Event

La Dolce Vita

Out of the kitchen and into the movies - Mondo Mangia dynamo Jilline Ringle returns in her new cabaret, with stories and songs from unforgettable films of the 1960s. She covers all the great hits, from "Never On Sunday" and "Gregory Girl" to "Goldfinger" and "The Windmills of Your Mind." Share Jilline's loving look back at the decade that began in pre-Kennedy innocence and ended in psychedelic mania.

This review appeared in the Philadelphia City Paper:

The fireworks over the Art Museum fizzled in the mist this Fourth of July. The truly dazzling performance happened earlier in the evening at Frangelica's upstairs cabaret, where the spectacular Jilline Ringle, the self-styled "six-foot redhead Amazon from hell whom all men desire," paid glorious tribute to the overripe movie music of the 1960s. Ringle, a Philadelphia favorite now living in New York, wowed critics when she returned to do the Arden's Merrily We Roll Along this spring. She is accompanied in her cabaret show, La Dolce Vita, by another welcome returnee, the ever-charming pianist and composer Michael Ogborn. Their revue, which has already packed them in at Don't Tell Mama in New York, is that rarity among cabaret acts--a literate, highly theatrical evening with a smart theme and a cohesive structure. Attired in a succession of over-the-top '60s fashions, Ringle tackles songs usually confined to Easy Listening radio (More, To Sir With Love, Alfie) and, while mocking them ever so gently, manages to sing the hell out of them. Assailing the Bacharach/David team's breezy misogyny in Wives and Lovers, she tosses frilly underthings about and phrases the line, "Wives should always be lovers, too, I'm warning you" so that all the inherent ominousness comes ringing through. The lyrics in the old Melina Mercouri hit Never On Sunday sound freshly coquettish in Ringle's rendition (which is also notable for being probably the first cabaret number to invoke the name of Paul Tsongas). An actress of wit and charisma, Ringle has a rich, clear singing voice and an impressive range.