Lady Sings the Blues

With this show Mary Coughlan faces what is, arguably, the single greatest artistic challenge of her career. She attempts to step outside the public persona she has projected for nearly 15 years and inhabit, instead, the soul of Billie Holiday. Not an easy task for most singers when it comes to interpreting one of Holiday's frequently definitive recordings, but Coughlan has set herself an even higher task: sustaining that role for an entire evening.

Does she succeed? Yes and no. Certainly she's at her best belting out acerbic lyrics like Billie's Blues and a deliciously feisty Until The Real Thing Comes Along. Likewise, the band, led by Professor Peter O'Brien (piano), and featuring Big Jim Farrelly (sax); Myles Drennan (drums); Sven Buic (bass); Jimmy Faulkner (guitar) and Rock Fox (trumpet), provide one of the musical highlights of the night, an instrumental version of Georgia On My Mind. Similar moments of musical magic surface courtesy of Fox's solo in You've Changed, Faulkner's guitar licks in Don't Explain and, most magnificently of all, on opening night, guest saxophonist Richie Buckley's serpentine accompaniment on God Bless The Child.

Sadly, listening to Buckley unearth every nuance of that particular lyric and melody makes one realise that what Coughlan lacks most of all is a similar depth in the torch songs. It's as though she's so intent on not depicting herself as a victim that she keeps a deadly distance from the pain at the centre of so many of Holiday's songs. And the passion. However, as a basic introduction to her music it's a must see.

Runs until May 16th. To book phone 01-8783345