Dramatic and
Effervescent Shirley Casts a Spell From Belfast Telegraph, by Eddie McIlwaine, May 10 2000
Imagine forking out serious money for a ticket to peck a 64-year-old
diva on the cheek. That's what a few grey-haired cheeky chappies were doing
down on Laganside.
Mind you, in between they picked up red roses and listened to some great
and stirring ballads.
For the superstar they were privileged to be leaping out of their front
seats to gently kiss across the footlights last night was Shirley Bassey
who is really ageless after all.
Dame Shirley sang Kiss Me Honey Honey Kiss Me with a twinkle in her
eye that was definitely an invite. And up they daringly wiggled to pay
this Dame homage.
She's a shapely, leggy example of women kind. If there were more 60-plus
ladies around as well preserved as she, retired gents out with the dog
on daily rounds of the park, wondering how to pass the rest of the day
would become an endangered species. And I know I'm going to bring a lot
of wrath down on my head for that statement.
But Shirley at the Waterfront in her trailing gowns and with that big
voice as dramatic and effervescent as ever and those beautiful arms and
hands motioning her sincerity on all of us, was one of those remember when
kind of concerts that will be talked about for years.
This larger-than-life entertainer with traditions of presentation that
are being neglected everywhere else today casts a spell over her audience
- and she dearly loves being a Dame. "It's the highest honour the Queen
can confer on a lady," she pointed out. And then with a chuckle: "It means
I'm not a Miss any more. And there were times when I was amiss. "Bassey
from Cardiff is as full of life today as she was way back in 1954 when
she was earning £18 a week at the Candie Theatre in Guernsey with
the late Derek Marsden as her accompanist.
Find out for yourself if you can get a ticket - Dame Shirley is doing
it all again tonight and again tomorrow evening.
But isn't it sad that just down the street at the Group Theatre the
play Ruby is telling a contrasting story of another well-loved singer,
Belfast-born Ruby Murray who couldn't cope with the trials and tribulations
of show business and died three years ago at only 61.