Media samples "Me, Glorious Me" "Song of a Nightclub Proprietress" "Someone is Sending me Flowers" "Send in the Clowns"

Countess Wear concert, February 2007. Videos by Ken Barrett, piano accompanist Jane Sugden. (WMV format, 5Mb).

"Life ahoy"      "Impossible Words" Two more reflective songs: the first written by Peter Kyrke Smith for baby Erick's launch party, the second David Haines' one and only love song "from the heart". "Autumn Leaves"    "Habanera" from Carmen    "Love for Sale" "Miss Otis Regrets"    "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair"    Five classics, accompanied on piano by Ben Beeson.

Mitzi's repertoire Mitzi sings a mixed repertoire: operatic, turn-of-the-century classics (whose freshness belies their age), 1920s and 1930s favourites from the greats such as Gershwin and Weill, and more modern songs. If there is a common theme, it's love - but that includes all its manifestations, from joyous to wistful to obsessive to comic. Here's a sampler of titles from her range at recent concerts (we've added a few links for your interest). Only a Glass of Champagne - Noel Gay / Arthur Wimperis. Noel Gay was one of the most successful British composers of popular music of the 1930s and 1940s (born Reginald Moxon Armitage, he wrote under a pseudonym to avoid embarrassing the church where he worked as organist). A Bird in a Gilded Cage - Harry von Tilzer / Arthur J. Lamb. A hit song from 1900, the sentimental tone of which is not so easy to swallow in these times, but whose message will be pertinent as long as women put their material safety before their emotional and spiritual wellbeing. Youkali - Kurt Weill / Roger Fernay. A beautiful, mournful tango from the radical German-American composer, and a song Mitzi has vowed never to sing again: "Life's too short for songs that are so ostentatiously clever", she says. Song of a Nightclub Proprietress - John Betjeman / Madeleine Dring. An adaptation by the British composer and actress Madeleine Dring of Betjeman's wistful poem about a proprietress looking back on better days. Mitzi used to think this song might be yet another self-fulfilling prophecy, in the days before she became a mother: she now anticipates a more sober and less whimsical demise. Queen Bee - David Haines. An exhilarating song of self-confidence. Mitzi describes it as "the song Nancy should have sung in "Oliver" instead of "As long as he needs me", the song Calamity Jane could have sung instead of singing "Secret Love", and the song Betsey Trotwood would sing if ever they were to make a half decent musical of "David Copperfield". It is actually literally about a queen bee, from Haines' "Lifetime: A Science Oratorio". Our webmaster just found this choral version on YouTube, performed by the North Cambridge Family Opera Festival Chorus at the 2007 Cambridge Science Festival. Mitzi is in the choir: see the left of the shot 0:21 seconds into the video.Queen Bee - David Haines. An exhilarating song of self-confidence. Mitzi describes it as "the song Nancy should have sung in "Oliver" instead of "As long as he needs me", the song Calamity Jane could have sung instead of singing "Secret Love", and the song Betsey Trotwood would sing if ever they were to make a half decent musical of "David Copperfield". It is actually literally about a queen bee, from Haines' "Lifetime: A Science Oratorio". Lorelei - George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin. A song about wanting to be a vamp, from the 1933 musical satire on Prohibition, "Pardon my English". I'm a Stranger Here Myself - Kurt Weill / Ogden Nash. A rather dark song from the 1943 musical "One Touch of Venus", perhaps best known for the modern Ute Lemper performance. Foolish Heart - Kurt Weill / Ogden Nash. Also from "One Touch of Venus", this song explores an idea so often pondered by Mitzi: why, when there are so may seemingly nice men in the world, does she spend her time chasing after indolent wasters? Second Hand Rose - Grant Clarke / James Hanley. Best known as a Barbara Streisand number from the 1960 "Funny Girl", this was actually written for Fanny Brice for the Ziegfeld Follies in 1921. Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend - Leo Robin / Jule Styne. Famously sung by Marilyn Monroe in the 1953 film "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", this originated in the 1949 stage version. Broadway Baby - Stephen Sondheim. From Sondheim's 1971 musical "Follies". Now re-named "Mitzi Maybe", this song includes many more autobiographical details about Mitzi's own illustrious career. I Want to Sing in Opera - Worton David / George Arthurs. Spot the operatic quotations in this 1910 song from H Worton David, a prolific early-1900s songwriter. Habanera from Carmen - Georges Bizet. Pure opera - with stockings and subtitles. Someone's Been Sending Me Flowers - comic song about a woman troubled by a botanically-inclined stalker. Written by Sheldon Harnick (better known for "Fiddler on the Roof") / David Baker for "The Shoestring Review" in 1995. Love for Sale - Another classic Cole Porter song, from his musical The New Yorkers: a hit in 1930 but later banned from radio for decades as too explicit. One Life to Live - Kurt Weill / Ira Gershwin. From the 1941 musical play, "Lady in the Dark".