Album Notes

This is a live original cast recording of the hot off Broadway show based on the life of Rita Hayworth incorporating the intoxicating music from Miss Hayworth's illustrious career performed by Quinn Lemley and her quartet.

The Heat Is On! is about 2 things, and they both concern the intrinsically conflicting states of fantasy and reality.

This is a theme that occurs and re-occurs throughout this one-woman theatrical piece in which Quinn Lemley explores the life and career of screen goddess Rita Hayworth.

Over the course of an hour and change and some 14 songs, Lemley gradually develops the acute contrast between the glamorous images Hayworth projected on the screen and the often-dismal reality of her actual life.

Her relationships with men are a key element-from her abusive father to her five husbands.

As Lemley makes clear, Hayworth was regarded by zillions of moviegoers as Hollywood's ultimate femme fatale, yet off-camera she had a hard time holding onto the men she loved, and undoubtedly fared worse at the end of Cupid's arrow than most "normal" women.

But there's more to the Hayworth saga than bad news-Lemley rightfully also celebrates the upbeat side of the story, and that is The Great Lady's musical and cinematic legacy.

Here too, illusion and reality are the buzzwords.

On one level, Hayworth was one of the all-time great leading ladies of the movie musical, on a par with say, Ginger Rogers or Betty Grable.

No one minds much that Hayworth couldn't do her own singing-40 years after she danced her last step, her image remains as powerful and potent as ever.

But what isn't said often enough is that Hayworth inspired one of the most significant bodies of music ever left to us by a performer- a group of songs that ranks with the very best that Tin Pan Alley had to offer in the '40's and '50's.

Quinn finds hidden gems even in these much-mined channels, such as "SHORTY GEORGE", which provides a welcome opportunity for musical director Bob McDowell to join her in song.

Indeed, rediscovery could be Lemley's middle name (even though, to be honest, "swinging" and "spellbinding", not to mention "drop dead gorgeous" come to mind first), and she makes a most eloquent case for any number of songs written for Hayworth flicks.

She climaxes with Hayworth's single best-known song, "Put the Blame On Mame", an anthem of female empowerment, if ever there was one, and appropriately the work of a female songwriter, Doris Fisher.

Lemely celebrates the Hayworth life and legacy with warmth and humor, not to mention panache by the carload.

It's a rare treat to experience one great performer wrapping herself up in the musical wardrobe of another.

The pairing of Lemley and Hayworth is indeed a perfect fit-at times she could almost be Hayworth reincarnated-but throughout it's clear that Lemley isn't merely aping the legendary star but embodying her.

It would be well nigh impossible to another singer-actress with the talent, the charm, the energy and the vivaciousness, not to mention the sensuality to pull it off.

Lemley dances in our dreams.

(above review by Will Friedwald)