Well there is a massive delay here before anything gets shown on the screen – as at 17.19 she is quite late in starting her first televised run through.
And what a run through it is. The stage is set with one backlit spot , one Barbara Pravi … and that’s it (so Lord knows why it took so long to set up – she’s probably a perfectionist). If Jendrik is all NBC in living colour, then this is very definitely harking back to a more monochromatic age.
It works really well, Babs isn’t trying to be anything she’s not, like in the preview video, she’s just displaying what a good voice she has without having to have anything around her to distract the viewer. The only thing that is going to distract is the voice because it’s spot on throughout and never wavers. She does some Gallic hand waving and subtle emoting, but it’s the piercing stare I’m enchanted with. I could not keep my eyes off the screen!
I’ve seen this and changed my mind. This is in with a shout, you know, and I didn’t think I was its target audience. Turns out that Patricia Kaas isn’t the only French Chanteuse I could be turning for.