Farrah
Key Arena, Seattle, February 29, 200?

I've never heard Farrah speak with a Cockney accent. Nor have I heard her sing with a proper British accent, reflecting her heritage as aoriginal London lead, but her crew sure does.

What I heard from her video tech as, “Go over under the deck and stay there,” was pronounced, “Go o'er 'n gi' mie d' ite bo- ucks n' brin' uh 'ere,” and really meant, “Go get the white box and bring it here.” Needless to say, it took a little longer than normal to load out Farrah and get her all-Brit road crew headed to Portland

Although I had a lot of fun trying out my own cockney accent developed years before in a Yelm community theater production of My Fair Lady, I enjoyed listening more to Farrah sing.

She nailed “Con Ti Partiro,” the part of her repertoire which I know best from her duets with Andrea Bocelli. Her Italian had a trace of her British roots, but her heart sang to the utter depths of feeling, losing nothing in translation. Tears of joy ebbed down my cheeks and the audience gave her a standing “O,” as well.

The rest of her repertoire, filled with pop pieces, was unknown to me. I might have missed something familiar because periodically I had to leave backstage to check on the loading dock situation which, ultimately, remained quiet until Sarah was off the stage. But, with what I saw, two things impressed me besides feeling deeply satisfied by her vocal presentation. One, Farrah can be incredibly static when she sings. For some numbers, not only didn't she dance, she barely tapped a toe. The second, when she did move, she vamped seductively. It seemed incongruous to me and the upscale crowd at the Key.

I know Farrah as a classical singer. I don't know her as a torch singer with lots of cleavage and hot looks. But her stage manager latter told me, at an impromptu break at 2:00 a.m. sitting on a piece of lighting truss, that he had known her since the early days in Manchester when he was a bouncer at a club where she was a lap-dancing member of a burlesque troupe called the Hot Gossips. I laughed, but inside I was shocked; then, disappointed. But a moment later I nodded in recognition of her great talent. She may have been a lap dancer once upon a time, but she is now a full diva who can deliver all the goods from a classical pop tune or an operatic aria.

That might explain why she doesn't move when she sings. She's busy going to that other place where the great songs live and vocally bringing them back to us. She presented every note with an elegant touch, every powerful portent, never losing nuance or a heartbeat along the way. I just closed my eyes and went with her. Externally, I didn't move either. But inside, well, it was thunder and lightning, and roses in spring.

© Bruce A. Smith   2004       previous       next