Pennsylvania Avenue

I love impressions: it's always a great source of amusement for me to take off famous personalities, even better if it's an improved version of the original artist, as I've seen before, but when you see a performer in a solo act who can do the 'verbal and the vocal', and with such aplomb, all one can do is beam with a little more than just admiration.

And this is pretty much what the audience did.

Bernadette Robinson plays Harper, a retiring White House aide, who, though packed and ready to leave, can't help but reminisce on all those memorable experiences of 40 years working in the East Wing; but moreso, with the presidents and their connection with those famous singers who became national treasures over the generations.

And so we hear, interspersed with evocative and occasional witty dialogue, a diverse selection of those artists who defined the times through a rich rendition of some of their torch songs: Barbra Streisand, Eartha Kitt, Marilyn Munroe, a terrific Peggy Lee and even the power and glory of Sarah Vaughan in full display. The list goes on.

With a superb atmospheric set, including an electronic visual display straight out of corporate America, that initially sets the scene with a selection of portraits of famous presidents, a live band and a well-conceived and engrossing script seamlessly entwining showbiz with political history dating back to the Kennedy years, Pennsylvania Avenue is a unique theatrical experience and an ideal platform to demonstrate Ms Robinson's remarkable versatility and talent.

Could she be next in line for President?

Brian Adamson

Photographer: Jeff Busby.