Robert Tanitch reviews Just Jim Dale Still Carrying On at Vaudeville Theatre, London WC2
Jim Dale’s career began in the music hall when he was a teenager. He was a pop singer for two years and then became an actor.
Older theatregoers may have seen him when he was at the Young Vic and National Theatre in plays by Shakespeare, Moliere and Peter Nichols. His many roles included Launcelot Gobbo, Autolycus, Scapino and a male nurse, a devil-like figure
Cinemagoers will remember him from the Carry On films. He starred in 11 of them.
He went to America and became a Broadway star when he appeared in the musical, Barnum, in 1980.
Dale, 79-years-old and looking good and trim, is back in London with his one-man show for just 30 performances.
He is a pleasant enough performer; but the actual material he is working with is extremely thin and doesn’t really give him the opportunity to do himself justice.
He looks back on his career. He sings a bit. He dances a bit. He tells some corny jokes. He takes a tongue-twister very slowly and then does it at speed.
He quotes a whole string of phrases invented by Shakespeare. He acts a monologue from Noel Coward’s Fumed Oak and an excerpt from Nichol’s’ Joe Egg. He relives recording the Harry Potter novels in a cramped cubicle.
Jim Dale’s return to the London stage will obviously have a nostalgic appeal for all those who remember him with affection; but the show itself is only so-so and sadly there is no number to give it a lift and knock you for six.
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