The Songbook of Adele sung by Kelly Holiff
By Mary Alderson
Note: This is not a review, due to the short run. Unfortunately this is now closed.
They are twins, so Kelly tells us. She and Adele were born in the same year, and both have the big hair, along with big voices. I can certainly add that they both have fantastic stage presence, tremendous voices, and wide vocal ranges.
I was at the Capitol Theatre in Port Hope to see the amazing Kelly Holiff sing Adele. WOW — what a voice! Kelly was in fine form. I enjoyed every minute of it. She sang all the Adele favourites, starting with “Hello”, obviously, and then covering many hits such as “When We Were Young”, “Someone Like You”, “Easy on Me”, “Rolling in the Deep”, the James Bond hit “Skyfall”, and of course, “Rumour Has It”, among many others.
Kelly not only sang her heart out and performed with amazing energy, she also kept us laughing with her self-deprecating humour and entertaining story-telling. But she didn’t finish the story about the boyfriend who was hard of hearing — what happened?
This was a very polished production. The four piece band (Sarah Richardson, Music Director & Piano; Will Hebbes on Guitars; Alex St. Kitts on Bass, and Aaron Spink, Percussion) and two back up singers (Malinda Carroll and Rosie Callaghan) were all excellent. Sound and lighting were perfect.
Kelly will be on the Stratford Festival stage in Rent this summer, so we can see her there. However, I think this means Rumour Has It will be on hiatus for the next 10 months or so. But I look forward to hearing about her taking it on the road again. If you see Rumour Has It coming to a theatre near you, don’t miss it! Also, theatre and venue operators: Contact Kelly or Director Jeremy Webb, and consider putting this show on your future schedules.
