Variety
October 19, 1966


REVIEW: Petula at the Copacabana (New York, NY)
In her second time around at this spot, British songstress Petula Clark again demonstrates striking impact as a nitery performer. Although Miss Clark became known to US audiences via her string of disc clicks, the high polish of her act bespeaks her many years of trouping in England and on the Continent before she ever had a platter hit.

Miss Clark delivers a consistently socko songalog that both rocks the teen set and captivates the adult safegoer. She hits with equal force on the rhythmic contemporary ballads, notably her trademark "Downtown" and "I Know a Place;" and then reverses field with supercharged dramatic renditions of "Our Love Is Here to Stay" and "Just Say Goodbye."

Her routine touches all bases. She romps through a superlative, madrigal like take-off on the Beatles'"I Want to Hold Your Hand," and then puts on a humorous display of linguistic fluency with her renditions of songs in German, French, Italian and American, latter being a typical latter-day rocker. Her special material numbers are also standout, including a sharp comment on her native land in "Typically English" and another playful piece regarding the pronunciation of her name. Miss Clark did about an hour opening night (October 13) to a jammed house and had to beg off.

Billboard
October 29, 1966

"Petula Clark Puts On a Happy, Winning Act at Copa Nitery"
Marking her second appearance at the Copacabana, Petula Clark made a splashy entrance with her special lyric interpretation of "Put On a Happy Face" before a packed room that overflowed onto the dance floor on opening night last week.

The tiny Warner Bros. recording star with her magnetic quality, wistful humor and dynamic song style won the audience thoroughly, combining her recorded hits with a well-balanced program of standards and special material. She was equally at home with a fresh Latin beat treatment of "Our Love Is Here to Stay" and an emotional reading of "I Want to Hold Your Hand," as she was with her own hits, "I Know a Place" and "Downtown." Her compelling personality and sheer enjoyment of performing was obvious throughout her song stint, which included a clever and original "My Name Is Petula." In this number she related how she has been "mispronounced around the world" and it allowed her to sing in German, French and Italian. Her powerful voice was at its best in an emotion packed ballad, "Just Say Goodbye," and in her own original "Two Rivers," in which she accompanied herself at the piano and told the lyric content of her English background and her marriage to a Frenchman. A moving piece of material indeed.

Her accompanist, Frank Owens, did a top job handling the 14-piece orchestra. After introducing her song partner from England, Tony Hatch, Miss Clark wowed the audience with a medley that ran from "In a Shanty in Old Shanty Town" to "Dear Hearts and Gentle People" and led up to the closing strains of "Downtown."


Cash Box
October 29, 1966

"Talent on Stage: Petula Clark"
NEW YORK - The rhythm of the day is being splashed about with uncommon excitement at the Copacabana, where England's Pet Clark has started her second engagement at the nitery. With an entourage of Warner Bros. and foreign execs witnessing her opening performance, the artist offered her disk hits plus nitery specialties with an abundance of energy that belies her petite form.

True, the sounds often seemed like recording takes, especially those coming from the augmented Copa orchestra. Or perhaps it's just that this lass has the knack of suggesting that her delivery in person is as dynamic as that achieved through studio magic. (One of her performances, in fact, was taped for an eventual album release.)

Pet, as pre-" Downtown" admirers well know, has a fine jazz -directed voice. Fortunately, her nitery act revives this skill with several numbers, including "Put On a Happy Face" and "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To." Her rendition of 'Typically English" from Stop the World, I Want to Get Off indicative of a talent who can shine on the musical-comedy stage. In fact, Pet stacks up as the teen-beat's charming answer to Julie Andrews.