J E N N I F E R   W A R D - L E A L A N D
T H E   L O O K   O F   L O V E

Following the success of her Marlene Dietrich cabaret Falling in Love Again, Jennifer Ward-Lealand takes centre stage again with The Look of Love - a new cabaret show celebrating love in all its guises.

Featuring songs by Cole Porter, Stephen Sondheim, Burt Bacharach, Jacques Brel, Kris Kristofferson, George Harrison and more, The Look of Love reunites Jennifer with musical director and pianist Grant Winterburn, bassist Aaron Coddel and lighting designer Andrew Malmo for a sophisticated and glamorous night of song.

The Look of Love was first performed on 18 February 2007 at Hamilton Gardens Summer Festival to a sell-out audience.

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Review, Waikato Times, 19 February 2007:

What: The Look of Love, at the Hamilton Gardens Summer Festival
Who: Jennifer Ward-Lealand with musical director and pianist Grant Winterburn, bassist Aaron Coddel and lighting designer Andrew Malmo
Where: Victorian Garden Conservatory, last night
Reveiwed by: Denise Irvine

Jennifer Ward-Lealand is the complete package - she does theatre, film and TV and she has a fine singing voice as well.

Last night she brought her latest cabaret show - “celebrating love in all its guises” - to the Hamilton Gardens Summer Festival for a single outing and had a crowded house hanging on every song.

With her handsome presence, powerful range, excellent diction, and easy transitions from comedy to classics, Ward-Lealand can’t miss.  Yet although she makes it look easy, engaging the audience with favourites from Stephen Sondheim, Cole Porter, Kris Kristofferson, Bobbie Gentry and others, the show is underpinned by the utmost professionalism.

It’s hard to pick favourites from this current show, because they were all good, from the sensual, velvety voiced Peel Me A Grape to the quirky comedy of Tom Lehrer’s Masochism Tango, and Irving Berlin’s haunting What’ll I Do When You Are Far Away.  But if I had to choose a stand-out, it would be Ward-Lealand’s rendition of Bobbie Gentry’s bittersweet Ode to Billy Joe.  Close your eyes, forget about the hanging baskets of the Victorian Conservatory, and you’re right up there with a grieving girl on Choctaw Ridge.