Melody Beck
with John Martin
Teatro Vivaldi
19 February
2016
Reviewed by Samara Purnell
Have you ever
wondered who the second nun from the left is in The Sound of Music’s “How do
you solve a problem like Maria?” Possibly not, yet tonight she was the star of
the show “Unseen: A Tribute to Marni Nixon” and it’s almost a guarantee that
you’ve heard her, if not OF her.
Marni (no “e”)
Nixon finally got her “not-so-big” film break after years of rejection for
leading roles in musical film. Despite the fact she could sing, she apparently
lacked that “it factor”. Instead, she carved out a fine career as a “ghost”
singer - the voice behind the faces of some of Hollywood’s finest leading
ladies.
The top notes
in Marilyn Monroe’s “Diamond are a girl’s best friend” the Loverly songs by Audrey
Hepburn in My Fair Lady, Deborah Kerr’s King and I and songs from West Side
Story were highlights of her ghosting career and “Unseen”.
With a name
suited to her career, Australian singer Melody Beck assumes the identity of
Marni Nixon in this one woman show, also written by Beck. She was accompanied
throughout by John Martin on piano, creating an impressive and intuitive
partnership.
The script
imbues a sense of some bitterness and resentment but is done so with humour. It’s
a difficult script in many respects and there were a few stumbles, but these
were gracefully rectified.
“Unseen” began
by introducing snippets of some of the songs Nixon had dubbed, before
revisiting them more fully as the show unfolded.
Beck describes
in first person, the task of not only having to match the nuances of each
actress she was dubbing for, but to also take on each actress’ interpretation of
their role, whilst making them sound better! Add to that another degree of
impersonation for Beck to perform this, and it creates a rather challenging but
entertaining premise for a show.
The audience was regaled with engaging stories of how Deborah Kerr befriended Nixon, finally “outing”
her as the voice behind her face – a secret Nixon had kept, due to a
confidentiality clause in her contract. Nixon had also formed a friendship with
Audrey Hepburn. The same cannot be said for an apparently frosty Natalie Wood,
who played the role of Maria in West Side Story.
After the West
Side Story numbers, which included a very funny demonstration of the dubbing of
“Tonight”, with Beck singing two parts simultaneously, a distinct Puerto Rican accent
crept into several of Beck’s songs, but on the whole she did an impressive
impersonation of the various actresses and singers.
Beck has a
wonderful voice and seemed most relaxed when she was singing. It would be “Loverly”
to hear more songs in full either as Nixon or purely in Melody Beck’s own
voice.
This was an entertaining
and informative show that lets the audience in on some Hollywood secrets. Beck
has performed the show in front of Marni Nixon herself, garnering tips and
feedback from her. Tonight, however, John Wood and a gathering of well-known Australian
actors, in town for the CAT awards, supplemented by appreciative Canberrans had
to suffice.
