold. I don’t think there are any words that can describe the perfection that Rachel Tucker & Louise Dearman are when on stage together.  This was the first proper Tuckman reunion on stage since Louise left Wicked (the first time) almost 2 years ago (Kerry’s gig doesn’t count, as it wasn’t just Tuckman) it just made my heart happy to see these ‘stage soul mates,’ as I like to call them, finally together again & doing what they do best, performing their socks off. Separately they are both a talent mystery to me, in that how can either of them have the talent they do, but when they are together it’s a whole new level of unexplainable phenomena. They were on fire & just light up that stage like only they can & with epic dance moves to boot. These two were born to perform together, someone just write them their own damn musical already please, with dance numbers.

Considering most of the audience was left in heart failure after that, it seemed quite appropriate that the next song was ‘Being Alive,’ a song that Rachel introduced me too. I remember for a while I couldn’t listen to it, because I discovered it around the time of the Christchurch Earthquakes & every time it came on there was another aftershock, it began to get eerie. It still evokes a lot of emotions/memories for me but it’s good to be reminded of situations you survived. Rachel sings it with so much strength & what can I say that hasn’t already been said? She is the queen of the belt & growl & has an extraordinary knack for making everything her own.

You can not open the ‘London Festival of Cabaret’ without giving us a bit of Cabaret & seeing as it’s one of Tucker’s signature songs, that I had yet to actually hear her sing live, I was pleasantly surprised when I heard it start to play. I remember seeing her perform it on ‘I’d Do Anything,’ it was THE performance of the entire show. Whenever I hear this song it always comes back to Tucker. Even a few weeks back at the Bridgehouse Theatre in Penge I saw the incomparable & completely mesmerising Jessie Buckley perform it & she is the only person to have ever gotten up their with Tucker, but she still brought it back to her by rewording some of the lyrics as a homage to her, so Cabaret just is Tucker & seeing it live now, wow! She leaps into that character & becomes her, it was frankly an honour to see her do that & as the ‘last’ number of the night, what a way to finish, leaving us wanting so much more.

…And more we got. I do love when a performer doesn’t drag out the encore & leave us wondering, she promptly responded to the vigorous cheers & standing ovation, coming back out to blow us away with the title track from her album ‘The Reason.’ Everyone loves a bit of Celine especially when it’s done by Rachel Tucker. It is the title track for a reason, she glides through this song with a flawless charm showing off her vocal chops &  reminding us again that she knows how to belt it out like Tina…. & Celine.

When you have put on a show as impeccable as the show Rachel had just put on, I think she had every right to perform a song such as ‘I’m The Greatest Star.’ I wasn’t familiar with this before & now I find it stuck in my head, such a befitting way to start the end of the tour de force that was Rachel Tucker Live. A little bit of cheek & humour to lead us into the finale ‘Don’t Rain On My Parade,’ all I can say at this point is that no one can ever Rain on the Rachel Tucker Parade. She & the team of masterminds that helped put on this stupendous show should all be extremely proud of what they helped Rachel accomplish, which was for me, the gig of the 2013. Nothing can top what that room were treated too, a touch of pure magic from a force to be reckoned with.

I am in complete awe of the way this concert was put together with an astonishingly talented band, Keys – Barney Ashworth, Drums – Nick Polley, Bass – Phil Donnelly, Trumpet – James Lawrence, Guitar – Drew Lowe all lead by the incredible Musical Director: Liam Holmes and the beautiful and talented Jenn Tierney & Stevie Tate-Bauer who provided flawless backing vocals throughout the night.

One last thing, sometimes you go to a gig & there doesn’t seem to be any kind of natural flow through the song selection, I have never been more appreciative of proper set list planning, you can tell that there was so much thought put into every single detail of the show from start to finish, musical interludes, anecdotes, everything and it paid off with a resounding success, the slickest concert/cabaret I have ever had the privilege of witnessing & has now raised the bar an insane amount.

What more can I say but thank you to Rachel & the team behind her.

Also thank you to anyone who has actually made it to the end of this my debut blog. This was a special one, hence the length. I promise you not many (if any) of them will be this long, even if I am the Waffling Kiwi.