Produced by
Neil Gooding Productions in association with TenaciousC
The Q,
Queanbeyan 18th - 21st December, 2019
Reviewed by
Bill Stephens
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| Clare Ellen O'Connor - Catherine Alcorn - Kirby Burgess |
Ensconced on
a huge sea shell, aping her idol, Bette Midler, Catherine Alcorn is a unique
and highly accomplished artist.
She spits orders
to her two long suffering Harlettes,( Candy Cane and Miss L Toe), as they work
desperately to guide the unwieldy Shell around the stage.
As Miss Bette, she prowls the stage, exuding
excessive effervescence, punctuated by glances of steely disdain at anyone or
anything that threatens her aura of self-satisfaction.
Using the
seashell as a screen, she quickly removes
the outer layer of her costume to reveal an incredible red sequined concoction,
before noting that “there’s good beneath
the gaudy” , and launching into a stylish version of Meredith Wilson’s , “It’s
Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” for which the Harlettes dutifully provide superb harmonies.
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| Clare Ellen O'Connor, Catherine Alcorn, Kirby Burgess and band . |
Alcorn has
been performing “The Devine Miss Bette” around Australia and internationally,
since 2015. Indeed she won the Best Cabaret Production in the 2018 Broadway
World Awards with the original iteration, which has also been seen previously at
The Q.
For this
Christmas edition, Alcorn has taken the opportunity to introduce even more
wacky costumes, (at one point dressed as a Christmas present, with the
Harlettes as bon bons), natty new choreography, and some superbly arranged
Christmas songs. She’s cleverly retained the best songs from the previous
version, including “Delta Dawn”, “Do You Want To Dance” and “On the Board
Walk”, and the best of her wickedly bawdy, Sophie Tucker jokes, all of which,
like your favourite Christmas cracker jokes, are so bad they’re good.
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| Clare Ellen OConnor, Catherine Alcorn, Kirby Burgess and band |
She teeters
around the stage in perpetual motion, skewering audience members foolhardy
enough to have purchased front-row tickets with personal questions. Stopping
only long enough to charm with yet another superbly sung ballad, because with
all her other gifts, Alcorn is a very fine singer.
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| Michael Tyack and Catherine Alcorn |
Among her most memorable songs is her
goose-bump -inducing interpretation of
the Julie Gold ballad, “From a Distance” for which she was sensitively
accompanied by one of the best accompanists in the business, Michael Tyack, on piano, and three equally
accomplished musicians in Crick Boue and Tommy Novak on guitars, and Geoff Green
on drums.
As diverting
and razor sharp as are Alcorn’s comedic skills, it’s her talents as a
superlative songstress that had her audience demanding more songs from her. She
happily obliged with scintillating versions of “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”, “The
Long John Blues” and inevitably, “The Rose” as well as a red-hot arrangement of
“Jingle Bells”, and a dreamy version of “Silent Night” which had the audience,
unbidden, softly crooning along with her.
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| Catherine Alcorn |
Though you
could be forgiven for thinking that Alcorn was the only person on stage, she
has cannily surrounded herself with top-shelf supporting artists in Kirby
Burgess and Clare Ellen O’Connor as the Harlettes. Both are superb backing
singers, excellent dancers and clever comediennes who provide delightful
characterisations which support, without drawing focus from the star. Her band
and musical arrangements are excellent, as are the quirky costumes,
choreography, and pretty Christmas stage decorations, all of which make this a
Christmas show to be relished.
Photos by Michael Moore
This review first published in the digital edition of CITY NEWS on 20.12.2019