Category: Cabaret

Cabaret, Cabaret Review, Festivals, Whats On

REVIEW: Melissa Langton in A SINGER MUST DIE… AND OTHER BEDTIME STORIES

Winningly witty and deliciously dark

By Bradley Storer

Award-winning cabaret performer Melissa Langton arrives at Chapel off Chapel with her latest offering, A Singer Must Die… And Other Bedtime Stories for Melbourne Fringe Festival. The subject of the evening is the idea of the ‘apocalypse’, both on the global and personal scale. Langton opens the show with the title song, a grim reflection on the artistic process and creative crisis, following with a rip-roaring gospel-inflected tune anticipating the destructive ecstasy of the coming cataclysm, setting up many of the ideas explored throughout the piece.

A Singer Must Die

Langton cleverly weaves tales of personal calamity and turmoil in a wide-ranging series of scenarios, the only set being three platforms which she cleverly moves between to punctuate her narratives. Topics reach from the forgotten little sister of Jesus forever living in her brother’s shadow, deception in online dating, a short-lived romance between carnival freaks to the return of the Devil to Earth. Some of the brighter numbers seem a little simplistic and underwritten in comparison to the darker songs, and at the beginning of the evening there seems to be an overload of more melancholy material which threatens to make it a little repetitive, but by the halfway mark Langton manages to find a balance between the light and shade which works wonderfully.

Langton herself is a charming performer, her wide-ranging vocals wielded to maximum effect and her belt physically shaking the room with its enormous strength! At times Langton seemed a little reserved and tentative, but this can surely be chalked up to opening night jitters – by the end of the evening she had blossomed with hilarious comedic energy in her more upbeat numbers and a simple but touching gravitas in more serious moments.

There are some utter gems amongst these partially spoken, partially sung tales. A hilarious saga of heartbreak and automotive spree-killing, a gently heart-breaking look into the life of a recently widowed woman.  The story of a woman breaking into the home of her ex-lover hums with the simultaneous agony and joy of being hopelessly in love, an extraordinary act of empathy which touched the audience in the deepest recesses of our hearts. The penultimate song, which explores the continuous unity of the human spirit and the possibilities of reincarnation, brilliantly ties together all the threads seen in the show into a multi-faceted reflection of the divide fundamental to the human condition. An evening of both entertainment and enlightenment!

VENUE: Chapel off Chapel, 12 Little Chapel St, Prahran.

DATE: 24 – 29th  September

TIME: 7:30 (6:30 Sunday)

PRICES: Full $28, Concession $25, Group 10+ $20

TICKETS: www.chapeloffchapel.com.au, Ph: (03) 8290 7000, at the door.

Cabaret, Events, Performances, Review, Theatre, Whats On

REVIEW: Candlelight Productions Presents OUTSIDE THE BOX

Real tales of home, heart and hope

By Myron My

Boxes. When we’re children, we use them to make cubby houses. When we got older, we used them for moving. Sadly, some of us use them as homes when life throws us a curveball. Candlelight Productions in partnership with Servants Community Housing have worked together to bring to life stories relating to the idea of home and what it means for different people.

Outside the Box

A lot of time and effort has gone into this show: from the simple yet highly effective set design, to the marketing and packaging of the program guide and the accompanying book which inspired the stories. In 2010, two Scotch College students, Anthony Antoniadis and Jeremy Kong, spent time getting to know the residents of Servants Community Housing and published Anthology: Stories of respect, dignity and hope. These stories help create a greater context in which to appreciate Outside The Box and really expand upon the notion of home and explore how it’s something we all yearn after.

The five actors – Adam Balales, Tarah Carey, Harlene Hercules, Ryan A. Murphy and Aaron Steele – have previously met with these residents and through various forms and styles, relay their stories to us. It takes a certain level of skill and sensitivity to be able to tell these stories with integrity and truth and the whole cast are exemplary in this. There are twenty acts/stories told in Outside The Box and the majority of them are captivating and warrant your attention, however I do feel some of them were a little too abstract to connect with.

Despite some stories working better than others, the actors’ commitment does not waver. I particularly enjoyed Murphy’s characterizations of Eddie and George and also Balale’s story of Jack. The latter was treated beautifully with flashbacks to his younger years, and the short yet poignant story of a soldier returning home was also quite touching.

On the surface, this group-devised performance is quite an enjoyable show but upon reflection it made me appreciate how fortunate and lucky I am to have a home and to not take for granted something as perceivably simple as a roof over my head. Outside the Box is an intense theatrical performance that helps you put your priorities in order.

Venue: Chapel Off Chapel, 12 Little Chapel St, Prahran
Season: Until 31 August | Thurs-Sat 8:00pm, Sun 5:00pm
Tickets: $30 Full | $25 Conc
Bookings: www.chapeloffchapel.com.au or 8290 7000

Cabaret, Cabaret Review, Events, Whats On

REVIEW: Nick Hedger in CRAP I FOUND IN MY ROOM

Promising cabaret just needs a little tidying

By Christine Moffat

Crap I Found In My Room is a cabaret about a young man leaving home: or more precisely, a young man being asked nicely by his parents to move out.  Writer/performer Nick Hedger presents an idea that seems to be a very personal story, but gives it a wide appeal.  Many people have lived through the slightly traumatic move from childhood home into ‘the world’ – or have at least considered it…

Crap I Found In My RoomHedger has transformed the small theatre at The Butterfly Club into (this reviewer guesses) a stage version of his actual bedroom. The space (including the seats) is strewn with laundry, boxes, laptops etc, plus countless toys.  It looks like Gen-Y beat up Toys’R’Us.

These objects really gave the show a sense of place, but Hedger only interacted with a few objects.  To make ‘his stuff’ and the show’s title more meaningful perhaps he needed to use a few more of them more as props, and not just as set pieces.  The same feeling may have been achieved by having a few less objects visible and using more packing boxes: pulling things out of boxes suggests volume, without creating audience expectations that visible props be used.

However, a great moment of meaningful use of props was a funny segment involving a Magic 8 ball.  Hedger’s interaction with the audience and the Magic 8 ball really worked because cabaret is essentially about connection, and Hedger gave the audience something immediate and unique.

The writing is a great strength of this show. It is written as a combination of universal experience and personal testimony.  However, for this reviewer, overall the script feels a bit too obvious.  The mood changes and corresponding tone of songs are too defined when moving through a fairly straightforward narrative.  Mixing upbeat and sombre songs more elegantly and breaking out of the predictable flow would have given the finale a nice sense of discovery and surprise, as the finish felt a little soft and unresolved.  That being said, Hedger did still close the show with pathos and depth, suggesting real growth in his character.

Hedger has a great voice and in such a small venue can safely throw away his microphone.  Some of the songs involved rather too much prior music-theatre knowledge to truly get the jokes, but Hedger’s original songs and some of his pop interpretations were fabulous.  This show has a great premise, and Hedger has an engaging stage presence.  If you aren’t currently trying to gently shuck your own teenager from their room like an oyster from its shell, this show will definitely entertain you.  If you are, it’ll be great therapy!

Aug 1st – 4th, Fri-Sat 9pm / Sun 8pm

The Butterfly Club: Carson Place (just off Little Collins Street in CBD)

www.thebutterflyclub.com

A Magnetic Hand production

Directed by Jon Stephens

Cabaret, Cabaret Review, Musical Theatre, Whats On

REVIEW: Jemma Rix with David Young in THE RANDOM VARIETY

Wicked star braves the cabaret stage

By Bradley Storer

Introduced by her accompanist David Young, Jemma Rix, the recently-announced Elphaba for the new Australian production of Wicked, took to the stage of The Butterfly Club with a shy but toothy grin. Here she launched into a wonderful original song investigating the meaning behind the title of the show and ending in a medley of countless tunes shouted out on the spot by Young.

Jemma Rix

A misstep was following this rollicking song with the Eagles’ sombre ‘Hotel California’, an odd choice which drained the energy she’d built up in her first tune. For the first part of the evening Rix was clearly nervous and had trouble maintaining eye contact with her audience – not such a big problem for musical theatre but difficult for the intimacy of cabaret. She asked the audience’s forgiveness for her understandable nerves in her first outing as a cabaret performer.

After seeming a little unsure of herself through the first few pop songs on the set list, resorting to a few stock pop-singer stage moves at some points, one could almost feel her give an internal sigh of relief when she reached the first show tunes of the night – a winning combination of Stephen Schwartz’s ‘Beautiful City’ and Sondheim’s ‘Another Hundred People’, with Schwartz’s idealistic vision of a ‘city of men’ bringing out a surprising beauty in Sondheim’s bleak landscape of urban alienation.

The first moment where it felt Rix truly connected with her audience was with the song ‘With You’ from the musical Ghost – here her inhibitions melted away  and I felt transported as Rix brought us into the heartbreaking grief of losing a loved one, and from here on out she was on solid ground. Once her nerves were gone, Rix revealed herself as a charming and engaging performer, along with her voice of startling power and floating delicacy.

The later half of the evening brought some surprising and rewarding choices in repertoire. Rix informed us of her uproarious idea of a Romeo and Juliet juke-box musical based around the music of Rihanna (the only thing lacking were some daggy dance moves!). Her banter about the plight faced by youth today in an environment pervaded by cyber-bullying led into a brilliant fusion of ‘Quiet’ from Tim Minchin’s Matilda with David Guetta’s ‘Titanium’ that held the entire audience spell-bound.

A promising first show from an established music-theatre performer which assures us of great things for her cabaret future! 

Venue: The Butterfly Club, 256 Collins St (enter off 5 Carson Place), Melbourne City

Dates & Times: 23rd, 24th, 28th at 8pm, 25th, 26th, 27th at 9pm.

Tickets: Full $28, Concession $25, Group $23, Tightarse Tuesday $20.

Bookings: www.thebutterflyclub.com , 9663 8107 or at the door.

Cabaret

REVIEW: Finucane and Smith with GLORY BOX: PARADISE

Glorious performances

By Myron My

The highly revered Finucane & Smith have returned to fortyfivedownstairs with their subversive and seductive show Glory Box: Paradise that brings together a myriad of extremely talented women for a variety of acts, from circus to dance to cabaret performance, in a non-stop evening of evocative entertainment.

Glory Box Paradise Image by Jodie Hutchinson

Under the creative direction of Jackie Smith, Moira Finucane soon shows us why she has been so successful over the years, with sell-out seasons around the world for almost a decade. Her performance of ‘A Sunny Afternoon’ was highly emotional whereby, with no spoken word beyond the lyrics, she made a moving statement about our notions of beauty in society. When paired with U2’s hit ‘With or Without You’, the room was frozen in place with the audience deep in contemplation, having been left to our own devices to determine the underscored meaning.

Having experienced British cabaret star Ursula Martinez four years ago in London I was very excited to be seeing her again and I was not disappointed. Also sometimes referred to as the Red Hanky Lady, Martinez’s ‘Hanky Panky’ is always going to be a crowd favourite. Her collaborations with Guinness World Record hoola hooper Jess Love were highly entertaining and the final reveal of ‘Quick Change Sex Change’ proved that with a show like this, we can always expect the unexpected.

It’s an evening of no lulls or disappointments with strong performances by Holly Durant, Lily Paskas and Yumi Umiumare throughout, as well as a few songs by Yana Alana fresh from her Melbourne Cabaret Festival season. There are also a number of special guests joining these remarkable women throughout the season including Rhonda Burchmore and Paul Capsis.

There is a lot of nudity in Glory Box: Paradise but I found it to be quite liberating and affirming, even as a male, to see all these women being nude, or close to, on stage and not being embarrassed or making a big deal about it. There is a strong underlying message in this show regarding what it means to be a beautiful woman, in that all women are beautiful and should never be ashamed of their bodies – a sentiment you hear often but rarely witness being enacted.

In short, you will laugh, you will be inspired, you will think, and things will get messy – especially if you are sitting in the front few rows – but that’s all part of the fun and celebration of Finucane & Smith’s Glory Box: Paradise.

Venue: fortyfivedownstairs, 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne

Season: Until 11 August | Thurs 7:00pm, Fri-Sat 7:oopm and 9:30pm, Sun 5:30pm

Tickets: From $25 – $88.88

Bookings: http://www.fortyfivedownstairs.com/events or 9662 9966

Cabaret, Cabaret Review, Comedy, Dance, Review, Whats On

REVIEW: Revolt Productions Presents TWO POUND PARLOUR

Vegas vaudeville – with a twist

By Myron My

Set in post-apocalyptic Vegas, Miss Friby’s Two Pound Parlour showcases a variety of dance, burlesque, cabaret, vaudeville and all those things in between.  With live music from Rapskallion, it’s a sexy – and sometimes messy – two-hour rollercoaster of fun for the audience.

Two Pound Parlour

Our MC for the evening, Miss Friby (Elizabeth Dawson-Smith) wins the audience over with her conflicting nature throughout the show. She is charismatic yet vulgar, charming yet rude, confident yet insecure. She definitely has the ability to lead this raucous evening with style, and she does it with much ease.

All of Miss Friby’s girls, Trailor De’Lamore, Zaire De Congo, Loreal Disastre and Lady Steponhe show impeccable commitment to their roles in every skit, dance and performance number. The standout of the night for me was Lady Steponhe, with her excellent comedic timing and remarkable physical fitness that allowed her to pull off such amazing routines.

The highlights of Two Pound Parlour included “Heaven In A Box” by Steponhe, which had the audience in stitches, the stomping-dance routine led by Zaire and the kissing skit/song between Trailor and Steponhe. All the dance numbers were varied and engaging to watch, however, I felt the skit/performance aspect of Two Pound Parlour was sometimes a disappointment, such as the Vegas wedding and Loreal’s rendition of “Not In A Gay Way”.

There were a few sound and mic issues, such as hearing the performers when we shouldn’t be and not being able to hear them when we should.  As great as the band was, there were moments where their sound overpowered the singing of the ladies on stage and made it difficult to hear the lyrics.

As creator of Two Pound Parlour, Dawson-Smith’s dedication and hard work has clearly come through and has put together an enjoyable show that has something to suit all – as long as you have a naughty side to explore…

Venue: Revolt Productions, 12 Elizabeth Street Kensington

Season: Until 14 July | 7:30pm, Fri-Sat 10:15pm

Tickets: $35 Full | $30 Conc

Bookings: http://revoltproductions.com

Cabaret, Cabaret Review, Events, Festivals, Performances

REVIEW: Melbourne Cabaret Festival’s CLOSING GALA

Olympians, Oprah and marriage equality in fabulous festival finale

By Bradley Storer

The stars of the Melbourne Cabaret Festival joined together at Ormond Hall on the festival’s closing night to raise funds for and support the cause for Marriage Equality.

Tara Minton, a British-based Australian harpist and singer, played selections from her festival show about the songs of Joni Mitchell, enchanting with her ethereal arrangements of ‘Woodstock’ and ‘Smitten’ and a voice that combined delicacy with a surprising power. Karin ‘Danger’ Muiznieks showed off the breadth of her range (as well as a dead on Piaf impression) in a tune that summarised the highs and lows of the Festival accompanied by Cameron Thomas.

Jon Jackson astonished the audience with his incredible range in an Etta James classic and a heartfelt song about the joys of marriage and children (made all the poignant by Jackson’s remarks about the inability to marry his partner of fifteen years). Cabaret diva Tina del Twist (the drag alter-ego of Wes Snelling) took to the stage with an imaginary back up band, crooning snatches of songs in a voice of spine-tingling power, in between bouts of wandering the stage in an absent-minded haze that felt like a three-act play in itself!

After intermission international drag cabaret star Spanky re-opened proceedings with some rock’n’roll sexiness as she sauntered through the crowd, accompanied by guitarist Robert Tripolino, before stunning with the Madonna tune ‘Revolver’ from his 2012 Green Room award-winning show Candice McQueen. Jazz chanteuse Jade Leonard took to the stage with her self-penned gay anthem ‘Equal Love’ before announcing her engagement to drag performer Art Simone (also present on the night) and inviting the audience to their nuptials at the next Equal Love Rally.

Matthew Mitcham as MC for the evening charmed with a ukulele mash-up of Kylie tunes for his opening, and guided the rest of the event with awkwardly adorable enthusiasm. This being a fundraiser for marriage equality Mitcham played to certain elements of the crowd, performing an impromptu striptease to ‘Barbie Girl’ (accompanied on the harp by Minton) which I’m sure left half the audience with spontaneous pregnancy. Later he showed off more of his… ahem… ‘assets’… during the auction which raised prices significantly!

Closing Gala

The night closed with a special guest performance by Oprah (played by Rachel Dunham), fresh from her Melbourne Cabaret season in Oprahfication, who regaled us with tales of starting out as a young black woman in television and bringing the house down with a voice that shook the rafters.

An incredible end to one of Australia’s fastest growing festivals, displaying the phenomenal talent on offer every year.

 Venue: Ormond Hall, 557 St Kilda Road, Melbourne

Date: 7th July 2013

Time: 7:45pm

Cabaret, Cabaret Review, Festivals, Whats On

REVIEW: Jessamae St James is TIED UP

Bending and bonding over cabaret

By Myron My

It’s always a risky move when a performer takes an unsuspecting audience member on stage and makes him get down on all fours so she can sit on him. But when that audience member is your reviewer, you better damn well hope you have a great show to move on with!

Tied Up

Fortunately, burlesque performer Jessamae St James does have just that, and in the context of her show my participation was quite – er – tame… As part of this year’s Melbourne Cabaret Festival, Tied Up looks at fetishes and BDSM, including ‘forniphilia’ – a form of bondage and sexual objectification in which a person’s body (namely mine) is incorporated into a piece of furniture.

Wearing a black, body-hugging corset, St James easily captures the audience’s attention as she talks and sings her way through some more lesser-known but just as intriguing fetishes. Once the sometimes lengthy monologue describing each fetish is completed St James breaks into a song and this is where she truly does shine.

Her voice is sultry and seductive, and appropriately, she nails each and every number she sings. Moreover, St James is joined on stage by an amazing four-piece jazz band whose skill and talent take the musical aspect of this show to a whole new level.

St James does create a highly intimate and sensual environment overall, but considering the obvious impact of the music and her vocal ability, I feel less talking and more songs would have kept the enjoyment level of this show at a maximum.

I must als0 admit I would have liked to have been confronted even more with Tied Up. St James is discussing some highly sexual and often taboo themes and it would have been great to see her push some of those boundaries herself on stage, which I am sure she would be capable of doing, given her exciting performance history.

Having said that, Tied Up is still a highly entertaining show, I made a particularly fine stage seat, and I’m certainly keen to see where St James dares to go from here…

Venue: The Butterfly Club, 256 Collins St (entry via Carson Place), Melbourne

Season: Until 7 July | Sat 7:00pm, Sun 6:00pm.

Tickets: $28 Full | $25 Conc

Bookings: http://melbournecabaret.com

Cabaret, Cabaret Review, Festivals, Whats On

REVIEW: Trevor Ashley is LITTLE ORPHAN TRASHLEY

 Leave the kids at home…

By Bradley Storer

This year Trevor Ashley brings his naughty and controversial adults-only pantomime Little Orphan Trashley to town as part of the Melbourne Cabaret Festival. The show, an unofficial rip off of the musical Annie, is the sort of light-hearted family show that you would never bring your kids to.

Rhonda Burchmore as Miss Trannigan, the alcoholic and lascivious matron of the orphanage, effortlessly steals every scene she appears in, boozing, crooning and flashing her fabulous legs to great campy effect. Her songs are overall the best in the show, and an act two duet with Ashley is quite probably the best one of the night. Rhys Bobridge in the role of little Fannie’s pet dog (whose name is unprintable here) combines sex appeal – wait until you see his outfit! – with a cuddliness and comic timing that make his every moment onstage gleefully naughty. His first entrance had the audience in hysterics for what seemed like a full minute!

Little Orphan Trashley

Gary Sweet gets big laughs as a pajama-clad Prologue introducing us to the story, but as Daddy Warhorse a lot of his lines fall flat. He lacks the singing ability to bring off his musical number in Act One but does a better job in selling a delightfully dirty number in Act Two.

The problem is that the writing and the story are simply not engaging enough to hold the audience’s interest for the length of the show. The best parts (usually involving Burchmore or Bobridge) usually have absolutely nothing to do with the plot, so when Ashley and Sweet step forward to get the story moving again it feels like the laughs cease – in particular, an attempt to integrate recent controversy about child pornography in art into the story comes across as quite creepy (and not in the good way!). The jokes came hard and fast throughout, and there are many up-to-date references (including to Rudd’s recent disposal of Julia Gillard) which is a credit to the creative team in their efforts to keep the script fresh and relevant. However, even with this the success rate is still only fifty-fifty for the entire night, with a few precise zingers as exceptions, despite the commitment of the cast to the material.

Ashley himself does not shine with the glowing stage presence of a star, but seems like a low-key supporting character in the plot – which is hard to understand given he has more stage time, dialogue and songs than anyone in the cast. There was no moment in the show where I felt Ashley was given a chance to show off his full power and range as singer or performer, which was disappointing as in previous works he has been fantastic!

Venue: The Comedy Theatre, 240 Exhibition Street, Melbourne

Date: Thurs 4 to Sun 7 July then continuing on after the Festival until Sunday 14 July

Price: A Reserve $75, B Reserve $60

Time: Tue 7:00pm, Wed – Fri 8:00pm, Sat 6.30pm & 9.30pm, Sun 5:00pm

Bookings: www.ticketmaster.com.au , (03) 9299 9800, at the venue

Cabaret

REVIEW: Alex Roe in HERE COMES YOUR MAN

Getting ready for a hit

By Myron My

In Here Comes Your Man for the 2013 Melbourne Cabaret Festival, Alex Roe plays a hit man – a very successful hit man who has a slight career crisis when he meets the beautiful Abigail.

Roe has some good storytelling abilities and the twists and turns in his story were highly engaging without any lulls in this cabaret tale full of crime, death and love. Roe incorporates a nice level of dry humour and drama and seems very relaxed with his delivery and interaction with the audience.

Photo by Shoot at Everyone Imaging

As a performer, when you start to involve audience members in your act you do run the risk of inadvertently breaking character but watching Roe on stage, I did not feel as if he was an actor remembering his lines but found myself quite invested that this man really was a conflicted contract killer!

Here Comes Your Man has a good variety of songs but some of them did slow down the proceedings and cause Roe to lose the intensity he had built up, especially in the middle of the show. It seemed sometimes that either the song was not well-matched to Roe’s voice or it did not add to the story. However the songs where this was definitely not the case and were show highlights included Fairground Attraction’s ‘Perfect’ and (aptly) The Pixies’ ‘Here Comes Your Man’.

Roe is joined on staged by accompanist Tom Pitts and I honestly have never seen a pianist get so wonderfully involved into the music he is playing – his performance was flawless and fluid from beginning to end.

On this occasion, Here Comes Your Man was performed as a workshop season with Attic Erratic with plans of a full season run at the Melbourne Fringe Festival later this year. The concept is unique and interesting and Roe has the skill and charisma to eventually turn this show into the cabaret ‘hit’ it deserves to be.

This production took place on July 3 and 4 at The Butterfly Club as part of the Melbourne Cabaret Festival.