Adelaide Festival Centre. Dunstan Playhouse. 14 June 2023
Elvis didn’t write any songs himself and only a few did he co-write, so the “songbook” refers to his famous audial oeuvre. Music meister, famed composer, musical director and educator Paul Grabowsky (no relation) gives Elvis the jazz treatment with mixed success. For some songs, it just seems inappropriate, while for others it adds class. And tribute shows are always a balance between giving the fans the familiar and something new. There is no denying the sheer creativity of Grabowsky’s arrangements and the virtuosity of his musicians. It is great fun to guess what the heck the song is, given the jazzed-up introduction, and then to smile at some recognisable notes.
Grabowsky grabbed a couple of household names to sing his songs. Joe Camilleri has been blowing the blues, rock, and R&B with his sax since the 60s and made quite a few bands famous, ie: Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons (he’s Jo) and The Black Sorrows. Debora Conway was in grade school when Joe was playing with The King Bees. She won Best Female Artist in the 1992 ARIA Music Awards for her debut album Spring of Pearls and garnered numerous subsequent nominations for the following nine albums of her career.
Debra Conway started the Elvis tribute with a torturous version of Burning Love that I don’t think even she wanted to sing. But she had something on her mind. Right after the song, Debra delivered this incredible rant against the tabloid press for reporting she was strung out in some hotel room when she had the flu. Then she focused on the source of the story, an anonymous chambermaid or something, and said she’d like to “break the neck of the son-of-a-bitch,” and closed with “pull [his/her] God damn tongue out by the roots.” Well, you can imagine, oxygen left the theatre in the collective gasp from the audience and the musicians. Not the right thing to do.
Things went better after that, but slowly. It took a while for the audience to click with the new arrangements, especially when they made the song unfamiliar or thematically at odds with memory, and Debra’s extraordinary rant. Joe was next and they took turns with only a few chorus duets. Joe never stopped chomping on something in his mouth and it was amazing he could play or sing and chew at the same time. I don’t think they even teach that at WAAPA; Joe is definitely his own man. His tender saxophone and emotive crooning can be magic.
Joe and Debra took a lesson from the band and thought – if they don’t know the music by heart, why should I? Both relied heavily on song sheets mounted on distracting music stands, and songs seemed pinched when they were unsure. Joe had his head buried so deep in the music stand in the encore you couldn’t see his face.
Joe gave an evocative In The Ghetto in his inimitable style. Debra hit her straps with a moving and deeply emotional plea in I Need Your Love. This was the highlight of the night and was given an especially appreciative round of applause. Bravo! She followed this with an equally fetching Suspicious Minds with Joe pitching in for the latter choruses. Now the show was cooking but it was three-quarters over.
In this tag-team songfest, the skinny programme notes leaves blame unknown for having the singers retreat from their solos to their separate corners stage left and stage right, sitting without even a flower or a candle on their own little cabaret table looking forlornly like they were waiting for a lover who wasn’t coming.
The show definitely lifted as time went by and the night ended with raucous applause. My guess is that the sturdy appreciation was for Grabowsky’s arrangements, the band’s musicianship, and the role that Debra and Joe have played in the audience’s music-listening lives, and lesser for this particular show.
David Grybowski
When: 14 to 15 Jun
Where: Dunstan Playhouse
Bookings: Closed
Adelaide Cabaret Festival. The Banquet Room. 11 Jun 2023
Eddie Perfect is fascinated with the creative process. A few years ago, at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival after-hours venue, Perfect did a gig where he revealed the process of creating a musical. In another show, he shared his experiences writing the music and lyrics for Beetlejuice (Broadway musical) - for which he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Original Score - and how he stepped in to help out with King Kong, the 2013 musical, also on Broadway. It’s a good night out to hear his sonorous voice still amused and amazed with his musical career, and to hear a few songs.
In The Blank Page…, Eddie does it again with a catholic panel of fellow highly awarded and recognised writers. Eddie probes the panel with lots of questions summarised by, “How did you do it?”
The highly accomplished Virginia Gay was the penultimate personality to perform. She had a go at a song whilst wiping away her considerably golden curly locks from her self-described chiseled Greek goddess visage. She is full of beans – a “pure joy-love” engine - and says she wrote her way out of Covid lockdown. Julia remembers from a clowning workshop, “Failure is vital! Do not take the honour away from failure. Sit in it. Be publicly vulnerable. The audience will love it!”
Gillian Cosgriff was first up at the piano after a discussion about how useful comedy training is to creating musical comedy for the theatre. Tickling the 88s and with great emotional import, she played her composition, The Door, about finishing off a relationship – “I wish this door would become a wall.” The best song of the session and Bravo!
Michelle Brasier of Wagga Wagga couldn’t agree more about the comedy training. She is an accomplished stand-up who won the Directors Choice Award at the Sydney Comedy Festival in 2021. Perfect describes her work as “vulnerable truth-telling” - a big wrap. Her song parodying the generational IDs of Millennials, etc, sounded as serious as Julia’s but was counterposed with hilarious lyrics.
Americans Lee and Brad Spencer are married to each other and to teaming up in musical comedy. Brad’s laconic humour and deadpan contrasted to Lee’s overt enthusiasm. What is obvious is that their marriage is all beer and skittles. Their comments on LA vs NY were insightful.
Musical director Dean Bryant and lyricist and director Matthew Frank are also a life and musical theatre partnership. Eddie Perfect credits them with inspiring him with their musical theatre creation, Prodigal, which the duo workshopped while going to WAAPA (Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts). They sampled for us a song under construction that Bryant introduced with an apology that it only has four chords and super-simple arrangements. That turned out to be true and the lyrics and singing by Frank were, well, let’s hope this isn’t their best work.
Eddie Perfect finished off with his All The Way that was strong in melody and a perfect ending. His earlier song about taking out the street-side garbage bins – inspired by a conversation with Baz Luhrman during Strictly Ballroom – reeked. But that was a long time ago.
The afternoon session was the best motivational seminar for which one would pay $1000 to attend. In the process of inquiring how songs and musical theatre springs from creative inspiration, we learned about the role of failure and how to handle it, how to keep trying and to keep your dignity and/or humility, how and when to collaborate and how to move on. Another theme was that most underwent tertiary acting training but eventually found their creative voices best expressed by writing their own material. It was a pleasure to sit in the company of these creative, open and honest artists discussing the craft to which they have dedicated their lives.
David Grybowski
When: 11 Jun
Where: The Banquet Room
Bookings: Closed
Adelaide Cabaret Festival. Banquet Room. 11 Jun 2023
Mark Trevorrow trying to sing ‘straight’? I’d like to see that! Well I did, and so did hundreds of other punters in the packed Banquet Room at the Adelaide Festival Centre. (What a fabulous venue for cabaret!). Trevorrow is of course better known as his fabulously outrageous polyester-clad alter-ego Bob Downe.
The conceit of “Singing Straight” is Trevorrow singing the type of songs that Bob wouldn’t, but early in his performance Trevorrow hints that being ‘straight’ just isn’t in his DNA. The audience audibly sighs relief at hearing this, and with impish glee some squeal in anticipation! And true to his word, and to the delight of all, ‘Bob’ edges in and out of the proceedings.
Just before Trevorrow’s entrance, the 1965 classic California Dreamin’ by the Mamas and the Papas can be heard over the PA. It sets the tone for what we are about to hear, and then it all kicks off. Dressed modestly in a sparkly jacket, printed T-shirt (I couldn’t read the motif but I hope it was risqué) and chinos, Trevorrow bounds on stage and introduces his backing musicians: Musical Director Bev Kennedy on piano, and Nick Sinclair on double bass (“Are you ready to pluck?” Downe…er…Trevorrow quips with an evil glint in his eye!). Kennedy and Sinclair are superb throughout - consummate musicians. Trevorrow opens with the Bert Bacharach classic Alfie, and perhaps the bridge lyric “When you walk let your heart lead the way…” could well be a metaphor for Bob?
Trevorrow traverses a broad songbook. Alfie is followed by the 1932 Harry Warren and Al Dubin hit You’re Getting to Be a Habit with Me, which later featured in the classic film 42nd Street. Then comes the 1931 song Dream a Little Dream of Me with music by Fabian Andre and Wilbur Schwandgt, and lyrics by Gus Kahn. The song become most famous in 1968 when it was recorded by the Mamas & The Papas. Part of Trevorrow’s skill is his ability to seamlessly intrude his own lyrics into songs and to personalise the performance to the moment (including some Bob Downe iconic tremolos and other vocal gymnastics) and he couldn’t resist sneaking “Dream a little dream of Bev…” into his rendition! Kennedy smiled and the audience laughed.
And then the name-dropping starts, including Anthony Newley, Noël Coward, Cilla Black, and k.d. Lang - all people Trevorrow has either met, worked with, or knows someone who did, and the oh-so-funny anecdotes (no spoilers!) were quintessentially Bob! The anecdotes serve as introductions to more songs: Newley’s A Wonderful Day Like Today (from the 1964 Tony Award nominated musical The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd), Coward’s World Weary (from his 1928 musical This Year of Grace). And the connection to Cilla Black? Well, Paul McCartney is one of Trevorrow’s favourite composers, and McCartney wrote songs for other singers, including Cilla Black, such as the iconic Step Inside Love, which he sings with gay abandon (insert winking face emoji), and It’s For You. Trevorrow also includes the McCartney songs Another Day (McCartney’s debut single as a solo artist in 1971 following the breakup of The Beatles the year before), and A World Without Love (Peter & Gordon). And the connection to k.d. Lang? Well, you need to see the show.
Occasionally Trevorrow would wander from his script and ever reliable Kennedy would corral him back onto the straight and narrow. “Cabaret is meant to be loose, but not this f**g loose!”, he irreverently remarked, later followed by “Think of this as a very expensive dress rehearsal!”. (Bob is trying to cut loose, but Trevorrow keeps him in check…mostly.)
And then it’s to Sondheim. From the musical Company, he belts out the patter song Another Hundred People with razor sharp diction and enunciation and follows this with Marry Me a Little. Then a surprise! He invites Rupert Noffs on stage, who is a performer of note who has previously collaborated with Trevorrow and Kennedy in an all-Sondheim cabaret, and they perform enthusiastic renditions of Old Friends (from Sondheim’s 1981musical Merrily We Roll Along), and You Could Drive a Person Crazy (also from Company), in which to the delight of the audience they replace the last line with “Sondheim his my hobby and I’m givin’ it up!”
The Sondheim homage continues with Together (Wherever We Go) from the 1959 musical Gypsy (music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Sondheim) replete with Bob Downe vocal histrionics, which Noffs was able to perfectly harmonise with! Noffs exits the stage leaving Trevorrow to finish the show with yet more Sondheim, including I Remember and Take Me to the World from Evening Primrose. Trevorrow makes fine work of both these songs, putting to the sword any suggestion that Sondheim can’t write good melodies. He finishes with Not a Day Goes By, also from Merrily We Roll Along, which is a bit of a shame because the long-sustained notes at the end of phrases were very nasal. Perhaps Bob was trying to unleash himself, but on the final note Mark was triumphant and the audience rose to its feet and gave him thunderous applause.
Kym Clayton
When: 11 Jun
Where: The Banquet Room
Bookings: Closed
Therry Theatre. The Arts Theatre. 10 Jun 2023, Matinee
Sondheim long has been favoured by a swathe of musical purists, each one seemingly more expert than the last.
He has been a landmark composer, delivering a style which has been springboard to assorted modern musicals writers.
Few would deny that he is hard to sing. There are “greats” whose greatness has soared with their exquisite mastery of his masterpieces.
None such, sadly, are evident in Therry’s latest offering - lest it be the orchestra. MD Rodney Hrvatin’s musicians there in the Arts’ pit are producing the most beautifully balanced, almost impeccable sound.
There are some pretty proficient renditions onstage, too, and the second act of the work significantly outshines the first.
But, there is only one really bring-the-house-down moment and it comes from the ever- classy Trish Hart as Joanne singing that wickedly wonderful The Ladies Who Lunch.
The musical, Company, tells of a group of rather anxious, highly-strung New Yorkers who are constantly evaluating the merits of being married or not married. The very engaging Jared Frost plays the principal character Bobby, who is not married but should be married and who wants to be married and goes through assorted girlfriends who would or should be married. The show kicks off as his friends gather around to surprise him on his 35th birthday and then it slopes away into vignettes about these friends as couples and characters. There are some quirky scenes, especially the competitive couple in a lather of one-upmanship with karate and dieting. It’s arguably the best performance cameo, delivered herein by Catherine Breugelmans and Sam Mannix, who is never to be forgotten for his performances in Sondheim’s Into The Woods.
George Furth wrote the book for Company and Sondheim the lyrics. When the show opened on Broadway in 1970, it scooped awards in all directions. It features songs which now are concert classics: Being Alive, You Could Drive a Person Crazy, Another Hundred People.
In the 2000s, directors have tried to take some of the gender cliche out of the show by changing Bobby to Bobbie. But the whole idea of this community of would-be match-making mates still has a seventies ring. The characters go on about being “squares”, for heaven’s sake. And they have a rather darling but ingenuous old-school dope smoking scene amusingly imparted here by Grace Frost and Ben Todd.
The high moments of this this production are product of the sense of enjoyment the performers impart in delivering their characters, and with some darned good American accents, too. Albeit there are moments of indecipherable lyrics, most importantly, there are some nice voices and harmonies, not to mention Frost himself in his final solos. Notable in a diligent and disciplined bunch are Sophie Stokes, Robin Schmelzkopf, Claire Birbeck, Cassidy Gaiter, and Emily Morris along with Ryan Ricci, Emily Fitzpatrick, and Daniel Fleming.
While one will always admire David Sinclair as a director, one feels the set he has designed for Company is just a bit cruel, with the cast endlessly clomping up and down and down and up three sets of New York brownstone stairs. The scenic panels, on the other hand, are terrific, as are the projections.
Only recent visitors to New York could justify some of the strange lighting frequently shedding shadows on the players from the knees down. It might be to hint at that scaffolding now swamping the sidewalks of dear old New York city and diminishing the reach of natural light.
One’s wish with Company would be to salvage the wonderful lead songs and make the plot less binary and, oh please, remove the endless blowing on the birthday cake. That ritual went out the window when Covid came in. It just makes one shudder now.
All this said, there is a lot to recommend. A blast of Sondheim presented with love and good sound on a winter’s night.
Samela Harris
When: 10 to 17 Jun
Where: The Arts Theatre
Bookings: trybooking.com
Adelaide Cabaret Festival. Festival Theatre. 9 Jun 2023
Stomping, stand-up acclaim.
What a sensational night kicked off the 2023 Adelaide Cabaret Festival - an historic night which set a five-star benchmark.
State Theatre Company Director Mitchel Butel directed a pack of ex CabFest directors expertly threading together a razzle dazzle night of triumphant excellence.
And, in its 50th year, the Festival Theatre bloomed and blossomed in a showcase of technical brilliance. Talk about production values. Impeccable. And, rightly, a wild cheer went up when sound supremo Jane Rosetto’s name was called. From the word go, that creamy quality of sound was noted. And the stage lighting, with the MD Mark Ferguson’s band up there cleverly illuminated with the great symbolic chandelier aloft and, thanks to design legend Kathryn Sproul, a celebratory hanging gallery of CabFest posters.
Then there were the star turns.
The stars, those accomplished performers who have been CabFest directors, each had their own nostalgic and/or showcase performance segments.
Ali McGregor! Oh, did she take us to the high spots. Vivid in a frock gathered with a sparkling diamente brooch, she showed that she can belt out a big, blindingly brilliant song. She was a wow moment.
But not the only one.
It was wow all over the place.
That darling Kate Ceberano, singularly beloved as a CabFest director and all round bloody good spirit, took the audience to another great height of breathless admiration. David Campbell was a medley of effusive “wow” songs. The man can “give" and audience hearts were bursting in response.
And, as if they had not burst enough, there was the inimitable Meow Meow with an exquisite tribute to former CabFest director, the late lamented and oh, so revered Barry Humphries. In his honour, wearing red stilettos Barry had given her, she celebrated one of his lifelong fascinations, the Weimar era, by delivering, with absolute finesse, a magnificent Frederick Hollander work. The audience swooned.
Voices from the ether. Vocal acrobatics. What a sterling range of art.
How does Sarah-Louise Young sing Kate Bush better than Kate Bush? Hilariously, that is how. In a wild-wings costume with a pastiche of stereotypical moves.
For, this gala night also was a tasting plate of the 2023 CabFest program and it had one lusting to see it all.
Eddie Perfect, composer, actor, satirist, generous spirited and modest superstar also a former CabFest director, swanned around with charm and then let loose his diabolically bloodthirsty Kill the Critics song. Nastee! Five-star nastee. You will burn in hell, beautiful boy.
There were classic moments; Vice Jones and Nina Ferro proffered a taste of classy jazz. Mark Trevorrow and our adored mistress of bling, Anne Wills, sampled their evergreen Adelaide Tonight fare. Julia Holt paid right and proper tribute to father of the CabFest, Frank Ford and Julia Zemiro did, well, Julia Zemiro.
And, throughout the night, Virginia Gay earned the audience’s love, not only with her beautifully modulated speaking and lyrical pipes but also her warmly affectionate inclusiveness as MC.
Is anyone omitted?
Only Hans.
Our German megastar has earned an almost unprecedentedly massive rollicking and effusive fan base in this city. And around the country. Even in the USA. Back in the shimmering spangled outfits his mum makes for him and after his fearsome brush with death on a cruise ship, he turned up the heat with his Lucky Bitches dancers, everything so well-rehearsed - except for the big surprise of the night.
Who? Me? Yes. You. You good thing, you!
It was his crowning as an Icon. Icon of CabFest 2023 - and into the history books he goes.
Talking of which, it will be a very long time before an Adelaide audience leaves the theatre on a high like this one!
What a night, What a night!
Samela Harris
When: 9 Jun
Where: Festival Theatre
Bookings: Closed