REVIEW: COHEN, BERNSTEIN, JONI & ME at Upstairs at the Gatehouse 21 Jan – 1 Feb 2026
‘very fine singing, funny, and engaging’ ★★★ ½
Deb Filler is from New Zealand. She is Jewish. She sings and writes music and tells jokes, and she is a raconteur; a raconteur with charm, wit, pace, and a cast list of acquaintances to die for, because the core of her ninety minute schtick is industrial-grade name dropping.
From a very early age, Deborah Filler travelled with the rich and famous. From getting VIP treatment at a Leonard Bernstein concert in exchange for a supply of her baker-father’s challah bread, to accidental encounters with British synth-pop giants, to nervy travels with Leonard Cohen, she has been there, done that, and probably given away the tee shirts.
The patter is non-stop, interspersed with some very fine singing and a bit of guitar accompaniment. She’s funny, and she’s engaging, and the flow is always exciting, but it is possible to wonder whether her brushes with the great and good are all that illuminating?
That is, except for the Leonards Bernstein and Cohen, who come out of the evening’s tale-telling sounding like thoroughly decent chaps, well worth a loaf or two of challah and the loan of a cassette player.
Deb Filler makes the evening fly by, the intimate space of the Upstairs at the Gatehouse auditorium suits her warm engagement with her audience perfectly, and we walk out into the drizzly Hampstead night feeling as if we too could be friends with the Leonards.
Written and performed by Deb Filler, her show runs until February 1st, 2026.
Cohen, Bernstein, Joni & Me
until 1 Feb 2026
Upstairs at the Gatehouse, Highgate
BOX OFFICE https://upstairsatthegatehouse.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/1173668317/events/428745703
