Queanbeyan
Performing Arts Centre, 3rd June 2016.
Reviewed by
Bill Stephens
It’s been
seventeen years since Australia’s most famous transsexual entertainer last played
sell-out seasons on the tiny stage of Queanbeyan’s School of Arts Café, but
when she returned to Queanbeyan for her two performances at the Queanbeyan
Performing Arts Centre, Carlotta was given a heroine’s welcome. Many in the
audience were recalling her performances at the café, others had never seen her
perform, but had been attracted by the recent telemovie of her life, or her
appearances on Studio 10, and were keen to see her in the flesh. Whatever their
reason, no one left her performance unimpressed.
A striking
figure in a sparkling red gown and high heels, meticulously coiffed blonde hair
framing her face, she made her entrance singing “No Business Like Show
Business”. Looking not a day older than when she last performed in Queanbeyan
all those years ago, Carlotta tossed off a few dance steps, demonstrating that
she could still impress with her glamorous showgirl strut, before singling out
some targets in the audience for some affectionately barbed insults.
Later in the
show, while confiding that she was 73 years old, she drew admiring gasps from
her audience when she removed the elaborate blonde wig, to allow her own
luxurious blonde locks to cascade to her shoulders. The biggest surprise,
however, was that Carlotta was singing her songs in her own voice, rather than
mime them, as had been her practice throughout her career.
She now
delivers “Nobody Does It Like Me”, “For Once In My Life” and “As Time Goes By”
in a warm, well-phrased light baritone, which sits comfortably with her
appearance, and allows her to point up the lyrics of her songs to compliment
the story-line of her show.
Having
enjoyed a career spanning more than 50 years, there are plenty of stories to be
told, and she delivers them in her trademark acerbic, self- deprecating style.
Sometimes she names names, but for the more outrageous, she merely hints,
informing her audience that, “you’ll have to wait until I die for the best
ones”.
She pays
tribute to singer, Ricky May , in an up-tempo arrangement of “The Lady is a
Tramp”, and to entertainer, Jeanne Little, touchingly included in her encore,
Stephen Sondheim’s anthem to theatrical survival, “I’m Still Here”, for which she’s substituted
Sondheim’s lyrics with some racy lyrics of her own, to trace the highs and lows
of her career.
Ever the
true professional, Carlotta holds her audience in the palm of her hand for the
entire performance, talking to them directly as if they’re all her besties, and
after an hour of racy, politically incorrect gossip, bawdy jokes, and favourite
showbiz songs, they’re more than happy to be included.
She may no
longer be the befeathered showgirl of yesteryear, but alone on stage, live and
intimate, Carlotta remains one of the county’s most formidable , engaging and
accomplished performers.
This review also appears in Australian Arts Review. www.artsreview.com.au
