Category: Cabaret

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REVIEW: Sophie Walsh-Harrington is HOT

In search of the sequel to success

By Bradley Storer

After her incredibly successful debut cabaret, The Damsel in Shining Armour (winner of Best Cabaret Adelaide Fringe 2011), Sophie Walsh-Harrington returns to Melbourne with her new show HOT. Crafting a follow-up is a massive task as Sophie herself is obviously aware – the first segment of HOT acts as both a funeral and exorcism of the success of Damsel, Sophie entering in mourning black, greeting individual audience members like attendees at a wake, brandishing her Fringe award in their faces.

Those coming expecting similar fare to Damsel should be forewarned: Sophie continuously informs the audience, via bullhorn, that ‘this is not a cabaret’. Instead we are taken through Sophie’s travails to leave behind her cabaret past and become a ‘serious’ artist, ranging from attempts at monologue, mime and in one particularly hilarious segment, political donkey-themed agitprop anthems. Songs fromartists such as Paloma Faith, Muse and Sia are scattered throughout the show with fragments popping up like bad habits.

Sophie nevertheless retains the goof-ballish but headstrong innocence that made Damsel such a joy, which here keeps the audience on side even as the show takes a more confusing turn. Her vocals have only increased in power, which makes one sad about the relative lack of songs in comparison to her previous work – but in a show which she repeatedly proclaims is not a cabaret, this makes sense.

The show’s major theme is a continuation from Damsel: the attempt to live an authentic life – in this case the struggle of artists to maintain artistic originality and legitimacy in the wake of enormous success. Sophie shamelessly parodies artistic self-indulgence as the show moves into the realm of ‘serious’ theatre. 

The culmination of this endeavour is a lengthy, ‘Animal Farm’-style play. Despite Sophie’s uproarious characterizations and comically expressive physicality, this section began to drag the further it went along – even though this links in with the overall thematic structure of the show, self-indulgence (whether real or simulated) is only funny for so long.

However at the climax of the show, the accumulated superficiality collapses in on itself as if by magic. Sophie seems to rise from the debris of the dissembled show like a phoenix, with a spontaneous rendition of Des’ree’s ‘Kissing You’ so powerful it held the audience completely spellbound. For this alone HOT is worth seeing, reiterating not only Sophie’s incredible skill as a cabaret artist but reassembling what has come before in the show into a true, electrifying moment of artistic rebirth.

HOT stands as a riotous examination of the downsides of creative success, in its own way as cunningly and cleverly structured (if not more so) as its predecessor, and, if the finale is anything to go by, promises even greater achievement and success for Sophie’s future. What is perhaps required is a bigger audience for this show to burn at its brightest.  

HOT plays at La Mama Theatre until March 4, 8:30pm Wed/Sun, 9:30pm Thur-Sat

Directed by Alex Wright, backing tracks performed and engineered by Jason Odle

Tickets: (03) 9347 6142 or www.lamama.com.au

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Review: EMMA CLAIR FORD in Butterscotch

“Fall down seven times, get up eight”

By Maxine Montgomery

The quotation is a good motto we should all take into life, and one that Emma Clair Ford has taken to heart in writing her latest solo cabaret work, Butterscotch.

At the top of the show, Ms Ford entered the show room of the Butterfly Club with a great deal of poise and a dash of mystery, silently stalking down the centre aisle towards the intimate stage.

With her entrance, she created a mood of intrigue and simplicity all at once. She gave away nothing and kept the audience fully engaged as she took us on a journey, on “an adventure within an adventure”.

Ms Ford has crafted a very clever and well-structured script, and at all times, she was in control of its pace and delivery. Her careful choice of words painted very vivid pictures of childhood memories, tales of an oft-broken heart, and time in foreign lands.

I very much enjoyed her repeated use of one scenario, presented in two entirely different veins, to bookend a climactic moment of the show.

The music Ms Ford has chosen throughout the cabaret is so well matched to the progression of the through line that the songs could have been purpose written for the show.  Myself, I will never again be able to listen to “Six Months in a Leaky Boat” in quite the same way!

Emma Clair’s voice is clear, well controlled, and most adaptable in handling the music of the show. Her versatility extends from a music theatre belt to a sweet, pure tone which she introduced as she sang “Vieni a mia diletto” (Come, my delight) – the song was a perfect choice as she told of her desire to visit Juliet’s famous balcony in Verona.

Butterscotch is a unique cabaret, expertly created and delivered. Ms Ford deserves every success as she takes this show across to the 2012 Adelaide Cabaret Fringe Festival this month.

The second and final Melbourne preview is on Wednesday February 22nd at 8pm at the Butterfly Club in South Melbourne, but look out for details of another Melbourne season later in the year.

For tickets, please visit http://thebutterflyclub.com

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REVIEW: What’s Love Got To Do With It?

Tales from the heart

By Jessica Cornish

Singer/songwriter Ruth Katerelos, draped in a red-laced singlet and fishnet fingerless gloves, took the mainly over-40’s Butterfly Club audience on a journey of her life in What‘s Love Got To Do With It?

This intimate and personal cabaret explored in brief her time as a self-destructive teenager to becoming a woman in love, a woman in grief, a mother, and finally finding a way to love again.


 Accompanied by her silent and focused Ovation guitar player, Monique Kenny, Ruth performed a series of mainly acoustic pop songs she had composed, along with a couple of more jazz-influenced numbers. Although musically appealing, the songs would have benefited from more varied chord progressions, as some began to sound rather similar as the show continued.
 
The cabaret was obviously very well rehearsed, and the banter of Ruth’s life came across as a series of slick monologues, well-projected and clearly articulated. Initially the show seemed to lack a clear direction, however, as the show progressed and Ruth revealed more of her roller-coaster life experiences with substance abuse and relationships, you could not help being drawn into her story. Ruth’s heartbreaking tales of her constant loss of friends and lovers, and how she tried to make sense of life again in becoming a mother and finding a new partner Marg, made me catch my breath, and all I wanted to do was to hug this woman who I’d never seen before in my life.

Beyond the personal however, Ruth also touched on wider concepts of love, and how we perceive it as a society. She argued that a person can’t get all their needs fulfilled by a single person and that sometimes simply staying in a relationship for safety doesn’t help make people happy, and these more universal observations kept the performance from being self-indulgent.
 
On the night I attended, there were a couple flat notes and little vocal cracks, but in such an emotional story, I don’t believe that really mattered. Ruth took  us on a moving journey and her very attentive audience thoroughly enjoyed the night, with a couple even flying specifically to Melbourne from Adelaide to see this friendly performer.

Overall, What’s Love Got To Do With It was a pleasant and touching night of entertainment. Keep an eye out for future performances: I would recommend it for a more mature audience who will enjoy to be lulled by acoustic pop songs, and seeing a snapshot of a remarkable life not familiar to most of us.
 
What’s Love Got To Do With It was performed at The Butterfly Club on Thursday 2nd to Saturday 4th of February 2012.

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REVIEW: Candice McQueen is NASTY

A hot night and an hilarious show

By Jessica Cornish

Candice McQueen has ‘been a lotta places, seen a lotta faces, and fucked a lotta races.’

The immortal demi-god who watched the crucifixion of Christ and chilled with the ancient pharaohs of Egypt told the tale of her 90’s love affair to a packed opening night Butterfly Club crowd last week.

Nasty is a brand new work performed by Spanky (Candice McQueen). This tranny superstar previously worked in London’s famous Bistrotheque for seven years and was proud to present her new show at The Butterfly Club as part of the 2012 Midsummer Festival.

The Mister Sister (with a fluro-pink wig dangling over her shoulders, and a malfunctioning glittering false eyelash threatening to crush her right eye) kept her hot and sweaty audience laughing all night.

The opening rap was followed by a hilarious narrative of her secret birth in front of an array of silver baboons, since her mother with a fleeting Asian/Spanish accent was tragically dying of a melting heart, and was forced to hand the small child over to an African monkey to raise as his own.

Initially the show, Nasty, was equally quite hard to follow. Hilarious, certainly – however, it wasn’t clear where the show as a whole was going. Fifteen minutes into the piece we finally learn of her love for a man named River, and the show begins to explore their naughty nineties relationship of love, loss, love and loss once more.

In between Candice’s spoken monologues of her experiences with River were splashes of songs accompanied by her acoustic guitarist/ukele player, Kylie. With her long black hair, purple glasses and loose fitted t-shirt she sat quietly in the corner awaiting her moments to shine. Occasionally Kylie also provided harmonic vocal lines to Candice’s songs which lifted the musical pieces significantly. Their voices blended together beautifully, and gave the musical pieces a whole new energy and vibrancy.

Whilst the musical composition of Nasty was nonetheless fairly uninventive, the banter in between the numbers made up for the lack of musical genius. Stand-out moments were Candice proving that the lovable Jack from Titanic was in fact a gay lad unfairly manhandled by a frumpy and loud Rose, and her segments retelling the loss of River in a risqué night club where her famous Australian father was DJ’ing at the time. 

Finally the show did demonstrate to its audience that the only point of human life was for all of us to find love, be loved and love in return, proved to be a great night out, and the sweaty audience thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Nasty was part of the the Midsumma Festival at The Butterfly Club.

Dates: 31 Jan – 5 Feb

Times: Tue, Wed & Sun 8pm, Thu-Sat 9pm

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Review: LACHLAN MACLEOD’S A Very Merry Christmas

Get into this christmas comedy quick!

By Melissa Trickey

After having a somewhat scrooge-y day, I was a bit “bah humbug” when I entered The Butterfly Club on Thursday evening…. But the “magic, majesty and hhhhhwhimsy” of Lachlan’s Macleod’s A Very Merry Christmas soon warmed the cockles of my heart to turn my frown upside down and make me Madame President of the Christmas Spirit Club!

Christmas sure smacked me in the face as soon as I walked in the door, with the busiest set I’ve ever seen in that performance space. I had no idea the stage could fit so much! Three musical instruments, a fully decorated Christmas tree, a framed Jesus picture and a curious object that was concealed by some kind of mystery Christmas material…

This turned out to be Lachlan himself, who promptly did what I did not expect at all – sat as his keyboard and played a (seemingly) serious song about Christmas. Next second he totally bazinga’d me with the lyrics: “The doors are locked, I’ve got your cash, so f***you all!” People didn’t seem to mind though – we were all laughing too hard!

There were many lyrical gems like this along the way. Lachlan touched on such topics as re-gifting, office work parties, due rewards from Santa for being a bad little boy, and the evergreen last-minute present shopping. His lyrics are simple, direct and right on the money (except for the priest thing…), and his songs are very funny and appealing to a broad audience with great writing, delivery and chorey!

Lachlan has a gift for simple and effective storytelling that is quite endearing and suited the show very well. Some opening night nerves made Lachlan appear slightly jittery at times, but I’m sure they will settle down and Lachlan can relax into his performance more. From a performer’s perspective he has put A LOT of pressure on himself with his all-singing, all-gags, mostly-playing and sometimes-dancing agenda! In accompanying himself on no less than three instruments, Lachlan certainly is working harder than most. 

I thought there was a slight lag in the middle of the show that could be tightened up by shaving back some verses and material. It was good to be mellow but the feeling rather overstayed its welcome.  However, the finale was sharp, witty, and brilliant to watch, with the emergence of a special Christmas costume and resulting song. I don’t want to give too much away but it was absolutely hysterical and a closing highlight for the show!

Lachlan is everyday funny like Hamish and Andy, writes clever and witty lyrics like Tim Minchin, and delivers them with the pathos of Tripod. One day I will see him on TV and be like, “Hey, I reviewed that guy once!” Thanks for the Handy Christmas Facts, Lachlan, and for the numerous laughs! Merry Christmas!

Dates: Thurs 8th to Sun 11th Dec
Time: Thurs-Sat at 9pm & Sun at 8pm

Venue and bookings: The Butterfly Club, Sth Melbourne

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REVIEW: April Albert is DIE KNEF

A tribute to a legend misses the triumph

By Adam Tonking

Die Knef, a cabaret written and performed by April Albert, traces the life of Hildegard Knef, a chanteuse whose survival of World War II coloured the rest of her career as a performer, but never held her back from her ambition.

Albert’s show is a brief insight into a relatively unknown figure in Australia, and showcases songs in a language that is too seldom celebrated outside of opera here.

Hildegard Knef, referred to by Albert as “the Edith Piaf of Germany”, was an actress and singer who enjoyed a long career spanning from the 1940s through to the 1970s. With Albert as Knef, Die Knef is at its most simple the story of one woman’s life, featuring the songs that made her famous.

But Albert presents it as a kind of nostalgia concert from a faded artiste you can imagine touring RSLs and pokies venues, and so Knef comes onstage with all of the pizzazz and charisma of a star, but gets distracted reminiscing about the many tragedies of her life.

Watching Knef unravel under the weight of her memories makes for fascinating viewing.

I had thought that a show containing entirely foreign language songs might present a challenge, but the audience quickly accepted the change and Albert seemed most comfortable when singing or speaking in German.

Although her commitment to the character is admirable, she rarely seemed to connect with the unimaginable horrors that Knef describes experiencing during World War II.

The script appears meticulously researched, peppered with pithy quotes for which Knef was well-known, but then focuses too heavily on these bad times, not on the successes that made her so famous and hence a character worth getting to know.

April Albert’s Die Knef was on at The Butterfly Club in South Melbourne from the 1st till the 4th of December at 7pm. 

For details of other upcoming shows, visit www.thebutterflyclub.com.

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Review: KIMBERLEY DARK in Good Fortune

A beguiling future was in store for a raconteur and her audience

By Adam Tonking

Do you remember the pleasure, as a child, of having a story read out loud to you? Kimberley Dark’s Good Fortune instantly transported me back to those long-forgotten days.

Dark is a consummate storyteller but these are not for children. They are stories from her life, that when illuminated through her telling become stories about the world at large: about love, sex, politics, and power.

The show was presented as a kind of tasting platter – 46 stories and poems from Dark’s 15 years of performance, each attached to a quirky little artwork, which became a sort of Tarot deck, with members of the audience choosing. These pieces make up the show, with each show being unique to the audience present.

Dark explains that every audience has its own personality, and this method of framing the show’s concept lent it an air of legitimacy, but also created an air of mutual respect between Dark and the audience.

Telling stories is clearly a gift for the highly-skilled Dark. While she chatted with us amiably in between stories, discussing her history and philosophies, including a few poems as a palate cleanser between stories – the moment she opened her book, she transported the audience into another world, as only a true storyteller can.

 The tone of her voice, from beguiling to conversational, from hypnotic to questing, guides us through her world; but the stories themselves grow to encompass all of us. The material is complex yet comedic, personal yet provocative. Perhaps storytelling of this nature is a lost art, but by the end of Good Fortune I was completely enamoured with Dark and her tales.

Perhaps because of the nature of the audience choosing the material, no one will have the chance to see the same show that I did. But go anyway, and reconnect with those wonderful days of simply being told a good story by someone who knows how to tell it best.

Kimberley Dark’s Good Fortune is on for one more night, Wednesday 30th November at 8pm, at The Butterfly Club in South Melbourne, with tickets available at www.thebutterflyclub.com or at the door.

Or see her show Dykeotomy at Hares and Hyenas Bookstore in Fitzroy, December 1-3. For more information go to www.kimberleydark.com.

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REVIEW: Joe Black in SEX, DRUGS AND VAUDEVILLE

Take a turn on the dark side…

By Bradley Storer

Beginning the performance with a simple booming ‘Good evening ladies and gentlemen!’, the manically energetic Joe Black, making an immediate impression with his ghoulishly glittery face, barrelled onstage and launched into a song by fellow British cabaret artists Fascinating Aida, a spritely ditty about the pleasures of public fornication. This off-colour but hilarious opener set the tone for the rest of the evening, straddling the line between comedy and darkness expertly.

This is not an evening for the faint-hearted: subjects range from the joys of pyromania to the exploits of a heart-broken cannibal. Black covers many classics of the dark cabaret scene, including songs by the Tiger Lillies, Tom Waits and the Dresden Dolls, as well as original compositions discussing topics such as friends who ‘overshare’ on social networking sites. There are also more popular songs (Black’s Britney Spears cover is a particular delight), layered with a sinister twist – let’s just say I’ll never hear ‘You Are My Sunshine’ in quite the same way again.

Joe Black himself is charmingly demented. A musical and vocal chameleon, he swaps between piano and ukulele skilfully (which makes one regretful about his inability to smuggle his accordion past customs) and his voice switches at different times from a politely soft-spoken tenor, to a devilishly seductive Tom Waits-style croon, to a gospel-inflected roar reminiscent of Jason Webley.

The show itself still seems in development – segues between songs and the overall structure felt muddled, with connections in story not being as clearly developed as they could be. To be fair, this was probably not helped by Black’s admitted jet-lag or having to deal with an unusually talkative audience who interjected continually without warning – however this just goes to show, despite the darkness of his persona, how approachable Black made himself appear and how relaxed he had made his audience.

Despite some opening night glitches and some polishing still be done, Black is clearly a true cabaret performer, delivering a professional performance and forging such a strong connection with his audience that they spontaneously demanded a second encore – a rare sight! Such an enthusiastic response bodes well for the rest of Black’s first season in Australia, with the show undoubtedly growing even stronger with more performances.  

Until Nov 27th at The Butterfly Club

www.misterjoeblack.com

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Review: ROBERT TAYLOR is So Inappropriate

One very funny man and one very clever show

By Anastasia Russell-Head

Somewhere between The Flight of the Conchords’ spot-on parody and Tim Minchin’s witty word-play lies homegrown talent Robert Taylor’s new solo musical So Inappropriate, fresh from its debut season at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Taylor’s abilities are multi-faceted – he wrote both the script and the music for this show, and manages to sing, tell stories, play some hot licks on the piano and be funny at the same time!

Thrown out of Hollywood, reduced to the indignity of composing music for adult films and playing cover music to drunken bogans, this loveably awkward songwriter is searching for new love while trying to avoid his ex-wives. Will he be able to summon up the courage to talk to the love of his life – the coffeeshop girl? Or at least be able to ask her name?

With clever lyrics, an excellent singing voice and accomplished keyboard chops, Taylor’s songs are highly entertaining. Having honed his musical skills at the Victorian College of the Arts, he has a range of styles and genres at his fingertips, moving effortlessly from funk to indie-folk and everything inbetween. Despite the name of the show, his humor was warm, witty and cheeky, without straying into the land of cringe. 

Even though his character is awkward, there were no signs of awkwardness in the performance, even with a very small audience (which can often make things feel awkward). Taylor’s stage presence is warm and personable, and his storytelling style engaging, with the carefully crafted ad-lib-esque monologue episodes of the work woven skillfully amongst the songs.

It was a pity that there were not more people at The Butterfly Club to see this talented and very entertaining performer in his short Melbourne season – hopefully we see him return to our stages soon. When he does, make sure to catch him!

The Butterfly Club

Weds 16th to Sat 19th Nov
9pm Thurs – Sat, Weds at 8pm
$22 / $19

Bookings: www.thebutterflyclub.com

More info: www.roberttaylor.biz

 

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REVIEW: Luke Escombe is CHRONIC

Hilarious and no-holds barred comedy still has heart

By Jessica Cornish

Presenting Flight Of The Concordesque cabaret, Luke Escombe, armed with his trademark off-white suit and cream peak hat, certainly entertained his small, but enthralled Thursday night audience for the latest season of his hit show Chronic at The Butterfly Club.

Equipped with a beautiful acoustic guitar,the five-dollar keyboard that he snagged off a young girl at a garage sale, a loop pedal and a battery-operated pink dog that occasionally made cameo appearances, Escombe’s show was the perfect amounts of uncomfortable, edgy and very funny.

The evening begun with a short autobiographical AV presentation of Luke’s life, before the Sydneysider cruised through the audience on to the stage to kick off his one-man performance.

His hilarious songs were continuously engaging, and segments such as ‘The Riddler’ encouraged his audience to yell out answers to his questions while his miniature keyboard’s MIDI loop ploughed on through the PA.

Other musical highlights were his advice to budding singer-songwriters regarding the use of  weather as a cliched metaphor, his achievement in coaxing the only unfortunate male in the female-filled audience to sing  ‘It’s hard to be P-I-M-P’, and the failed conga line attempt to the ridiculous and outrageously titled, but very catchy song ‘Jerk Ya Cock.’

Whilst Chronic was sixty minutes of light-hearted entertainment and presented an array of outlandish songs, the show also fought to raise awareness of crohns disease that currently affects over 30,000 Australians, including Luke himself.

Weaved throughout his web of songs Luke tells the tale of his personal battle with the illness, including his eleven-day stint in hospital, his determination to get back to good health and his motivation to rejoin society in full strength. He’s even being flown to Canberra next month to raise awareness about the disease (through song) to Australia’s finest political folk.

Lucke Escombe’s Chronic is a great distraction from the mundane happenings of everyday life, and will bring a smile to all who can share or take a joke every now and then.

Chronic will be performed at The Butterfly Club on Friday 11 and Saturday 12 Nov at 9pm and Sunday Nov. 13 at 8pm.