JUST JIM DALE
'A New York Treasure'
in his one man show JUST JIM DALE performs at
The Schoolhouse Theater, GPS ADDRESS: 3 OWEN(S) ROAD NORTH SALEM, NY 10560
Thursday, December 13 @ 8pm
Saturday, December 15th @ 3pm and also at 8pm.
This well beloved New York Tony Award Winner starred many times on Broadway including JPBarnum in Cy Coleman's BARNUM (with Glenn Close)
Jim Dale is the last of the great old music hall performers. He sings, he dances, he tells jokes with exquisite timing, but overall he exudes energy that is simply contagious
For 90 minutes he never leaves the stage. Just Jim and a wonderful accompanist, Mark York who has been accompanying Jim, as he explained, for decades in the style of and reminiscent of Cy Coleman and Jerry Herman. It’s the most engaging hour-and-a-half seen in decades.
Those of us who saw him sing while crossing stage on an eight-foot-high tightrope in “Barnum” have always known that he had great control of his body. But in this show the visuals are so natural, and yet so extraordinary as to create an entirely new aspect of his talent.
He does a very good rendition of “Georgy Girl,” for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for having written the lyrics. His description of the endless recordings of the endless Harry Potter books, and the multiple voices he invented for them, is priceless.
He’s a New York treasure, not seen often enough, perhaps, on our stages here, but when he does appear, it’s like the embrace of a good old friend, who makes you have real belly laughs even when you haven’t seen one another for years.
I urge you to rush to see the show butt you must go soon because the amount of energy exploding from Jim Dale is likely to create spontaneous combustion, ending up in a puff of smoke.
Diahn McGrath
S