VELVET - A DIVINE DISCOTHEQUE CIRCUS.
Director and creator. Craig Ilott. Musical Director Joe Accaria. Choreographer. Lucas Newland. Set and costume Design. James Browne. The Playhouse. Canberra Theatre Centre. May 4 – May 13. 2017
Reviewed by Peter Wilkins
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| The Velvet Company at the 2015 Adelaide Fringe |
Two years have passed since I
first saw Velvet in a marquee in the East End parklands of Adelaide during the
city’s Fringe Festival. The show was already sold out and being hailed as the
hit of the Fringe, the powerhouse event that everybody had to see. It wasn’t an
ambit claim. Velvet had sheer WOW Factor. With its pulsating disco beat and
stunning array of vocal, aerial, acrobatic and hula hoop acts, Velvet blew
audiences away. They clapped and cheered; they swayed and jigged in their seats
and after the Boogie Wonderland Finale and Marcia Hines’ crowd raising Last
Dance, they rose to their feet to dance. Smooth Velvet had turned to a
vibrating, shimmering , glittering celebration of being alive. Disco delirium
had rocked the cotton socks off the audience that screamed for more.
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| Rechelle Mansour, Marcia Hines, Kaylah Attard and aerialist Stephen Williams |
After two years Velvet is satin
slick. The show is more streamlined with colour sequenced disco lighting. One
act has gone and the show has upgraded from a more modest though electric
Fringe event to a highly sophisticated, polished and assured part circus, part
variety, part concert extravaganza This is world class Las Vegas glitz,
entertainment that brought a more sedate matinee audience to its feet to move
with the groove. Perhaps the Playhouse
of the Canberra Theatre Centre invited more formality than an evening
performance in a tent at Adelaide’s Fringe, but in the intimate Playhouse,
Velvet was world class with acts that
could take the nightclub, cabaret and circus world by storm.
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| Marcia Hines |
A simple narrative threads the
show together from Disc Jockey and
percussionist Joe Accaria’s invitation to succumb to the beat of his flashing,
dazzling world . Straight man, Tom Oliver, finds himself thrust into a world of
abandon and wonderment. Accompanied by two stunning Sirens of the stage,
singer/dancers Rechelle Mansour and Kaylah Attard, the innocent finds himself
lured into the miraculously balanced world of sinewy and controlled gymnast
Mirko Koeckenberger, graceful, strong
and erotic aerialists, Emma Goh and Stephen Williams and amazing hula hoop swiveller, Craig Reid,
with his chubby Richard Simmons take-off and mischievous, boyish grin. Finally, bemused and bewildered he is met by
the golden Goddess of song and his guide to enlightenment and transformation. the legendary voice of rock and soul,
Marcia Hines.
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| Craig Reid |
With a musical mix of old and new to accompany
the acts and guide the young man on his journey of awareness and
liberation, percussionist Accaria keeps
the tempo with tempestuous drumming and a flair for the bop and the beat. Backing singers Mansour and Attard keep up a
shimmering and shaking routine with lightning costume changes. Every act is a
winner, but the highlight for me was Reid’s phenomenal artistry with hula hoops
that spun and twirled about his body to his every command. In disco style a
kaleidoscope of incandescent colour whirled from head to toe as he kept the
jive with gravity defying delight.
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| Mirko Koeckenberger |
Velvet explodes with a ricochet
of energy culminating in Oliver’s transformation, first at the hands of a black
leather clad dominatrix and then with all abandonment of conservatism. Sister Sledge’s He’s The Greatest Dancer gets
the whole house grooving and Marcia Hines brings them to their feet with Last Dance as the ultimate celebration
of unfettered abandonment.
Velvet has worked its magic.
Boogie on down for the intoxicating revelry. It’s a blast!
,
