YORKSHIRE diva Jane McDonald is chuffed to be playing the re-launched York Barbican this weekend.
“I’m absolutely thrilled and it was lovely to be one of the first concerts to be confirmed for there. We always have a great time in York, such a great response,” says Jane, whose last York visit was for two nights at the Grand Opera House in March, 2010.
This time, the star of the BBC’s 1998 docu-soap The Cruise will be performing at the Barbican tomorrow night. “It’s an honour to be doing a show there so soon after it’s re-opened,” she says.
Expect a big, big show: big Wakefield voice, big hair, fabulous dresses. “And I’ve still got this 15-piece orchestra. In fact, there’s more! I now have the fantastic Daniel Pearce, who won Popstars –The Rivals, along with Girls Aloud, when he was in One True Voice,” she says.
“He then had another crack at it which didn’t quite work and now I’ve got him with me and he’s an absolute talent as a singer and percussionist, so we’ve now got two drummers on stage.
“We have three blonde backing singers too, all of different ages, something for everyone – and obviously it makes me look younger!”
Jane’s 2011 show has 40 minutes of fresh material. “I’ve now got this Stevie Wonder section – I Wish, Sir Duke, For Once In My Life, Another Star – as we have this great rhythm section,” she says.
“I was down at Glastonbury, not at the festival, when Stevie played there last year and I could hear his singing in the air, and I got talking about how fantastic his songs were.”
The appointment of a new musical director, Barry Robinson, led to Jane revamping her show, not least adding the Wonder numbers.
“I had to change as I’d come out of a lot of things last year, like leaving Loose Women,” says the 48-year-old singer and chat-show panellist. “I was thinking, ‘I need new energy’, and Barry has come up with so many ideas for the new show.”
Such as? “I usually start off with a ballad, but now I’m doing Rose Royce’s Is It Love You’re After, the big funky number, so we can show everyone off,” says Jane.
“And at last I’ve got seven of my own songs in there. Barry said to me, ‘Excuse me, you’ve got 15 songs you’ve written; why aren’t you doing these? They’re really good songs’. Before, we just didn’t have the right arrangements, but now Barry and Robin Smith, who worked with Tina Turner, and Brian Shaw, the promoter, have put together a 13-minute medley of my songs.”
The show finishes with one of Jane’s ballads. “I’ve written things that have been quite autobiographical, like The Hand That Leaves Me, which is about my mother, so I end with that.”
As ever, Jane’s frocks will be a talking point. On the day of her York Twenty4Seven interview, her designer, Kaye Heeley, was coming round for a dress fitting.
“She’s absolutely phenomenal. I found her in a local shop, Hoopsadaisy, a bridal shop in Wakefield, where the manager just said to me one day, ‘I think you should work with Kaye as she’s really talented,” says Jane.
“She’s done some absolute crackers for me this time. I’ve dresses in turquoise, pink, and with all the feathers and diamante that goes with that.”
You can always see what Jane pours into making her concert the glitzy cabaret night it is: the dresses she wears, the orchestra, the backing singers. “Ken Dodd once to me, ‘Yes, you’re a good act but you never make any money’, which is true because I do spend on the show.
“I just think that if people have paid a lot to see you, the least you can do is make an effort. It’s a show! Mine is a proper, old-fashioned good night out… sometimes a family show. I’m never risqué.”
You have been known to be saucy on stage, Jane. “I think it’s more risqué on Loose Women,” she says.
She has no regrets about leaving ITV1’s lunchtime gallery of gossip and girl issues last August. “We won every award going with Loose Women and I was there at the best time, but I just didn’t have enough time for other things,” she says. “I’m now on Alan Titchmarsh’s show and I do voiceovers for Five Go To for Channel 4, though I only do the voiceovers unfortunately [rather than going to the destinations].
“I’m also a writer, a designer, a producer, and I just didn’t have time for everything, my family, my partner and being on the road for half a year.
“And now that I’ve got a new producer to work with in the studio, there’s talk of me doing two albums – because of the interest in my songs, I’m being encouraged to do more songwriting for one of them.”
• Jane McDonald plays York Barbican tomorrow, 7.30pm. Tickets update: still available on 0844 854 2757.
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