Crazy Coqs regular, cabaret and celebrated recording artist Barb Jungr and founder member of Level 42, composer and arranger, Mike Lindup, present the very first public performance of their new song cycle, Soho Songs.
For some time, singer and writer Barb Jungr, entranced by its unique history and her experiences of working there for the last 40 or so years as a singer and performer, wanted to make a piece of work about Soho.
Mike Lindup’s relationship to Soho is formed over half a century, as a child visiting with his parents, both of whom were working musicians and as an adult as a musician himself, both in the pit and on stage. ‘Soho Songs’ is their homage to London’s most extraordinary square mile.
Soho. A magical place. Where everyone comes to make their dreams come true. A pub bar. A day dawns. The homeless person sees everything. The Landlady prepares for another bloody scrap to keep her pub open, as Soho is eroded by developers’ who eat the past and regurgitate everything into another block of super flats.
Trafficked women, bouncers, the pit musician, drag queens and burlesque dancers, croupiers, actors and luvvies, dancers and chancers; they all come to the legendary Shangri-La pub to share their stories, have a laugh or to tell their tortured tales As the night welcomes another dawn, the disco lights spin on, the glamour fades and the homeless man returns to his pitch. Come and join us at Shangri-La before last orders.
Semi staged at Crazy Coqs by Peter Glanville, Artistic Director of Polka Theatre.
Barb Jungr and Mike Lindup previously wrote all songs and music for ‘Liver Birds Flying Home’, which ran at The Royal Court, Liverpool for 4 weeks in 2018.
Soho Songs features an ensemble cast of 4 fabulous singers Lucinda Lawrence, Robbie Noonan, Nate Rogers and Manon Taris, with a trio of stunning musicians; Mark Edwards -piano, Arnie Somogyi – bass and Darren Beckett – drums.
Soho Songs is at Crazy Coqs, London 20 June, 2022 at 7pm
