Martine McCutcheonMusicalityReview

It's refreshing to see Martine McCutcheon tackling Broadway standards and songs from the shows. She has professed her love of Barbra Streisand and Liza Minnelli, and must be applauded for having the courage to tackle this material.

The Broadway tradition still survives because many of the songs are of the highest quality. You need a big voice and a big personality to sing them. Theatre acting, particularly musicals, requires the artiste to start over the top and then go further over. Whereas television, Martine's forte so far, works best when underplayed.

So it's a surprise that this album works best on the more theatrical, uptempo songs. On anything where she has to play a character, say "Nobody Does It Like Me" or "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend", she manages to be warm, entertaining and even swings a little. "Lady is a Tramp" is one of the album's highpoints and she tackles "Don't Rain On My Parade" very well. On the ballads she is less convincing although she does manage to deliver a pretty good version of a pretty awful song in "Can You Feel The Love Tonight".

But the selection of songs is patchy, poorly sequenced and does not always play to Martine's strengths. "The Winner Takes It All" is spoilt by a lumbering arrangement. And, as usual, this CD is far too long, and ends with unappealing versions of "What I Did For Love" and "White Christmas".

So in the end Musicality is frustrating. Better care in the choice of songs might have resulted in more of an artistic success, although perhaps less of a commercial one. But, if she chooses, Martine will have a good career ahead of her in musical theatre. She's not quite a diva yet, but give her time...