Produced by: Hugh Fordin DRG Records 12993

Now you can plan the perfect evening. First, invite round some of your dearest friends, the ones who like a good story, who enjoy laughing till they cry and who appreciate the company of people with lots to say. Once all the coats have been hung up and the traffic discussed, sit them down and play them from start to finish this live recording of one of the surprise hits of 2002. And don’t worry either about what to cook, for Bea Arthur serves up all the elements of the perfect soirée, meal included, with a tantalising homage to Julia Child as her opening ‘number’. 

The fact that Ms Arthur chose to start her simply delightful one-woman show with a recipe was clearly no accident. Her aim in the show is to present songs and stories that have meant a lot to her over the years in an honest and straightforward manner. Not only does she put the audience at ease with her homespun beginning, but she also anchors the whole enterprise in an earthy reality that is both refreshing and captivating. Whilst on subsequent visits to the CD you may wish to pick out a favourite anecdote, be it affectionate or barbed, a joke, perhaps, told with masterful timing, or a song whose lyrics you previously thought you knew, make sure that you first plan an old-fashioned evening, rather as in the days when people used to gather round the radio and not only be entertained but enjoy too a sense of community and comradeship that, in the era of ‘texting’ and virtual meetings, may one day soon be lost forever. 

For those who enjoyed the show, this provides an almost complete reminder of a wonderful evening in the company of one of the great dames of Broadway and television. For those who never saw it, though they may have missed out on some of the nuances and beautiful comic interplay between Bea and her long-time friend Billy Goldenberg, there is plenty to enjoy in this as an album in its own right. Bea Arthur’s rasping, colourful delivery has been faithfully recorded; the vocals are crisp and clear, the sound levels of the audience’s clapping not intrusive or distracting (as it so often can be on subsequent visits to ‘live’ recordings) but sympathetic and appropriate to the ambiance of the event. 

Interwoven between the rich tapestry of glorious stories and personal insights of someone who has worked with some of the greatest figures in American show business history, are songs that are often spoke-sung yet lose nothing of their musicality. Comic numbers, defiant anthems and sad ballads are presented with a raw intensity which is utterly compelling. Ms Arthur paces herself, singing most songs just once through, but her delivery is so keen, her interpretations so astute that she has said everything she needs to in that one reading. The consummate actress delivers lyrics so finely coloured she could be conducting a masterclass. There are some numbers that are given extended attention, but the deftness of touch isn’t abandoned, so that her treatments of ‘Fifty Percent’ and ‘Some People’, for example, first soar and then land gently and gracefully back on terra firma, just as the mood demands. No one track better illustrates this artistry at work than Bea’s quite extraordinary interpretation of ‘Pirate Jenny’ from Kurt Weill’s ‘Threepenny Opera’, a theatrical tour de force that is charged with menace, passion and longing, yet neither over-sung nor overstated.