Concept, Book and Lyrics: Don Black
Music: David Arnold, Gary Barlow, Mike Batt, Natasha Bedingfield, George Fenton, Geoff Marrow, Alexander Rudd, Fraser T Smith, Geoff Stevens, Gay-Yee Westerhoff
Director: Nick Winston
Before he was a lyricist, Don Black was a stand-up comedian. To even attempt to succeed in that industry, you need a sharp observational eye and the ability to find humour and tragedy in the parts of life that others think of as humdrum. It’s exactly that skill that, when turned to lyric writing, has propelled him to become one of the best and most beloved lyricists of all time.
With an Oscar, two Tony Awards, a Golden Globe and countless other awards, the co-writer of songs that range from Born Free to Michael Jackson’s Ben and five James Bond themes, and musicals including several in collaboration with Andrew Lloyd Webber, an evening with Don Black’s name on the marquee could so easily just be an evening of nostalgic performances from his back catalogue. Instead, Black has spent years fulfilling his mission to write a revue show that harks back to his favourite style of performance, the cabaret night.
Black’s voice plays out between songs, explaining his love for the New York cabaret scene as well as elements of his take on life. These prerecorded clips don’t directly talk about the songs before or after, but they nonetheless provide a natural flow from number to otherwise unrelated number. Each song stands alone, a microcosm of storytelling written for the cabaret form. With no responsibility to sit within a larger musical theatre narrative, the self-contained nature of each song showcases Black’s ability to conjure a whole world in a few rhyming couplets.
Many of the numbers lean into Black’s comedic view of life. Clive Rowe conjures up a man who’s trying to change his doctor because his current one is fixated on making living a healthy but boring life; Caroline O’Connor is an A-List star who dreams of giving up the celebrity life and becoming a short-order waitress. Shona McGarty and Frances Mayli McCann also get some comedic moments, but both excel in delivering some of Black’s moodier, more emotionally powerful moments.
Indeed, both Rowe and fellow West End star Michael D. Xavier sometimes feel a little underutilised in a show that gives the lion’s share of the performance to the women in the cast. The two men do share a great number, another comedic slice of life as two reformed alcoholics whose limited beverage choices are lampooned in Fizzy or Still.
There is also space in the schedule for a musical guest star, evoking the spirit of how Black’s beloved New York cabaret bars might receive a visit from a Broadway performer who sings a number just because they can. On press night, the performer was Michael Ball, reprising Love Changes Everything from the Don Black/Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Aspects of Love, the show that gave Ball his big break.
Befitting the cabaret bar vibes, the musical accompaniment is limited to just a piano and double bass, Joseph Church and Oliver Copeland nevertheless filling out the sound in a manner befitting a West End auditorium. Sophia Pardon’s set gently mixes elements from a Hollywood sound stage with theatrical backstage elements alongside cabaret tables, further emphasising how Black’s work has permeated through so many different strata of performance styles and media.
The musical collaborators in the songs Black has assembled for the evening are many and various, from Mike Batt and David Arnold to Gary Barlow and Natasha Bedingfield. There is also a collaboration with George Fenton, although the prerecorded nature of the song links means there is no way to mark Fenton’s passing earlier this week. But then, From the Heart is not really about looking back. Even when raising the topic of losing Shirley, his beloved wife of 60 years, songs about grief are about moving forward (another beautiful performance by Rowe with Guessing Alone, about no longer being able to enjoy quiz shows together).
The main programme draws to an end with a reprise of the show’s titular opening number, a celebration of the joys of a good three-minute cabaret song. And if it ended there, From the Heart would be a great, if rather short, evening out. But as a grand finale, we are treated to a medley of some of Black’s famous works. And while we race through a back catalogue expansive enough that it could have filled the entire evening, the arrangements allow each performance to shine.
From combining Black’s Bond themes into a single work, with the lyrics from Diamonds Are Forever and Thunderball forming a curiously appropriate call-and-response, to a selection of Black’s work with Lloyd Webber, it illustrates the breadth and familiarity of the lyricist’s work in the pantheon of great songwriting. It also allows Xavier to revisit the title song from Sunset Boulevard. If he is underused up to this point, that performance alone gives the audience their money’s worth.
This final moment gives some other pleasant surprises, with former EastEnders actress McGarty giving a heartfelt rendition of Anyone Can Fall in Love, for which Black added lyrics to Simon May’s soap opera theme. The night ends with the majestic Born Free, the title song from which gave Black his Oscar win at the age of 26. It’s a song celebrating that “life is worth living”, which also seems to sum up Don Black’s attitude in general. It’s a life well lived, full of love and laughter. In its exemplary construction and performance, From the Heart offers a masterclass of songwriting that succeeds in sharing Black’s joy of life with us.
Runs until 18 October 2026
