ADELAIDE CABARET FESTIVAL - DAHLESQUE - ELISE MCCANN

Written by Elise McCann and Richard Carroll

Musical Direction by Michael Tyack

Musical Arrangements by Stephens Amos

Space Theatre – 17^th June 2017

Reviewed by Bill Stephens OAM

Elise McCann won Helpmann and Sydney Theatre Awards for her portrayal of Miss Honey in the Australian production of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s adaptation of Roald Dahl’s “Matilda”. “Matilda” is currently playing in the Festival Theatre in Adelaide, but with Lucy Maunder playing Miss Honey.

Apparently still smitten with the Roald Dahl bug, McCann has collaborated with Richard Carroll, Stephen Amos and Michael Tyack to devise this witty, stylish tribute to Dahl, in which she gives a performance which is pure star-quality from beginning to end.

Elise McCann 

Every inch the diva in elegant white slacks and top, with a detachable white overskirt monogrammed in black with Dahlisms which serves as a handy prop, McGann took command of the stage from her first entrance, immediately involving her audience in her brilliantly conceived exploration of the quirky world of Roald Dahl.

Drawing on songs from a variety of sources including  “Matilda”, “Willy Wonka”,  “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “James and the Giant Peach”, as well as some delightful original compositions by Stephen Amos for Dahl’s “Revolting Rhymes”, McCann held her audience entranced with her impeccable diction, both in word and song, and perfectly honed stagecraft.

She introduced them to Dahl’s curious invented words, performed some samples of his writing, and then proceeded with revelations of the events and experiences, some quite moving, which made up his fascinating world. Throughout the telling she sprinkled in songs like Bricusse and Newley’s “Pure Imagination” and “Oompa, Loompa”, Shaiman and Wittman’s “It Must be Believed to be Seen”, and Tim Minchin’s “Naughty”, “The Smell of Rebellion” and “My House”, at perfectly judged moments.   

A classy nine-piece orchestra, conducted from the piano by Michael Tyack, did full justice to Stephen Amos’ superb musical settings, and director, Richard Carroll added his own special magic with imaginative lighting, star cloths and stationery mirror balls.

“Dahlesque” is a magically conceived and presented show with special moments for every member of the family.  It will be touring so make sure you don’t miss it when it comes to your city.

This review first published in AUSTRALIAN ARTS REVIEW. www.artsreview.com.au 

ADELAIDE CABARET FESTIVAL - BREL THE IMMORTAL TROUBADOUR

Brel. The Immortal Troubadour.

Hosted by Ali McGregor and featuring Dusty Limits, Michaela Burger, Johanna Allen, Meow Meow, Kim David Smith and Eddie Perfect. Musical Director. Charly Zastrau. The Dunstan Playhouse. Adelaide Festival Centre. June 18. 2017.

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

I’ve always believed it is best to save the best ‘til last. This is not to diminish the wonderful offerings of the splendid collection of outstanding artists at this year’s Adelaide Cabaret Festival. But the poetry, the music and the life of Jacques Brel’s songs hold a very special place in my heart and, judging by the packed Dunstan Playhouse on Sunday night, in the hearts of many who revere the immortal Belgian troubadour’s commentary on life.” I can’t stand stupid people” he says on the film footage screened during the performance. To celebrate the man and his music, festival co-director, Ali McGregor, has invited a corps of festival artists to celebrate the life and songs of the maser of the modern chanson, whose influence has inspired the music of such greats as Dylan, Cohen, Bowie and McKuen and our own John Waters. His songs now outsell the songs of Piaf, and across the world performers of Brel’s vignettes of the human condition capture the lives of the poor, the old, the pimps and prostitutes, the sailors and the swells, the would be heroes and the dead and the dying.

McGregor sets the mood with a whirling dervish rendition of Carousel, building in tempo to a crescendo of frenzy before introducing her artists, each and every one a glorious interpreter of Brel’s cynical, satirical, humane view of existence. Beneath suspended lamp posts, Dusty Limits sings of Jackie and his wishful aspirations. Waif like, Australia’s Little Sparrow, Michaela Burger sings in French her feisty song of protest and spite, Les Bourgeoisie, giving the finger in contempt to the piggish middle class. There is class in Johanna Allen’s French rendition, quickly contrasted by Meow Meow’s Merde. Her rendition of Ne me quitte pas with three audience members thrust against her hips contrasts with Kim David Smith’s whimsical and unostentatious The Old Folk. Dressed in the rough-hewn clothes of a boozy  sailor in a striped T shirt, the sailors are brought to life in a gutsy, raw and powerful rendition of The Port of Amsterdam by festival co-Artistic Director, Eddie Perfect. McGregor closes the show with Brel’s plea for peace and understanding If We Only Have Love, joined on stage for a final curtain by Dusty Limits, Meow Meow, Eddie Perfect and Kim David Smith.

At my final show of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival the spirit and the humanity of the master of the chanson has risen from the depths of emotion of five superb interpreters of Brel’s songs, brilliantly accompanied and arranged by musical director Charly Zastrau, hunched over the keys, as he and his band reincarnate the passion, the intensity and the cheeky grin of chain smoking flippancy .  

 Brel’s promise in Jackie is “to give you a night like no night has been and never will be  again” Brel Th Immortal Troubadour has been a one night stand that will linger in the memory and the heart for more nights than I care to count.

THE 39 STEPS

Adapted by Patrick Barlow from the novel by John Buchan

Directed by Jarrad West

Canberra REP at Theatre 3 to 1 July

Reviewed by Len Power 16 June 2017

The original West End production of ‘The 39 Steps’ ran for 9 years.  It took a serious story from a well-known 1935 Alfred Hitchcock movie and performed it for laughs with a small cast playing all the roles.  This concept has since inspired or influenced similar successful shows like ‘Brief Encounter’ and ‘Peter and the Starcatcher’.

Jarrad West’s production for Canberra REP moves at a cracking pace and retains the cinematic feel of the show.  There are good imaginative moments and delightfully surreal touches along the way.  Unfortunately the cast members playing multiple roles have been directed to play constantly over the top, making the show seem desperate for laughs and therefore less funny than it should be.

The one actor who doesn’t play multiple roles, Patrick Galen-Mules, gives a very good performance as the central character, Richard Hannay.  He captures the dashing character of an upper class, cultured hero of the period very nicely.  Steph Roberts is appealing as the heroine in the bedroom scene with Richard Hannay and Helen McFarlane is very funny as the Scottish innkeeper’s wife.  Nelson Blattman works hard in multiple roles.  He would have more credibility if his hair was cut to suit the period of the play.

Tim Sekuless has produced an excellent and witty sound design but the music underscoring is too loud and drowns out the dialogue.  Michael Sparks’ set design works well and Fiona Leach has designed very good costumes.

Jarrad West says he strived for ‘pure, unadulterated silliness’.  It’s there and fun but a bit more realistic playing would have added to the fun, too.

This review was first published in the Canberra City News Digital Edition on 17 June 2017.

Len Power’s reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7's ‘Artcetera’ program (9am Saturdays), ‘Dress Circle’ (3.30pm Mondays) and in other selected Artsound programs.

MEOW MEOW - SOUVENIR

Meow Meow presents Souvenir. Photo by Claudio Raschella

Meow Meow. Souvenir. 

Created by Meow Meow in collaboration with composers Jherek Bischoff and August von Trapp. Musical Direction Jherek Bischoff. Original Design. Andrea Lauer. Adelaide design by Kath Spraul Her Majesty’s Theatre. Adelaide Cabaret Festival. June 18 and 19. 2017

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

Her Majesty’s Theatre in Grote Street in Adelaide holds a very special place in the hearts of arts lovers,who, since 1913 have flocked to delight in the astounding array of entertainments  in the city’s Grand Old Lady of the Arts. Originally called the Tivoli, this Palace of Dreams, has played proud host for over a century to amazing artists from near and far who graced the Tivoli, Fuller and J.C. Williamson circuits. Over the years she fell into decline, crumbled and sagged with neglect before renovations restored her former glory. Now, on the eve of forthcoming major renovations, the Adelaide Cabaret Festival has invited international diva, the incomparable Meow Meow to host a tribute to the glorious years of Her Maj. Billed as a fantastical song cycle to the half remembered, misreported history of Her Majesty’s Theatre, Souvenir recalls the magical moments that graced the very stage on which the incandescent Meow Meow, supported by the Orchester der kleinen Regiment under the baton of musical director, Jherek Bischoff now celebrates the Grand Dame’s past. Sweet reminiscence floats upon the air, down through the years to the Tivoli girls and the stars who toured Down Under for J.C. Williamson and lit up the lives of the citizens who flocked to see the faded ghosts of yesteryear’s glory.

In her billowing silver Edwardian dress with a black embroidered jacket and banana in her hand, the irrepressible, original and sensational songstress of surprises, Meow Meow, clambers through the  narrow aisles to the stage to the sound of Bound for South Australia. She clambers onto the stage before the painted fire curtain of the Temple to Trials and Tribulations. The curtain rises to reveal a rowing boat with protruding mannequin legs and a large anchor at its bow. Behind, the Orchester der kleinen Regiment strikes up the music to Meow Meow’s Vergesse Mich Nicht (Do not forget me). She recounts the stories of legendary Adelaide showgirl, Phyl Skinner and the King of Jugglers, Paul Cinquevalli, who played the stage and died forgotten of a broken heart in London. In a nostalgic evening of reminiscence, Meow Meow ‘s glorious voice, operatic, pop and vaudevillian soars through Time, recalling showbiz romances, visiting luminaries, brave endeavours by Antarctic explorers, Wilkins and Mawson. As she sings with a Lilliputian chorus of little angels behind her, a backdrop of white cloth rises slowly as a mournful salute to the lost sailors of ill- fated Erebus during its search for the North West Passage, immortalized in a musical that performed upon Her Majesty’s stage all those years ago.

Almost instantly, Meow Meow shifts the mood to an hilarious burlesque number, hidden from view by the children’s chorus. She emerges to honour vaudeville with her playful rendition of You are my Honeysuckle  with Bischoff .

 At the edge of the world the white sails fly high behind the Orchester der kleinen Regiment in honour of the grand old dame on the cusp of her transformation. The Lilliputian Opera Chorus join Meow Meow in a final sung tribute to Adelaide’s theatrical jewel. It is a song of celebration calling back through the years to the glorious ghosts of the past. The children sing their chorus and one young child stands awestruck in the presence of a diva and before a full house. He stands bewildered, out of time and distracted, but here, like the awestruck Snowdrop so many years before, when Phyl Skinner needed to be dragged from the stage, this small child already has the seeds of addiction within him, and perhaps he too will find his place upon the refurbished Her Majesty’s stage.

And so the curtain falls and an audience files out down the crowded aisle, bewitched, charmed and mesmerized by the magical splendor of Meow Meow, lulled into a world of nostalgia by the Orchester der kleinen Regiment under Jherek Bischoff and touched by the sweet sound of the children, the future of the Grand Old Lady of Grote Street.

  

DUSTY LIMITS - GRIN

 

Dusty Limits. Photograph by Clive Holland

Dusty Limits. Grin.

 Written by Dusty Limits. Musical Director and Composer. Michael Roulston. The Artspace. Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide Cabaret Festival. June 16 and 17. 2017

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

At a festival where many artists are interpreting and singing the songs of others in the delivery of excellent covers, it is refreshing and uniquely satisfying to see an artist, who performs original material with wit, elan and a voice that that can range across three octaves and carry an audience along with his song and his message.

Dusty Limits saunters casually onto the tiny stage of the Artspace after a rousing introduction by his musical director, composer and long-time friend Michael Roulston at the piano.  I had seen him swaggering with a bottle in hand during a Cole Porter number at The Backstage Club the night before.  Grin recalls the traditional art of cabaret, satirical and scathing in Dusty Limits’ satire soaked songs of wine, death and monkeys.  And children devoured by Satan in Goya’s demonic painting. At times dark and foreboding in Nobody’s Fool; cynical in Is It Too Late - To Abort Me or devilishly satirical in Poor. Grin is a wry and pensive commentary on life, its absurdity, its deceptive contradiction and bitter irony. Accompanied by the virtuoso playing of Michael Roulston , Dusty Limits ‘ Grin smirks at the Russian Oligarchs of NW3, smiles at the drunk and lonely, leers at life and grimaces at the Edinburgh Fringe, “that graveyard of hope”. His is the art of Swiftian satire (“not Tayler”), a giant of the cabaret , striding among the Lilliputians of Life. The wry resignation of Porter, the political snipe of Weil, the despondent air of desperation in Waits or the snappy mockery of Coward all find voice in this beguiling one handed juggler of the cabaret.

Grin is cabaret with fangs, snapping at life like the vicious terrier beneath the chair in Reunion, serving up wit with bite, “the ball is in your Margaret Court.”,sighing with longing while cruising Unter den Linden  and slowly letting the grin recede with the hope of making us smile.

The hour is over far too soon and the Svengali of Cabaret leaves me not bewildered but beguiled by his art. Dorian Black, the boy from Brisvegas, is Dusty Limits, the King  of Cabaret. The Australian premiere is gone and one can only hope for his return.  

 

ADELAIDE CABARET FESTIVAL - LOVE, LOSS AND COMPASSION - LIOR & AUSTRALIAN STRING QUARTET

Dunstan Playhouse. 16^th June 2017

Reviewed by Bill Stephens OAM

“When he came on stage he was not much to look at” is a quote from an early critique of one of Lior’s early concerts, from a critic who had not seen Lior perform previously. Lior shared this quote e He with his audience at this performance, declaring that he doesn’t read critics. 

This information was rather freeing, because like that critic, I’m among those who had previously never experienced Lior in concert. However, unlike that critic, I had seen him perform the role of the Jewish tailor, Motel, in the Anthony Warlow iteration of the musical “Fiddler on the Roof” so was prepared for his appearance, which is actually rather pleasant, as is his onstage personality.

 

Sharing the stage with the Australian String Quarter, which provided exquisite accompaniments, Lior held the capacity audience in thrall as he worked through his song catalogue, intriguingly, changing to a different guitar for each song. Is this an affectation, or is he thinking of the fortune he’ll make selling off these guitars when inevitably he becomes an international superstar?

The Australian String Quartet

Lior is a fine guitarist and a gifted singer with a pure, sweet angelic voice. His songs, sensibly, exploit these talents.  “Gypsy Girl”, “I’ll Forget You”, “Building Ships” and “This Old Love” all display his talent for writing haunting lyrics for his beautiful melodies. “My Grandfather” mines potent familial recollections in a similar way to Peter Allen’s “Tenterfield Saddler”, while “Bedouin Song”, which he proudly announced, is the only song to have been featured on Triple J, ABC FM and Australian Idol, demonstrates his success in writing cross-genre songs which appeal to a wide audience. 

Not all the program was confined to Lior’s songs however, and early in he featured his cover of Radiohead’s “No Surprises”, the title of which was contradicted by the inclusion of a mesmerising performance by the Australian String Quartet of a Phillip Glass composition, and his concluding offering, the stunning opening song “Sim Shalom (Grant Peace)”,  from Nigel Westlake’s orchestral song cycle “Compassion” rescored by  Westlake specially for Lior and the Australian String Quartet to perform in  this superb concert.

  

This review first published in AUSTRALIAN ARTS REVIEW. www.artsreview.com.au