Performed by Michelle Brasier, Jessica Papst and Erin Herrmman Young.
Musical
Direction by Shannon Whitelock.
The
Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre. 28th May, 2016
Reviewed by
Bill Stephens.
Carole King is
one of America’s most prolific songwriters and an accomplished singer. In a 50
year career, record sales of her songs, performed by herself and most other
leading contemporary songsters, are estimated to be in the vicinity of 75
million. She’s been the subject of a
Broadway show, “Beautiful” and successfully toured Australia in 2013.
For many,
her thoughtful, inspirational and uplifting songs have provided a songbook for their
lives, so a show promoted as “a two hour spectacular concert which will have
you laughing and crying as the songs of this multi-award winning artist come to
life on the stage” offered the tantalising opportunity to revisit these songs.
 |
| Michelle Brasier, Jessica Papst, Erin Herrmann Young |
Unfortunately,
far from spectacular, the concert proved to be a rather lack-lustre affair. It started
off unpromisingly when the three backing musicians, two guitarists and a
drummer, (who must remain nameless as there were no programs to identify them
available) took the stage early. Arranged unimaginatively on a rostrum across
the back of a black draped stage, they checked the tune of their instruments, and
then talked among themselves, until eventually musical director, Shanon
Whitelock arrived on stage. Seating himself at the Steinway piano Whitelock and
the band commenced an upbeat arrangement of “I Feel The Earth Move”.
The three
vocalists, Michelle Brasier, Jessica Papst and Erin Herrmann Young, each dressed
in a sparkling black gown, entered, and before singing a note, one called out, “Hello
Canberra, are ya having a good time? … Have we got any Carole fans in the audience?
”, which sort of set the tone for the rest of the evening.
Over the
next two hours some thirty of Carole Kings songs were presented, punctuated by
an uninspired narration listing details of Kings’ life and achievement, which often
sounded as if it had been lifted directly from Wikipedia, and delivered in turn,
with a little attempt at enthusiasm, by
each of the singers.
The songs
were performed as trios, duets and solos and mostly efficiently sung. Occasional
highlights
such as Jessica Papst’s “Nightingale” , Michelle Brasier’s, “You Are The Reason”
and the duet “The First Day in August”, hinted at what this concert could have
achieved had the singers been more interested in capturing the essence of
Carole Kings songs rather than using
them to demonstrate their riffing skills.
Overall this
show proved to be a rather dispiriting experience with the lack of finesse in
the staging and presentation suggesting that it would have been more successful
in a less formal setting.
This review also appears in Australian Arts Review. www.artsreview.com.
