For the last of my three recordings being reviewed for Broadway Records this month, it’s one I’ve been waiting for for quite a while - the Brits arrive at 54 Below, with the wonderful Danielle Hope in her one-woman show Bring The Future Faster. For those of you with short memories, Danielle started her career making her professional debut as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium alongside Michael Crawford after capturing the hearts of the nation and winning BBC’s smash hit television series Over The Rainbow against 9,000 girls. She then went on to star as Eponine in the West End production of Les Miserables at The Queens Theatre. Since then, she has played Cathy in The Last Five Years (Greenwich Theatre and The Warren Theatre) and is currently touring the UK as Maria in The Sound of Music.

Danielle is the first British name in Broadway Records’ 54 Below series, and I find this quite surprising. We have so much talent in the UK that would fit wonderfully into this venue - Julie Atherton, Maria Friedman, John Owen Jones, John Barr to name a few - and I hope we get to see those (and more) there soon. The album was recorded live at the performance in Feb 2015, and also features a guest appearance from Dan DeLuca. Hope is backed by a three-piece band, led by her musical director Steven Jamail, who has also done many of the arrangements for the album. I’m a big fan of Danielle - I rooted for her on the TV show, and saw her in both The Wizard of Oz and The Last Five Years, but I came away from listening to this album a little disappointed. I can’t pin it down to an exact reason - I don’t think the choice of material was right at times - there are several numbers that just don’t work. 'Mum’s Car Medley' is twee, but little else, 'Manhattan' is poorly executed and 'Music of The Night' is under-rehearsed and sounds a mess.

That’s not to say there is not good on here. Hope herself comes across as she always has - a star in the making, and extremely personable. She clearly has the talent and confidence to do anything she sets her mind to, and some of the vocals on the album are outstanding. I love her rendition of 'Bring The Future Faster' from Rooms, and 'Mambo Italiano', which she performed on the TV Show. Also, as expected, her performance of 'Over The Rainbow' is first rate, as are some of the numbers in the Disney selection, especially ‘Belle’ and ‘Part of Your World’.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the album. I just think a studio album would have a been a better opener for Hope. The inclusions of some more recent Broadway songs, or something a little more ‘edgy’ in this programme would have also been an improvement. Still, at least we now have more of Danielle available on CD, so for that, we have to thank Broadway Records. And look forward, hopefully, for more to come from this extremely talented Brit.

7

Ian Gude