Ida Barr

Comedy old time music hall singer and cabaret entertainer and turn.

Ida Barr in the house - break it down, dear, thank you very much.

Currently reduced to pensioner poverty in London’s East End Ida Barr - our very own doyen of music-hall/rap fusion - is keen to re-establish herself as a creative artist and to this end is currently showcasing her unique ‘stylie’ at venues around the country.  Thrill to her version of Missy Elliot’s She’s a Bitch and get down as Ida drops some rhymes about the topics that matter – her home help, flu jabs and the fall she had doing the Hokey Cokey last Diwali in her sheltered accommodation.  (Thabo Mbeki Court – formerly Winnie Mandela House, E9).

  Ida first appeared on the British stage as an infant in a pantomime at the turn of the last century singing A Marrow’s A Banana’s Father, the song that made her name. Since then ‘the original ragtime girl’ has survived wars, the decline of variety, the break-up of her marriage to ‘the only Scottish Yiddisher fusilier in the Irish Guards’ and recurrent financial embarrassment.

Ida performs at venues all over the country and is a regular guest in the world famous cabaret show La Clique.  She is also in great demand for her bingo calling, which is an experience not to be missed – it’s fast, it’s furious and you can win top prizes (courtesy of PoundStretcher).

2007 saw the making of ‘Artificial Hip Hop’, a short film about the life of Ida Barr, and performing in Australia at both the Adelaide and Melbourne Festivals.

In 2008 London audiences were treated to Ida’s new show ‘So this is Christmas…’ which ran at the Barbican Theatre throughout December.