Lyrics: Barb Jungr
Music: Mike Lindup
Director: Denise Silvey
Barb Jungr came down to London from Leeds when she was a wide-eyed innocent. She lived and worked in Soho for years and years, watched it change, watched it get cleaner and less bo-ho. But still it holds a place in her heart. So she has, with her long-term musical partner Mike Lindup, composed a song-cycle celebrating a special place and her fond memories and acute perceptions. Even more pertinently, it celebrates the people of Soho in all their multi-faceted magnificence.
Barb Jungr is accompanied by Michael Roulston on piano and Davide Mantovani on stand-up bass, and their jazz stylings are lovely, supporting and elevating the story songs that are the main focus of the evening.
Soho characters, from strippers to bin-men, are brought vividly into life through a songwriter who not only sees them but values them. It is a generous, humane show that finds that plurality and acceptance of humanity to be Soho’s principal attraction. It sits well on the shabby-beautiful Wilton’s stage. The simple backdrop is a slide show of exquisite images created by Steve Ullathorne, stark monochrome overlays of Soho scenes and Soho characters, that fit well with the setting. Occasionally the subtle sub-fusc is blasted away by a disco ball, and that too is highly effective.
Jungr doesn’t just trade in songs; she has a rich store of anecdotes and memories, and a winningly intimate stage presence. She tells stories as though she’s chatting at a dining table in one of the many Soho restaurants whose loss she mourns. It is a great way to spend the evening.
There may be a hint of compromise in the overwhelmingly positive nature of the songs. Every stripper has a heart of gold, every bouncer is prepared to put his pugilistic skills to work defending the innocent Yorkshire lass threatened by metropolitan shenanigans. The outlier is a wracking and heartfelt anthem put into the mouth of a trafficked East European sex worker, a song that is challenging amongst the warmer lyrics, and that puts a harsher, bleaker spin on the area.
Barb Jungr assembles song-cycles on a vast range of subjects, mostly tasteful and jazzed-up covers of songwriters like Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. She makes their distinctive songs her own with supreme craft and cabaret jazz arrangements. This particular cycle seems more personal, possibly more personally felt. It certainly benefits from the engaging and loquacious presence of the singer presenting the songs.
Reviewed on 24 October 2026.
The Reviews Hub Star Rating
70%
Engaging Animated Anecdotal