Category: Cabaret Review

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Review: SHORT+SWEET CABARET

Short and sweet, just the way we like it.

By Deborah Langley

Who wouldn’t love something called Short + Sweet? In this age of fast food, quick chats and instant messages, cutting our cabaret into short and sweet little ten-minute morsals sound absolutely perfect to me.

For the 2011 Melbourne Cabaret Festival an even smaller package of the Short + Sweet Cabaret series, normally performed at Chapel Off Chapel in November, has been delicately assembled into a one-hour package.

That means, five acts in under sixty minutes – if you don’t like one, just wait ten minutes, ‘cos I am sure you will find something to love in this little collection. So let’s have a look at what they have put together for us:

First up is Mercedes-Benz: Awkwardly. And I’ve got to say, yes she does. I didn’t know where to look for some of this one and I still saw parts of the female anatomy I wasn’t expecting. This honest and raw show by Hannah Williams is a ‘how to’ from the world of stripping. Jumping from documentary-style dialogue,  how-to-instruction and insightful versions of some kitch pop songs, if you ever wondered what it was like to be a stripper, this one’s for you. For me through it was a little too real!

From reality we jump to the farcical with Porcelain Punch Travelling Medicine Show. This one would have to be my favourite of the night, complete with piano accordion and missing teeth. The trio comprised of Emilie Johnston, Madeline Hudson and Paul Bourke performed miracles as a member of the audience went from crippled to dancing a jig in just a few moments. Great characters, great music and a great gimick! They will keep you laughing and thoroughly entertained – old school style!

Two of a Kind is next up, when two identical twins sing about life as a twin, the benefits and pitfalls. This show kept me smiling and is defiantly very very sweet. The twins Dace and Mara Kapsis are very likable with angelic voices and lovely harmonies.

For a single girl, I could completely relate to the next act. Torn: Ten Minutes of First Dates delivers exactly what is says it will in a hilarious and brilliant show. Through song and witty banter we see one guy’s last four dates. Jordan Bowering meets the lier, the nerd, the attached and after three disasters he tries out the non-date. All written and performed with wonderful and relatable humor. A close contender for favourite of the night.

Time to put the laughter aside for the last show of the night, Chants Des Catacombes is a French tragedy that would have Edith Piaf relating. Our mournful songstress plays a beautiful harp and tells tales of woe, how she fell in love and then met her end… but I can’t help but feel that I missed out because I don’t speak French. Although for Anna Boulic, as with Edith Piaf, the message still came through beautifully.

So if you want a night of cabaret with a bit of something for everyone head down to Short + Sweet Cabaret as part of the . Performances in the Council Chambers of the South Melbourne Town Hall @ 6.15pm until this Sunday

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REVIEW: Suade are FOR ADULTS ONLY

Good clean dirty a capella fun!

By Maxine Montgomery

On  Suade’s website, there are quotes from audience members who attended the boys’ 2010 Melbourne Cabaret Festival offering: ““My God, those guys can sing – but I’m glad I didn’t bring the kids” and “I nearly laughed my guts out.”

With those two quotes in my head, I went along to see For Adults Only expecting something akin to the musical version of ‘Men Behaving Badly’.

And the lads did not disappoint!

After dealing with an initial technical audio glitch with the right measure of professionalism and humour, the show began with some classic Stevie Wonder done a capella which got the crowd into the right mood for what would be a night of great singing and fabulous cheek.

I was surprised to find the opening number to be suitable for children – but all that was about to change. Perhaps it was designed to first introduce the uninitiated to the sound of a capella and then hit us with dirty stuff after a couple of numbers.

And, oh man, did it get dirty! That awkward moment with a new love when you’re so nervous you’re coming and going at the same time. The lengths to which you’d go to please your woman – “I would do anything for love, but I won’t do that”. Or exploring the benefits of role play to spice up your relationship.  My personal favourite was Loz’s song of creative insults (his words, not mine). Along with many in the crowd, I found myself simultaneously screaming with both laughter and horror.

The lyrics, the choreography, the obscene hand gestures – Suade know how to have fun and take the audience with them every step of the way. It was delightful seeing the boys trying to crack up each other mid-song.

But more importantly – their singing most definitely has the “wow” factor. One can only begin to imagine the number of hours that go into creating the perfect balance and execution of just one song, let alone a whole program. The final ascending chord of the night had me thinking, “Hot, hot, HOT!” – the sound that the guys produce is polished, tight and more than a little bit sexy.

Suade are an a capella tour de force.

If you’re a fan of damn fine singing, a good clean bit of dirty fun and you are a self proclaimed filthy bastard (again, Loz’s words, not mine!), get along to one of the two remaining shows this weekend.

Suade presents For Adults Only at the 2011 Melbourne Cabaret Festival.

Sat/Sun July 23/24 @ 8pm

Lamond Room, South Melbourne Town Hall

Tickets $37/$34 @ www.melbournecabaret.com

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Review: WORLD WAR WONDERFUL by Karin Muiznieks

Let the battle begin!

By Brad Storer

World War Wonderful! stands as a dark parable about blind patriotism and the cycle of violence surrounding warfare. Luckily for the audience, the near-Brechtian bleakness of its vision comes clothed in hilariously quotable dialogue and insanely hummable tunes.

Greeted upon entry with the projected image of the American flag and accompanied by manic ragtime music, audience members are cast as soldiers watching a USO entertainment show.

Tonight’s performers are the Wonderful Sisters, a trio of energetic, harmony-singing siblings in the style of the Andrews Sisters (their bitter rivals). It is World War Six, Winston Churchill is President of the United States (played on video here by Casey Bennetto) and after many years of profitable war-mongering, the frightening prospect of peacetime is approaching.

The setting gives writer/composer Karin Muiznieks many opportunities to create pastiches of 1940’s musical styles, such as patriotic anthems, novelty songs, dark tangos and syrupy torch songs – all served up with deliciously twisted lyrics and pointed political satire.

Subjects include the advantages of a decorated military love-partner with (several) amputated limbs, sexual ‘warfare’, and a ‘Mr Sandman’ take-off describing the perfect political leader while making jibes at the modern American political landscape. Even those unfamiliar with this period of music will find themselves laughing at the wit and audacity of these seemingly peppy songs.

The three leads, as directed here by Scott Gooding, are all impressive in their individual roles: Louise McCrae as Fanny, the innocent youngest sibling, Laura McCulloch as the cunning middle sister Ruth, and Penelope Bruce as the morally ambivalent eldest sister Gloria. Their interactions and family feuding are perfectly played out as they seek to maintain their wealth and power in a world on the verge of peace.

By the time we reach the end of the show, the sinister conclusion seems both comically logical and chillingly unavoidable. Despite some minor technical problems on opening night, which were competently covered over by the performers, the gruesome message of World War Wonderful! was perfectly executed by all involved.

The Lamond Room, South Melbourne Town Hall

Friday 22/Saturday 23 July, 9.30pm

Tickets: www.melbournecabaret.com, ph. 1300 640 801 or at the festival box office (South Melbourne Town Hall)

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REVIEW: Tommy Bradson in PIRATE RHAPSODY MERMAID REQUIEM

Down into cabaret depths with this seductive and scurvy tale…

By Kate Boston Smith

Tommy Bradson is a passionate performer who barely draws breath during his poetic and emblazed performance.

His cabaret Pirate Rhapsody Mermaid Requiem for the Melbourne Cabaret Festival is an unbridled verbal and musical explosion about love, life, sex and all the murky waters in between. 

It is as though he has been set adrift and drunk the waters on which he floats to then return in search of truth and real connection. 

Celebrating curiosity in a scene where he explores “Without wonder where would we be?”, his show condemns the mediocre meanderings of taken-for-granted lives.

Split into two stories, Bradson’s cabaret serves up a feast of tales and observations.  His words ignite, lighting up the dark theatrette with a blaze that lingers long after he has continued into his next thought. 

Bradson performs in thick accents, one being old, rich, Irish and at times almost impossible to decipher.  This is by no means a hindrance to the performance as it draws you further in.

Moreover Bradson holds his audience by the balls, or whatever they consider safe and dear to them. 

There are few performers who can write and deliver shows to this magnitude of divine agony without making the audience cringe or wish they were elsewhere. 

Pirate Rhapsody Mermaid Requiem is a one-man show with the spirit of 10-strong cast.  It moves, dances, provokes, interacts and evokes sentiment we can relate to in our darkest hours….all with the sharp slap of dark humour to it. 

This is a show that could nestle into the bosom off Broadway or in the crotch of the theatre-set in East London.  It is poetic, it is raw and it is not for the faint hearted.

Pirate Rhapsody Mermaid Requiem is part of the Melbourne Comedy Festival 2011

Written and Performed by Tommy Bradson


Composed and Arranged by John Thorn

Final festival show tonight Thursday 21 July, 8.15pm


Tickets $33 / $30

The Incubator, Auspicious Arts, 228 Bank Street, South Melbourne

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Review: KARIN MUIZNIEKS’ Filthy Secrets

Risque, risky music theatre that’s both fresh and funny

By Kate Boston Smith

The rumors are true, Karin Muiznieks is one of Melbourne’s best musical theatre writer / composers, and Filthy Secrets is the perfect hot-breathed whisper to convey this exceptional talent. 

Unsure of what to expect when I took my seat, as the first song started my mouth curled into a half-moon and maintain that position for nigh on the next 55 minutes. Muiznieks and her team of talent have pieced together a jet stream of sketches that move from light-hearted over-bearing stage parents to more darker elements of sexual perversions in the society in which we all live. 

On stage with her are the flawless musical performers Cameron Thomas, Karlis Zaid, the ever-gorgeous Louise Joy McCrae and sibling/ fellow musician extraordinaire Emma Muiznieks. Together this ensemble produces choral completeness, jazzed-up jives and crooning tales of misunderstood woes. 

Interwoven into these delightful sounds are stories, tales and conversations which we all can relate to or comment on.  From sexually confused footballers and snooty Toorak housewives, to modern-day women with casual sex on the brain, no one is safe and nor should they be.  This is a show that explores and pokes fun at multiple facets of society with no-holds barred.

There was one sketch that was particularly risqué.  As my body squirmed in the “oh no” awkwardness of the sketches content, my head processed the intention behind this particular piece, a commentary on media outlets and the public’s obsession with celebrities.  This is a topic very fitting in today’s media climate in light of the controversy around the News of World phone-tapping scandal. 

Controversy aside, this is a show that is sleek, funny and setting the tone for modern musical theatre.  It is fast-moving to the point where you don’t notice time slipping beneath you, with performances that are strong and worthy of praise and applause they evoke. 

This is an ideal show both for those wanting to dabble in cabaret for the first time and for the more seasoned audience member: a perfect representation of fresh musical theatre with a dark, comedy bent.

Tonight Thurs 21 July at 7.15pm


$35 / $32, The Ballantyne Room, South Melbourne Town Hall

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REVIEW: Emily Taylor in HELLO YOU

This kamikaze cabaret is ambiguous, off-beat and excessively endearing

By Bradley Storer

Emily Taylor made her entrance wearing only high heels, a long coat and a confident smile. She wordlessly appraised each individual in the front row before presenting one particular lady with a bouquet of flowers. This opening managed to encapsulate the spirit of the entire show: intimate and mysterious as well as friendly and touching.

This ‘kamikaze cabaret’ mixes stories of childhood, family and heartbreak with dreamscapes, songs and improvised interactions with audience members to create a piece that bounces from topic to topic with child-like energy and enthusiasm.

The audience are treated like the inhabitants of Emily’s constantly shifting dream-world, changing from strangers to childhood friends without warning. They are kept constantly engaged through quirky games or the sentimental mementos Emily occasionally passes around for show-and-tell.

The rapid shifts in time and place can be disorienting, making it difficult at times to keep up with the flow of the story. However since the aim of the show appears to be to depict the fluctuating terrains of memory and dream, this ambiguity actually makes sense in context. The effective lighting design helps to minimize the confusion and creates a unique space for each territory encountered.

Emily Taylor is utterly charming, her bright open face instantly endearing her to the audience. Her enormous energy and commitment, combined with some ingenious and creative staging, turn what could have been clichéd material into something unique and hilarious (my particular favourite was the subtly filthy trampoline gag). Emily skilfully handles improvisation with the audience, constructing stories about the lives of the audience members which she then blends seamlessly into her final monologue. Her accompanist Quinn Stacpoole provides responsive and illustrative backdrops against which Emily’s tales and dreams play out.

The sombre finale of the show gathers up the fragments of all that has come before into a series of interconnecting monologues, weaving together haunting images of death, aging and loneliness. All these subjects appear, albeit hidden, in the stories throughout the show and provide a surprisingly appropriate conclusion to this seemingly light-hearted piece.

The final performance of Hello You is at 6:45 on Thursday 21st July, at the Auspicious Arts Incubator, 228 Bank St, South Melbourne as part of the Melbourne Cabaret Festival.

Ticket prices: $33 Full/ $30 Concession

Tickets can be booked online at MelbourneCabaret.com

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Review: ANNE EDMONDS in Ever Since the Dawn of Anne

A side-splitting night of songs, sin, Maccas mayhem and banjo-playing

By Maxine Montgomery

In Ever Since the Dawn of Anne, Anne Edmonds attempts to cover everything she’s ever done wrong. Before the show, I noticed on three sticks (or are they canes?) in a cylindrical vessel on the stage. In the front row, a fellow audience member gestured towards the stage and was heard to say, “She’s evil”. Were we all about to receive a good beating?

What the audience did receive was a highlights tour through Anne’s various crimes and misdemeanours – cigarettes, beer, vodka, hangover recovery, desperate attempts to get a man’s interest, driving disasters and more. Opening the show with an original title track, Anne immediately had the audience on side.

It would be hard to conceive of a person who would not be drawn in by Anne singing the line “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned” – a line she follows up with an inane yet winning smile. It was a fabulous through-line to the show to hear this main theme on piano as a recurring bookend to each new story.

Following the opening song, Anne walked us through two long stories of wrong doings from early in her life. Some performers attempting extended sections of dialogue that aren’t broken up by songs may struggle to keep an audience engaged, but Anne’s inimitable delivery – the right mix of charm & self-deprecation – had me totally absorbed, and fascinated to see what was going to be the next thing to come out of her mouth.

My favourite moment in the show was Anne announcing that the next confession to be so shocking that it had to be told in song – a morning-after-the-night-before trip to the local Maccas drive-thru which ended in the most horrifyingly expensive scenario imaginable! I have to say I laughed till I cried.

Anne’s partner-in-crime is her accompanist, Amy Bennett. Amy’s piano expertise is most evident, and it was wonderful to see their collaboration, with Amy so competently providing harmony vocals to Anne’s melodies.

For a highly amusing evening with this pelvis-thrusting, banjo-playing troublemaker, get along to Anne’s second and final show tonight for the Melbourne Cabaret Festival, Thursday July 21st at 6:30pm in the Lamond Room, South Melbourne Town Hall. Tickets available at melbournecabaret.com or by calling 1300 640 801, or visit the festival box office located outside the South Melbourne Town Hall.

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REVIEW: Tom Dickins says F**K PLAN B
An inspirational piece from a talented man
 
By Kate Boston-Smith
 
To: Tom Dickins
From: Amanda Palmer
Jettison the job.
Fuck Plan B
I’ll support you in anyway I can… Xx
 
 
There is no doubting Tom Dickins of The Jane Austen Argument has a beautiful velvet voice and in his latest solo show, F**k Plan B, he fluently moves through his impressive range. 
 
This new cabaret show is bold and brave: Dickins takes us through his journey from high-school dreamer to educated and informed performer who steps out from the shackles of 9-to-5 work.
 
There were moments in the show that reminded me of my favourite scene in  the musical confessions of A Chorus Line as Dickins retells his experience, his heartache and his unorthodox approach to decision-making in his Brunswick apartment.
 
He shares with us personal inspiration from his grandfather, a man who has clearly left his mark on his grandson: the love he has for him is undeniable.
 

His show has strong moments and his skilful song-writing is great, but I have to say I was rather frustrated by his dark eye makeup and hair, as I could not see his eyes.  He gives us a very personal story filled with intimate details, but he was unfortunately hidden in the shadows of the makeup.   

Dickens has clearly had a dream-like start to his creative career as a independent writer and performer. I would certainly love to hear more from the depths of this imagination and what other sorts of colourful musings he has on the world.

All in all this is an inspirational show for anyone wanting to bravely follow their dream, so go along tonight for the final show of F**k Plan B and support Tom in his.

Tom Dickens in F**k Plan B

Venue: The Butterfly Club, 204 Bank St. South Melbourne

Date: Final show Sunday (tonight) 6pm 


Tickets: $22 full,
$19 concession,
$18 group (8+)

Bookings: www.thebutterflyclub.com


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Review: CHANTS DES CATACOMBES

Hypnotic and intriguing – but got a little lost…

By Kim Edwards

Cabaret is often distinguished from other forms of theatre by its atmosphere: the sense of being drawn into the space and narrative, and caught up easily and absorbidly into a new and rarified air.

Innovative collaborative cabaret  project Chants Des Catacombes is promenade theatre that thus beckons you down into the beautiful and eerie bowels of the Donkey Wheel House in Bourke Street to hear the tales and echoing songs of three women who still haunt the labyrinthine basement long after their demise.

The initial creation of atmosphere and use of space is just sublime in this production. Nicola Andrew’s spectacular lighting design reveals each new room and scene as a place of chiaroscuro and spectacle, and the audience wandered fearless and fascinated down halls, around pillars and through doorways as the action unfolded in front, behind and between us.

The concept of Chants Des Catacombes is beguiling, and the multi-sensory experience highly engaging, but narrative and characters are strangely jarring and indistinct. The desire to understand who these three women are and what holds them here remains unsatiated: lyrics and anecdotes were difficult to hear as snatches of story floated away down corridors, diction was muffled or volume insufficient.

Moreover, while cabaret delights in reconsidering songs in new contexts and styles, obviously anachronistic modern music when we wanted to immerse ourselves in the past felt intrusive and disruptive – particularly the closing number that left the audience silent in surprise.

Perhaps the desire is indeed to unsettle us and prevent us losing ourselves completely in this world and the lives and deaths created, as fragmented narrative and characters and songs wisp and whisper away into the shadows, but for me, Chants Des Catacombes ultimately did not quite achieve the gothic, ghostly, sultry heights the publicity had evoked.

Nonetheless, the performances were certainly mesmerising (and I appreciated the subtle art of the ushers as crew, scenery, signposts, props and brooding presence), the overall experience is unique and enjoyable, and the chance to traverse and haunt a cabaret performance space yourself as witness and voyeur and silent participant is – well, simply to die for…

Chants Des Catacombes is the collaborative creation of:

• Nicola Andrews (Lighting Designer and VCA Design Graduate)
• Anna Boulic (Winner of the 2010 Short and Sweet Cabaret Festival, Harpist and NIDA Graduate)
• Laura Burzacott (Call Girl the Musical and I Heart Frankston)
• Nathan Gilkes (Theatre & Opera Director and VCA Directing Graduate)
• David Harford (Choreographer and Ballarat Arts Academy Graduate)
• Bryce Ives (Theatre Director Call Girl the Musical, The History Boys and I Heart Frankston)
• Emma Leah (Scent Alchemist)
• Zoe McDonald (Wrong Town and VCA Musical Theatre Graduate)
• Sophie Woodward (Designer and VCA Graduate)

Venue: Donkey Wheel House, 673 Bourke Street Melbourne
Dates:  Fri-Sat 17-18 June 8.30pm & 10.30pm, Sun 19 June 6pm.
Tickets: $30/conc $25
Bookings: http://www.trybooking.com/9503 or at the door

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REVIEW: Amelia Ryan is a STORM IN A D-CUP

WOWEE!! 

By Lisa Nightingale

Yup, sure… that IS how I am going to start this review. I think ‘Wowee’ sums up tonight’s performance of Storm in a D-Cup perfectly!

Taking my seat in The Butterfly Club tonight, the hot-red peep-toed shoes waiting on stage in front of me let me know that a party was about to take place, and I was not mistaken. Amelia Ryan burst from the rear of the room and made her way up on stage, and from that moment she was on fire.

Ryan’s cleverly-written, bear-all biography delivered through conversation and song had me, through the most part, bursting with laughter.

When I wasn’t laughing, I was entirely stunned at the sharp twists and turns her life has taken and I’ll tell you, her stories just NEEDED to become a cabaret! From tales of a transsexual step-mother to ‘sick leave’ pains, Ryan keeps her audience completely entertained.

The songs through the show were fantastic – re-written and made entirely her own.  I was blown away with how cleverly old favourites from Sound Of Music, Avenue Q and Belinda Carlisle were worked into the story. 

Ryan has an amazing connection with the music she is singing, keeping the audience enchanted through humorous lyrics but also through the emotionally engaging songs we then hear midway through the show, which were breathtaking and reminded us that we are listening to a real girl’s stories and real-life challenges.

Ryan’s focus and ‘real’ performance whilst she was singing is something that I cannot praise enough. I did feel however that her story-telling could have been a little less ‘rehearsed’. She shows such freedom and release whilst singing, and during the season I hope she finds this when delivering her well-written script as well.

Yet, hearing her tales of how clumsy she is, I couldn’t help but relate to stories she told – and hearing other females laughing in the audience, I knew they felt the same.

Another HUGE bonus to this already fantastic show is Cameron Thomas on piano. He brings such excitement to the stage, has a few lines in the show that cracked me up—and once he starts playing that piano, his energy buzzes!

Amelia Ryan has everything she possibly could need to take her blossoming cabaret career as far as she wants. A brilliant stage presence, hot-to-trot voice and a banging body – and don’t forget, she’s a blonde bombshell D-cup!

If you have no plans over this weekend, get to The Butterfly Club; and if you already have plans, CANCEL THEM and head down anyway for the 7pm performance of Storm in a D-Cup Friday and Saturday or 6pm Sunday. You’ll be giggling for a whole hour – promise!