Dionne Warwick review – fascinating look back is a little short on songs

The Glasshouse, Gateshead
Talking through a brave career dating back six decades, the 83-year-old is singing much less, but when the hits come the magic is still there

In 1962, 21-year-old Dionne Warwick sang the Burt Bacharach and Hal David-penned Don’t Make Me Over to launch a career spanning six Grammys and 100m sales. More than six decades later, the soul legend opens with it here – although at 83 her voice understandably sounds more frail and vulnerable, giving new and moving meaning to the line “accept me for what I am”.

Two years after her “farewell tour”, this musical and spoken-word outing – also called Don’t Make Me Over – partly serves as a companion to 2021’s documentary of the same name. Seated next to her on a sofa, director Dave Wooley’s questions mostly tee up clips from the documentary. It’s useful biography – Warwick singing gospel, getting an MA in music – but does a lot of heavy lifting when tickets for the tour are £40 and upwards and the documentary is free on BBC iPlayer. The first half brings just one more song: a jazzier arrangement of I Say a Little Prayer delivered as a duet with her son, drummer David Elliott.