INTERVIEW: Fascinating Aïda’s Dillie Keane brings solo cabaret show to 59E59
Dillie Keane, one third of the popular British singing group Fascinating Aïda, has brought her new solo cabaret show to 59E59 in midtown Manhattan. The incomparable performer has lived a full life with nearly 35 years as a songwriter and singer, and some of her memories are part of Hello Dillie!, playing through July 3 as part of the Brits Off-Broadway Festival at 59E59.
“I’ve been writing songs for now nearly 35 years, and I’ve amassed a collection which are quite personal to me,” Keane said recently during a phone interview. “And there [are] very old songs and very new songs, and so they span a lifetime. There are stories about how the songs came about and how the songs get written. … It’ll make you cry, I think, because people keep saying, ‘Oh my God, you made me cry,’ and it’s also terribly funny about getting older, and life and finding the right person. So it’s sort of semi-autobiographical without being too indulgent.”
The show, which toured the United Kingdom, had its origins after the members of Fascinating Aïda decided to take a break from performing. After successfully touring in 2015, the group, which also consists of Adèle Anderson and Liza Pulman, took a long holiday for three months. They were going to begin again with that year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe; however, news of Anderson’s cancer diagnosis delayed their return. This left Keane and Pulman with time to focus on their solo performing.
“We got the news that she was diagnosed with cancer, which was a terrible shock, and so I ended up doing my show much longer because we had to cancel Fascinating Aïda during the Edinburgh Festival,” Keane said. “And I stepped into the breach [at Edinburgh] because it was too late to cancel the venue and everything, and then I went to Berlin with the show. And I did a big tour this year, which went very well. … I’m just chugging on with the show, and it’s taken on a life of its own.”
It appears after a summer of solo touring — Keane at 59E59 in New York City, Pulman touring the United Kingdom with her show Liza Pulman Sings Hollywood and Anderson in Gloomy Sunday — the trio will reconnect for this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August.
Fascinating Aïda is one of the most successful cabaret groupings of all time. The trio has amassed more than 17 million YouTube views. Keane’s ode to “dogging,” featuring perfect comedic timing and carefully chosen lyrics, has been viewed more than 2 million times on YouTube. The three performers also brought a show to 59E59 a few years ago, so Keane is familiar with the midtown theatrical venue.
CHANGING AUDIENCES
Keane is a singer and songwriter who has performed all over the world, and she notes a difference when she offers her songs to an American crowd. “Well, the difference with an American crowd is that an American crowd knows its cabaret,” she said. “It’s a much bigger deal for us to play in New York, and really we can’t skate over things. We have to really try and get it right.”
Even though Hello Dillie! will feature some classic tunes from Fascinating Aïda’s repertoire, written by both Keane and Anderson, this show is nowhere close to a career retrospective or final curtain call. Keane and the performers in Fascinating Aïda have a lot more to say and offer the crowds who keep buying tickets. “Oh, I think I still have mountains to climb,” Keane said. “I still have songs to write. I still have so much to do. … I just think I haven’t achieved nearly enough.”
She added: “I’m very into the work. I love the work. I love my work. I love it. I adore it. I love not doing it as well. I love the breaks because I live on a farm, and that’s a huge luxury. I have space around me, and I have a beautiful garden. We have animals. I grow fruit, and I like to take some time off in the summer so that I can do something with all the fruit I grow — freeze it. I’m quite domesticated in that way, and we have chickens and all that. … I have a lovely life. I’m not ready to retire to the country yet.”
However, the solo show allows Keane the chance to change her interpretation of material that might have been written decades ago. She has lived different experiences over the intervening years, and this means the lyrics can take on a new meaning.
“There’s a song I’m doing in the show called ‘Out of Practice,’ and I wrote it about 17 years ago,” she said. “I wrote it before I met my partner, and it was about the heart being out of practice. … The scenario is that you’re in a restaurant with this man you just met, and you’re kind of going, ‘Oh, help. No, please don’t. My life is fine without you. I don’t need you.’ Well, the heart is out of practice. … I don’t think I realized when I was younger how much emotion was in the song and how much fear was in the song, and so it’s much more interesting now to play that.”
DEVELOPING A SONG LIST
With nearly 35 years of material to choose from, the song selection process can be difficult. To put together Hello Dillie!, Keane had actor-director Simon Green to help for the U.S. engagement and Michael Fitzgerald for the U.K. tour. She is also joined by pianist Michael Roulston to help her interpret the songs, which she co-wrote with Anderson. Still, the song selection was difficult. The singer had to be precise in carving out a performance that runs 90 minutes with intermission.
“There’s one I’m not doing, and I just can’t work it into the show,” she admitted. “And that’s ‘Look Mummy No Hands.’ I just can’t work it into the show without changing the structure, you know, really badly. … So we made the very brave decision to leave it out. In a way, it’s a big decision because that’s, I think, the best song I’ve ever written, but I think you also have to sometimes make brave decisions.”
One song that did make the Hello Dillie! is “Shattered Illusions,” which some people might recognize from Patti LuPone’s shows. “You have to give the audience a little bit of what they want because otherwise they leave dissatisfied, but you’ve also got to push yourself to be brave,” Keane said.
The cabaret show that toured the U.K. and played Edinburgh has evolved over the months. Keane has changed one or two songs, and the running time for New York is slightly shorter than previous incarnations. She reworked the pacing with Green, her director who has also performed at 59E59’s E-Café.
A HOLIDAY
Before continuing with the interview, Keane needed to take a momentary break. “My little friend has just brought me a gin and tonic,” she said with a laugh. “That’s very nice. We’re having a holiday weekend with family, so it’s really nice. … We’ve picked a wonderful sunny evening in a beautiful spot. I can’t tell you; this is like England at its most magical. We’re in a walled garden with little box hedging and beautiful flowers. It’s just so beautiful you just almost want to cry.”
Leaving family and friends, her home in the country and the chance to have these weekend holidays is a big decision, but Keane is disciplined about her work. She reasoned a long time ago that performing is her profession, and sometimes that means missing a party here or a party there.
“I refuse to let it affect me,” she said. “[However,] there are times when you just say, ‘OK, this is too important.’ We were supposed to come back to the States, and my partner was ill. … It was a great shame because we had that superb review from The New York Times, and suddenly we’re kind of the hot thing on the block. And it was really exciting, and you just have to say, ‘No, life has to come first.’ But mostly I just think, ‘No, I’m on tour. Let me enjoy it.’ I have a wonderful, rich life. I know lots of different places. I’ve been all over the place. How blessed I am, so I don’t complain. I don’t complain if I miss things, and I don’t complain if I’m away from home. … How lucky am I. I see the positive. I’m a real glass-half-full girl.”
Hello Dillie! promises to offer a 90-minute portrait of Keane’s life with a positive message by the end. Here’s how the singer-songwriter summarized its impact on the audience: “No matter how you keep stumbling through, and you make mistakes, and you make terrible mistakes about judgments about people and all that, somehow we get through it all, and we can still have fun. And you know here I am. I was 64 on Monday, and I’m still working. I’m so grateful.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Hello Dillie! is currently playing 59E59 Theaters at 59 E. 59th St. in New York through Sunday, July 3. Click here for more information.
