Directed by
Caroline Stacey.
Musical
Direction and accompaniment by Michael Tyack.
The Street
Theatre, 1st November 2015.
Reviewed by
Bill Stephens
If you
subscribe to the idea that you should leave a cabaret performance knowing more
about the performer than when you went in, then “Turner’s Turn” ticks all the
boxes. Turner has the history, and among
her accomplishments, she was the first female artist in the world to release a
record album devoted entirely to the songs of Stephens Sondheim.
She was also
in the original Australian casts for four Sondheim musicals, and the show’s title
“Turner’s Turn” hints at why she was not in the fifth.
In fact, her
show commences with a riveting rendition of “Roses Turn”, following which
she reveals how she was scheduled to
star in four different productions of “Gypsy”, none of which transpired. A rueful parody of a song from the show, “I
Had a Dream”, reveals how she coped with these setbacks.
Sondheim
features largely in Turner’s career and elsewhere in her show moving versions
of “Send in the Clowns”, together with snippets of songs from “Sweeney Todd”,
“Into the Woods” and “Chicago” and a cheeky version of “The Boy From…...”,
reveal her mastery of the Sondheim repertoire.
But
“Turner’s Turn” is not about Sondheim. It’s a celebration of Turner’s unique
talent and her enduring success as a leading lady in a highly competitive art
form. Her song choices are personal, but not self- indulgent, and chosen for
what they subtly reveal about her.
There’s a
long, often surprising, medley of songs from shows in which she has appeared
during her career. There’s an emotional rendering of Jacque Brel’s “Ne me quitte pas”. A clever arrangement of two songs from two
different musical versions of “Sunset Boulevard” allows her to pay tribute to
another enduring leading lady, Gloria Swanson. There’s a song written for her
by Tim Minchin, and even one of her own compositions from her forthcoming musical
“Drama Queen”.
Turner
doesn’t hold back, unselfconsciously sharing candid showbiz anecdotes and
juicy backstage gossip with her audience
as if they were old friends, which of course they are by the time the show
ends, Subtle lighting design and superb
piano accompaniment by Michael
Tyack add gloss to a polished and
memorable presentation.
This review first published in the digital edition of "CITY NEWS" on 2nd November and in "AUSTRALIAN ARTS REVIEW".
