Olivia brings Subtle, Style, Enchantment to Nightclub Act
By John Huddy, Herald Entertainment Editor
Considering what usually works in a sprawling supperclub the size of the Diplomat’s Cafe Cristal, the rather spectacular success story this week of Olivia Newton-John makes talent, no matter its across in any environment.
Do anything well enough, including an incongruous mix of folk and country sung by an English lass raised in Australia but now living in America, and people will turn out.
SHOW the point that real REVIEW genre, can come.
They did to Newton-John’s opening the other evening, discovering in the process a lovely young performer of intelligence and style who is halfway between the status of nightclub trouper and newly arrived record act. After a turn by Fred Smoot, an engaging young comedic actor, the willowy Newton-John appears in a fluff of white gown smaller than expected, slender and very pretty.
The presentation is a disarmingly simple one, without the peaks and valleys one usually finds in the mainroom Beach nightclubs. Like good female singers in the past, Newton-John prefers it that way, emerging as a thoroughly feminine, unpretentious and eclectic artist who works without props. She prefers to relax and beguile rather than overwhelm.
ONCE PAST the first two soft country-and-western tunes that do little more than warm up the audience, Newton-John’s music turns as gentle as a spring rain. Beauty, so rarely experienced in nightclubs, is captured more than once by the singer with the low profile. “Love Song,” a lush enough tune with normal orchestration, is stripped of horns and given a folk-music treatment. But most enchanting are two songs we waited to hear all evening: “Have You Never Been Mellow” is as pretty as piece of music as we’ll find. And “I Honest-ly Love You,” the final number, proves emotionally stirring.
In the mouth of any other singer, these plaintive ballads might be a bit much. Vikki Carr, one suspects, would likely break down and sob for 15 minutes. Happily, Olivia Newton-John suffers no such histrionics.
The lady reproduces the original hit record, to the immense pleasure of her fans, but also expands its eloquence without sacrificing the composer’s plain speech. The Ms. from Down Under then sits on a stool, flashes the little girl smile and burrows deep into herself.
One sour note: For the first time that I can recall, the Diplomat orchestra consists solely of the star’s own rhythm section and a large section of strings. No brass. No reeds.
It is an unnecessary and limiting innovation, perhaps even insulting to the star. Olivia Newton-John needs no protection; she can sing and when she wants to, can sing with gusto and verve. She may offer a change of pace with the natural, unaffected moments of home-spun humor and pop-country jug-band songs, but she is capable of much more than that. The elegance found in other places in the act, notably at the end, represents Olivia Newton-John at her best. And such music is best served by a complete ensemble, not one section.
The Miami Herald, USA, April 9 1975
Olivia Smashes Diplomat Records
Olivia Newton-John, the fragile Aussie beauty who’s relatively new at the nightclub game, checked out of the Diplomat with more than her luggage. Newton-John shattered Liza Minnelli’s attendance mark by drawing nearly 17,000 fans to 17 shows.
Among her visitors: writers for Time and Family Circle magazines… Manager Jack Blum of the Loew’s Bay Harbor theater knows all about changing cinema styles and box-office comebacks. Blum is in his 51st year with Loews, having started in the m’oom picture business back in 1925 as an assistant manager for the chain…
Olivia performs at the Diplomat Resort and Country Clubs, Hollywood-by the Sea, Florida, USA, March 28 to April 5 1975.