STAY FOREVER:

The Life and Music of Dusty Springfield

 I am a sucker for biography especially musical and entertainment biography. Stay Forever: The Life and Music of Dusty Springfield recently opened at The Renberg Theatre.
At The LA Gay and Lesbian Center. I, of course had heard of Dusty Springfield and knew some of her songs (“Son of A Preacher Man”, “Wishin’ and Hopin’) but I knew next to nothing about her life and her place in musical history.

Dusty Springfield was a made up name for a Catholic Irish girl named Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien who wanted to sing soulful songs that had a Black sound.
Dusty Springfield was also a persona a catholic girl might live with when she discovered she was gay or maybe bi-sexual. Dusty Springfield was a great singer of complicated emotions who became a fearless powerful voice for women in the male-dominated music business. She spread the popularity of soul and r&b around the world.

Kristen Holly Smith wrote the story and performs sixteen of Dusty’s songs as well as an encore where the lyrics ask us not to forget Dusty Springfield. After seeing Stay Forever: The Life and Music of Dusty Springfield, and hearing Kirsten Holly Smith’s dead- on rendition of Dusty and her music, I don’t think anyone could or would want to forget.

The play follows Dusty’s life from her beginnings in a girl group where she eventually became the lead singer, to her fabulous solo career in the ‘60s. We the find out her seven year secret relationship with another woman, her breakup and her eventual “outing” by the British tabloids long before it was “cool” or even advisable to come out of the closet. Her career took a downhill turn in the seventies as the music changed and she fell victim to the temptations of drink, drugs, and became a “cutter “ and had to be institutionalized for a while. All this is acted with great skill and depth of feeling by Ms. Smith who captures the mannerisms of Dusty and seems to understand the ups and down that she faced. Eventually Dusty had a comeback only to get breast cancer, which she faced with great courage until her death at the young age of 59.

The director for this exciting and moving evening is Derrick LaSalla who uses the broad and narrow space of the Renberg Theatre with great skill. He keeps the evening moving using slides, costumes (nicely designed by Norman Cox) scrims and expressive lighting by Tim Guion. I hope he gets a space more suitable when the show goes to New York, a space that will provide him with more choices for staging and presentation.

Last but definitely not least are the marvelous four-piece band and the capable backup singing of Lelah Foster and Annette Moore. Zachary Provost, who has performed with Elton John, Carlos Santana, Natalie Cole, and was Josh Groban’s musical director for five years, plays keyboards and is the musical director for the evening. His work is superlative. Go see this at The Renberg Theatre through March 2 with possible extension.