Description
Thompson has a soft spot for the songs of the golden age of British music hall, a form of variety entertainment not unlike American vaudeville that was popular from roughly 1850 to the end of World War I. The songs usually told compact stories that were humorous or broadly sentimental (or both), generally written in the first person. In 2005, Thompson indulged her fondness for the music hall era by staging a revue in which she and a handful of actors and musicians interpreted some of the better-remembered songs of the period.
‘My Mother Doesn’t Know I’m on the Stage’ combines recordings from the 2005 show with a handful of studio tracks of more recent vintage. Fans should pay heed to the cover’s credit of “Linda Thompson Presents,” since she only sings lead on two of the 14 selections. However, as an homage to a fruitful period in the history of popular song, My Mother Doesn’t Know I’m on the Stage is a delight. The selections are often witty and always charming, and the performers deliver them with the right amount of brio without overplaying their hands.
