Month: May 2012

Cabaret, Cabaret Review, Events, Performances, Whats On

REVIEW: Mike Tsama in RISE OF THE MEMPHIS CAT

Elvis is in the building!

By Christine Moffat

If you ever wondered what it was really like seeing Elvis Presley perform live way back when: before he was a star, before he went Hollywood, before the pills and the booze and the double-bacon-cheese-and-banana burgers, this show is your chance to find out! 

If you’re looking for that cool, truck-driving hunk of rough diamond that Sam Phillips and The Colonel were all shook up about, Mike Tsama is your man.  This 65-minute show takes you back to that time and that guy, with a faultless vocal performance by Tsama that manages to evoke a young Elvis without becoming a mere impersonation (a rare feat). 

Staged at the über-funky cabaret venue The Butterfly Club, the show is perhaps a little big for the room.  I believe this show calls for a big stage and a big, excited, Elvis-digging crowd.  That being said, if a smaller, more intimate (you know what I’m sayin’ Momma?) Elvis experience is what you’re after, this show at this venue is it. 

Although fewer costume changes and a couple less songs would have been preferable, if you go along for the ride this show will be a hell of a lot of fun for cats and kittens, so get clapping along early and you’ll have a ball.  As a concert experience, there is no real narrative or cabaret format, but this is not a kitch and cool outsiders’ show – it’s clearly for Elvis fans and soon-to-be Elvis fans of all ages. 

The combination of Tsama’s voice (which was pitch perfect) and his choice of some lesser-known songs as well as hits made me want to go home and play every Elvis song in my collection.  Oh, and if you’re craving a little extra special attention from The King, sit up and front and your wish might be granted…

Rise of the Memphis Cat

Written, produced & performed by: Mike Tsama

Featuring character voices: Steve McGrath, Meera Belle, David Watkins & Glen Schollum

Venue:  The Butterfly Club, 204 Bank Street, South Melbourne

Times: 7pm Thurs/Fri/Sat, 6pm Sun

Dates: Thurs 24th to Sun 27th May

Ticket prices: $23 Full, $20 Conc, $18 Groups 8+

Booking Details: www.thebutterflyclub.com

Events, Performances, Review, Theatre, Whats On

Review: UNCLE VANYA by Hotwire Productions

An engrossing interpretation of a modern masterpiece

By Anastasia Russell-Head

Chekhov’s works, like Shakespeare’s, serve to unite humanity and human foibles across time and continents.

More than a century after Uncle Vanya was first penned, and on the opposite side of the globe, we’re still dealing with the same stuff – complaining about our lives, falling in love with the wrong people, allowing ourselves to be irritated and manipulated by our relatives, and falling victim to paralyzing inaction.

Director and adaptor Laurence Strangio brings the characters in this play slightly out of history, and makes their plight poignantly relevant to today by, as he writes in the program notes, not feeling “bound by historical accuracy”.

Although ostensibly the characters remain in nineteenth-century Russia, the language and idioms are not forcibly “historical”, but fall naturally onto twenty-first-century ears – drawing the similarities through time rather than highlighting the differences between then and now.

A superb ensemble cast portray the quirky characters with relish, from the hyperbolic gravitas of Peter Finlay’s Professor, to Bruce Woolley’s dry and proudly eccentric Dr Astrov. Although not always the most convincing member of the cast, Sarah Ranken brings a quiet strength and pathos to the character of Sonya, especially in her moving speech at the end of the play. Notable mention must also be made of Richard Bligh and Louise O’Dwyer.

The sumptuous set makes use of the full width of iconic theatre space fortyfivedownstairs, drawing the audience into the action, and feeling almost like we’re inside an isolated night-time country house alongside the characters. All it needed was an open fireplace to complete the illusion! A couple of sight line issues and passages in which characters deliver lines to the back wall are very minor flaws.

Although not by any means a short play (allow three hours, including interval) this production kept my attention throughout, made me laugh, nearly made me cry, and certainly made me think about what it is to be human and to construct a life. In the words of Uncle Vanya, “to start a new life… where to begin?”

MAY 16 – JUNE 3 

Fortyfivedownstairs

45 Flinders Lane

Tuesday – Saturday 8pm

Saturday matinee 4pm

Sundays 6pm

Tickets: $38 / $25 / $15 school groups

Bookings:  03 9662 9966 / fortyfivedownstairs.com

Cabaret, Cabaret Review, Events, Performances, Whats On

REVIEW: Grant Newsome FROM BOTH SIDES NOW

More concert that cabaret, but an appealing performance

By Maxine Montegomery

“From Both Sides Now” – the Joni Mitchell song title in itself evokes thoughts of inner regret and struggles of the heart.

Grant Newsome’s debut show at The Butterfly Club takes its title from this very song, and sets up an expectation for the audience that they will be taken on an emotional journey with the performer.

Newsome has made a very bold choice in starting the show with Mitchell’s signature song. At the top of a show, we, the audience, know nothing about the person who stands before us – we have no background, no insight to the individual to be able to see the reality of the lyrics as reflected in their own experience. I felt that I was seeing the ‘public face’ of Newsome, rather than seeing the man himself. When he encored the number at the end of the night, he certainly gave the lyrics more candour. The hour-long show was closer in format to concert than solo cabaret, and I couldn’t help but wonder just how much more pathos the song may have carried had Newsome employed his own version of cabaret rhetoric to take the audience into his confidence and bring all the songs together as a whole.

Newsome presented a range of songs that trace the geography of his career, complemented by some of his personal favourites. The audience showed particular appreciation for “Sway”, and a very funky, swung rendition of Doris Day’s “Secret Love”. A fabulous performance of Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” was heightened by the tremendous work of Newsome’s backing duo – Rowland Braché on piano and Rob Nicholls on double bass. Nicholls’ percussive use of the body of the bass during the Queen number may have been quite simple in execution, but it was a delight to watch and hear. Newsome introduced me (and the rest of the crowd) to a gem of a song called “Nathalie” by Gilbert Bécaud. It was in his delivery of the song that he had me fully engaged, for his telling of the story of the piece was very affecting – as he got caught up in the tale, so did I. “Nathalie” was followed by a tri-language rendition of “What Now, My Love?”. At this point in the night, he seemed to relax somewhat and a little of the showman peeled away, letting us see more of Newsome’s true self.

I would like to see Newsome use his voice to the extent of his technical abilities – he clearly has the ability to produce sustained vocal line, and I wish we had heard more of that from him. I can understand the singer wanting to show off his full vocal range by adding an extended melismatic passage to the end of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”, but to then break the title word of the song due to the length of the custom-written phrase was disappointing to hear.

A born showman, Newsome looked the part in his golden-hued suit, and his infectious smile certainly completed the picture. It is very easy to see just how at home he would have been on stage at the Moulin Rouge in Paris.   I have no doubt that he has a whole range of experiences in his life which could be translated into a host of solo cabaret shows in the more intimate and personal sense of the genre suitable for a more intimate venue, and I look forward to seeing what he next creates.

From Both Side Now has its final showing at The Butterfly Club on Sunday May 6th at 6pm. For tickets, visit www.thebutterflyclub.com.