“Nobody hires me to do musical theatre any more, so I do cruise ships instead.” Cassidy Janson, whose West End credits include &Juliet, Beautiful, and much more besides, uses what one hopes is an oversimplification to discuss the beauty of the Norwegian Arctic landscape, experiencing the midnight sun at the height of summer, and witnessing the glories of the Aurora Borealis.
As with every performer in this season of cabarets devised and produced by performer and climate activist Janie Dee, Janson’s intra-song anecdotes are nature-related and designed to get us fired up about the world in which we live, and which needs saving.
But in truth, it’s much more about being able to witness the performer in an intimate setting, much closer and less formal than Janson’s recent Vaudeville Theatre concert. There is a sense that we are witnessing an uncaged creature revelling in being free in its natural habitat – a spotlight in front of a velvet curtain.
Of course, this being Janson, she starts the concert by getting caught up in the curtain, bringing unintended flashes of her humour to what is otherwise a straight rendition of Before The Parade Passes By from Hello, Dolly! (“a typical ‘me’ opening,” she quips). Herman – and, indeed, Streisand, whose vocal stylings match Janson’s own – will reappear after some Gershwin (Someone to Watch Over Me, tied into a tale about how trees share nutrients with their sick neighbouring trees), an obscure Alan Menken song and a Beatles/Annie Lennox mash-up.
Streisand ends an all-too-short first act with a four-song medley (The Way We Were, People, Evergreen and, of course, Don’t Rain on My Parade). The second half of Janson’s cabaret focuses more on the musical theatre side, with some of Janson’s West End history touched upon: I’m Not That Girl referencing her role as the original understudy Elphaba in Wicked, and Come to Your Senses, which Janson sings for the first time since 2005, performing with Neil Patrick Harris in Tick… Tick… BOOM!.
The natural world-related anecdotes continue, with glee at retelling elements of a recent falconry day segueing nicely, if a little cornily, into The Wind Beneath My Wings. But it is the musical medium in which Janson feels most at home, and we get a reminiscence of her 2024 appearance in Jerry’s Girls with another Jerry Herman number (If He Walked Into My Life, originally from Mame).
We also get to hear Janson’s version of I Dreamed a Dream, even though in a hilarious (and expletive-ridden) anecdote, the performer reveals that she is now being asked if she wants to play Mme Thénardier in Les Misérables rather than Fantine. She may not be ready to take on that role, but the Sondheim Theatre’s loss is clearly cabaret’s gain.
We conclude, of course, with a series of songs from the aptly named Beautiful, the Carole King musical in which Janson took over the lead role. From the titular song to You’ve Got a Friend and the encore, (You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman, the ties to the theme of the Beautiful World Cabarets season are there, if slight.
Could the cabarets be overloaded with more connection to the climate catastrophe? Almost certainly. But while Janie Dee works out how to promote climate action without dampening the joy of experiencing top-flight cabaret artistes up close, we can still enjoy the show. Janson is the perfect exponent of that: warm, funny and reminding us, and the planet, that we’ve got a friend.
Reviewed on 6 July 2025. Beautiful World Cabarets season runs until 13 July 2025
