Reviewer:
Kate Herbert
Stars:****
Review also published in Herald Sun online on July 27, 2013 and possibly later in print. KHStars:****
Mary Wilson (R)
If
you’re delirious about cabaret, the 4th Melbourne Cabaret Festival will
tempt you with delights including a queen of Motown, a transvestite Annie, a
New York cabaret icon, a Tony award winner, burlesque artistes, and assorted other
risquรจ, provocative or melodic acts.
The Festival Gala
provided a titillating taster that culminated with the regal Mary Wilson from
The Supremes who, clad elegantly in red lame and white fur, sang tunes from her
show, Stormy
Weather: The Lena Horne Project.
Wilson,
with her versatile jazz-blues tones, easy charm and skilful storytelling, sang
a poignant rendition of Stormy Weather and an impassioned version of The Man I
Love, followed by the moving Yesterday When I Was Young.
One of my faves was American composer/performer, David Pomeranz, performing a sweet, cheeky song from his solo musical, Chaplin: A Life – in Concert, in which he plays all 40 characters; he left the audience craving more.
Another of my picks was Melbourne’s
hilariously sassy, voluptuous Yana Alana, who took singing the blues literally,
wearing only a coat of blue paint as she sang I’m Blue then, in her inimitable,
bold and provocative burlesque, Life Is A One Woman Show.
Yana Alana
Debonair, engaging Adam Guettel, the Tony award-winning composer/lyricist, treated the audience to unheard songs from his new musicals, including Find Me, a pretty ballad about a child longing for his departed mother.
Slick,
New York cabaret star, Joey Arias, looked mysterious and spectral in his black
gown, singing a Billie Holiday blues in his lush, smoky voice, then shifted
pace to tease the crowd with naughty titillation and a raunchy version of Hard
Day’s Night.
Other
acts at the gala included Trevor Ashley wearing a red wig and frock in an
excerpt from his adult panto, Little Orphan TrAshley, a twisted take on Annie performed
with Rhonda Burchmore as the jaded, raddled Miss Trannigan.
The confrontational Spanky
peppered tough, rock cabaret with bawdy talk, but, if your taste is more
conservative, you may lean towards jazz harpist-singer, Tara Minton.
Bradley
McCaw is a playful, young pianist/singer
and Gala host, Fem
Belling, belts out a mean version of Rain On My Parade from her show about
Blossom Dearie.
With
a menu of 150 performers, over 60 shows
and 16 venues over 2 weeks, you’ll have no trouble finding a performance to suit your cabaret
tastes.
By
Kate Herbert
Adam Guettel
David Pomeranz
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