Anna Russell shows she still has it ... if not quite so much.

When Anna Russell's career was winding down, she did umpteen "Farewell" concerts. This tape is a recording of the first tour, in 1984. I had the pleasure of seeing her a bit further down the line. All of these late appearances had the same quality: they were what we fans wanted, but a little less than we were used to.

Russell was in her time a celebrated comedian of music. Her stentorian soprano was a wonderfully flexible comic tool. Mme. Russell's face, seemingly made of silly putty, was a never-ending kaleidoscope of hilarious expressions. Her material was top-quality ... monologues of sophisticated verbal mayhem -- and songs, very funny songs. In the "Screechenrauf", Brunhilde laments of the Valkyries: "Wir sind, wir sind alles ... gespinsters!" (pronounce the "sp" as "shp", of course). All of this wit and talent was backed by a faultless sense of delivery and timing.

There were about 6 LPs produced at the height of her career. Most of that material has recently been reissued on 3 CDs -- there's enough left over for a 4th, but that next one now seems unlikely to appear. On the CDs you will find the Anna Russell that was, way back when.

On this video you encounter Mme. Russell many years later, her vocal instrument no longer capable of the Wagnerian high notes she once hit, her material a little shop-worn from niggling revisions that changed but didn't improve, her performance a bit less enthusiastic, the face somewhat less malleable. Even so, it's not to be missed -- the wit and delivery are still there in spades.

The concert opens with a dialogue about the tribulations of trying to become an opera soprano. This segues into her famous and hilarious (one uses that adjective a lot with respect to Mme. Russell) talk on the French Horn. (Even better is her talk on the Bagpipes, but alas it's not included here. Just remember: don't twiddle before you push.)

After a brief exit, Mme. Russell returns with her accompanist and gives the hilarious (see?) history of her outfit. This is followed by a classic Russell routine: How to Write Your Own Gilbert & Sullivan. This hilarious (I told you...) lesson is illustrated by an example with plot, arias, and appropriate hats. Mme. Russell's British soprano ("pure but dull") is no longer as piercingly high as it was, but her patter-song voice is even more wonderfully raspy, and her "big fat contralto" is even boomier. The finale is especially funny. This bit alone is worth the price of admission, but the best is yet to come.

It's Wagner. Or, more properly, an analysis of the "Ring" cycle. This is one of the most (all together now) hilarious monologues ever written. Modern stand-up comics take note: this is way funnier than your stuff and there's not a four-letter word or vile body function in it. In this performance, Mme. Russell accompanies herself on the piano, and does no mere perfunctory job ... it's an integral part of her humor. Funny as it is, this analysis actually helps understand the "Ring", which, by the way, is just as great as we Wagnerites think it is.

After Wagner, Mme. Russell returns to the first bit, about the tribulations of sopranos. The discussion turns to alternatives -- folk singing. She then goes into part of her talk-and song routine "Backwards With the Folk Song" ... "I Gave My Love a Cherry", "I Went to My Psychiatrist" or "Jolly Old Sigmund Freud", and "There Was an Old Man and He Had an Old Sow". Now, this last (which you will find very familiar) isn't part of the original routine, and other numbers are missing -- particularly the (wait for it) hilarious "Old Mother Slipper-Slopper".

I strongly recommend this video. It's ... oh, you know.

(Note: There is another video out, but I haven't seen it. It's clearly also from one of the "Farewell" concerts. It's listed on this site ("The Clown Princess of Comedy"), but no details as to contents are given.) (Another note: The need to give us a "Special Effects" option for films that don't need or want them. My little protest in these instances is to rate a video that needs no special effects as having the best.)