Jeff Goldblum plays the cinematic hits at joyful Royal Albert Hall show
Jeff Goldblum at the Royal Albert Hall | ★★★★☆
Nobody does it like Jeff. Not my words but those printed on the t-shirt of a fan at his show at the Royal Albert Hall. Few actors have forced their way into the cultural zeitgeist quite like Jeff Goldblum, whose personality looms over everything he does like the Goodyear blimp drifting merrily over London last week.
In a move that feels entirely in keeping with this persona, the warm-up act for Jeff Goldblum is… Jeff Goldblum. While the auditorium slowly fills up, he slinks onto the stage in his tux to shoot the breeze, getting the audience to play along with him in The Film Game, where you name a movie, then an actor who starred in it, then another movie they starred in, then another actor who starred in it, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. The first movie suggested by the audience? The Fly. Now who starred in that…?
Even before the show Goldblum hosted an impromptu singalong on one of those public pianos outside the Royal Albert Hall; actors get a hard time for pivoting into music but it’s safe to say Goldblum is in it for the love of the game.
And in fairness, his music predates his acting, having studied piano as a child in Pittsburgh. Today he’s an accomplished jazz pianist: not, perhaps, at the level where he’d be playing the Royal Albert Hall were he not, you know, Jeff Goldblum, but certainly up to the task of entertaining a crowd who are already overwhelmingly on-side. He was 65 when he signed his first record deal and since then he’s released four jazz swing records to some critical acclaim.
At the Royal Albert Hall he croons his way through Sinatra and swivels those famous hips to Stevie Wonder, forever torn between playing the tunes and playing to the audience. He’s helped along by the talented Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, who take Goldblum’s jazz piano to soaring heights while happily acting as a foil for his showman tendencies.
Jeff Goldblum: A night of cinema classics
Much of the setlist is taken from his new album Night Blooms – see what he did there? – which blends his love of music and cinema. There are heartfelt renditions of classics including As Time Goes By (performed by Dooley Wilson in Casablanca), Pure Imagination (sung by Gene Wilder in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and, particularly beautifully arranged, Over the Rainbow (Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz).
The evening is filled to bursting with guest stars: Khailah Johnson duets on a cover of Billie Eilish’s No Time To Die theme; singer-songwriter Dodie joins him for a faithful version of Mean to Me; and most notably of all, he’s joined on stage by a professional gymnast.
“In a second, my beautiful wife, who’s 30 years younger than me, is going to spin around over my head: who thinks I’m making this up?”
“Meeee”, shout two thirds of the audience. But they’re forgetting this is Jeff Goldblum and sure enough Emilie Goldblum appears above the piano in a sequinned tutu to perform an aerial hoop routine while her husband plays Quincy Jones’ Soul Bossa Nova. It’s quite something.
Despite all of the above, this is a show with remarkably little ego – there’s no showing off of deep cuts from Goldblum’s record collection, rather this is an evening aimed squarely at pleasing a crowd who are already happy to lap up everything Goldblum has to offer. Nobody does it like Jeff, after all.
• Jeff Goldblum is signed to Fontana. For merchandise including signed records, visit the website here