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The King’s Singers

26 March 202421 March 2024 Karen Yee

The King’s Singers (KS) is a classical music supergroup with two Grammys and one Emmy that performs over 100 concerts per season all over the world. If you haven’t heard of them, then open your ears!

This group have been around since 1968 and is steeped in the English choral tradition of King’s College Cambridge, but brings those high precision vocal and ensemble skills to an eclectic range of styles from avant-garde to Renaissance to contemporary pop.

The line-up has changed over the years, but the quality and versatility of the group have not. Jonathon Howard (bass) has been a member for 13 years, and Christopher Bruerton (baritone) for 11 years. Chris is from NZ, and don’t we Aussies love to embrace Kiwis who make the international stage! Patrick Dunachie and Edward Button sing countertenor (the male equivalent of the soprano range), Julian Gregory, tenor, and Nick Ashby, baritone.

The current lineup has been stable for four years, and what a busy four years it has been! They have released 11 albums since 2019 and also launched their Global Foundation, which seeks to reach out to community singers and choirs through free workshops and online sing-along videos. The foundation also nurtures new composers through competitions, workshops, and commissions and brings in mentors such as Joe Hisaishi and Ola Gjeilo.

Their website says, “Underpinning all this work is the fundamental belief that the act of singing together is beneficial, both individually and also for the societies in which we live. In today’s ever-more fractured world, we feel it’s more important than ever.”

The album that showcases songs that bind people together in grief, in celebration, or when fighting for a cause is “Finding Harmony”(2020) and their Melbourne Recital Centre concert (19 March, 2024) opened with four songs from this album, including This Little Light of Mine and If I Can Help Somebody from the Civil Rights Movement in the USA.

Three albums were released in 2023 (I told you they were busy!), and we were treated to highlights from each. ”Tom + Will – Weelkes & Byrd: 400 Years” featured Renaissance psalms and madrigals, “Wonderland” featured avant-garde musical storytelling with Georgy Ligeti’s Nonsense Madrigals based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland stories, and “When You Wish Upon a Star” is a Disney album but with arrangements commissioned from the likes of John Rutter, Toby Young and Alexander L’Estrange.

However, it was the Australian ties that brought the experience close to our hearts. During the tour that placed the King’s Singers on the international stage in 1972, they visited 30 different Australian cities and sang a song they had commissioned from Australian composer Malcolm Williamson. This song “The Musicians of Bremen” was recorded for Wonderland (2023) and really shined in performance with each singer taking on a character in the story (donkey, dog, cat, rooster, and two would-be thieves).

Derek Bogle’s song ‘’And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda” always brings me to tears but the dissonance between the bare-faced lyrics (about the ANZAC veteran returning from war without legs and asking the question why) and the light musical setting was even more poignant due to beauty of the arrangement and the softly caressing warm velvety tones that is the King’s Singer’s signature sound.

If a choir nerd friend brought you, there was more than enough familiar music to keep you happy: from Mexican mariachi band to Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Beatles and even Horses by Aussie Daryl Braithwaite, now a pop music favourite. They were pleased to tell us that the Melbourne Recital Centre is one of their favourite venues in the whole world and gave us two encores – a hilarious Flight of the Bumblebee (complete with an imagined bee making a nuisance of itself) and then I Still Call Australia Home. What’s not to like!

Finally, to choir nerds—did you know that Timothy Wayne-Wright, ex-KS, now lives in NZ and visits Australia regularly? He will be leading professional development workshops for singers and conductors at UKARIA A Capella Academy, Adelaide, in June 2024, with VOCES8 as Ensemble in Residence. Get on it if you can!

This review also appears on It’s On The House, and check out more reviews at Dark Stories Theatre to see what else is on in your town.

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A Fish Is A Terrible Friend

11 March 2024 Karen Yee

Phoebe Anne Taylor heard the words she wrote in her play A Fish Is a Terrible Friend spoken out loud for the first time in three years and was terrified. Written over a period of one and a half weeks whilst in residency at Arteles Creative Center in Finland eight years ago, Taylor’s words give life to characters negotiating the meaning of life, love and loss and reveal a lot about her thoughts at the time. I was privileged to attend a reading of the play hosted by Incognita Enterprises at the inspiring venue and artists’ hub, Montsalvat, Eltham.

A play reading is very different from a fully produced play. There are no costumes or sets, lighting or sound effects to convey when or where a scene takes place. We have to listen carefully to the “big print,” that is, the playwright’s descriptions of the scenes and actions of the characters, which are read out loud by a Narrator, in this case, Taylor herself, who is also an actor.

It is understood that the actors will be reading from their script with little or no rehearsal. In this case, there was one rehearsal a week before. The actors remain seated for the duration, and we watch them carefully for facial expressions and body language that add to their vocal communication. There is nothing else to watch. We have to use our imagination to provide an image of the character’s appearance and movements (for example, when the narrator says, “They kiss”).

This makes the whole experience more like listening to a radio play or podcast, and I closed my eyes to picture the scenario or wondered how it could be made to work on stage. We are drawn into being co-creators of the play’s imagery in our minds. In fact, the whole creative process is on show here, especially highlighted by the playwright’s introduction and the Q&A discussion at the end. I found it an exhilarating and inspirational format.

Luckily for us, actors Sarah Hallam, Sally McLean, Paul Rochford and Phoebe Anne Taylor are all seasoned professionals who are so highly trained that each of them are also actor trainers. It was not hard to follow what was happening, and the performances were engaging. Interestingly, Taylor has been intentionally writing gender-neutral characters into her plays for some time now. This allows them to be played by any gender, whether cis or trans. The characters pronouns are written parenthetically as “(they/them)” which then can be replaced in the rehearsal stage with the preferred pronoun of the actor and/or at the discretion of the director.

The protagonists of this play are Alpha (Rochford) and Omega (Hallam), and they need to work out their tortured relationship before the world ends. “I want to die with you, but I couldn’t leave you”, admits Alpha while they watch the doom approaching. McLean plays four other characters who serve to interrupt, comment on and move the action along. Her reading of the sleazy bartender called the Flamingo was hilarious and pretty much stole the show.

I haven’t given away much about the play itself because the highlights of this play reading were the insights into Taylor’s creative process and how it sparked my own imagination. Plus, I think you should see it yourself when it gets fully produced. In the meantime, keep an eye on Incognita Enterprises for its quality events, classes, and productions.

This review also appears on It’s On The House, and check out more reviews at Dark Stories Theatre to see what else is on in your town.

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Cabaret De Paris

17 May 20242 March 2024 Karen Yee

Seven Moulin Rouge trained showgirls in sparkly sequinned skimpy bikini outfits, balanced by feather headdresses and boas and in impossibly high heels accentuating their very long legs, flanked by two athletic male dancers who finally take off their shirts in the last number.

This ensemble of highly skilled and sexy dancers are the heart and soul of the Cabaret de Paris: A Burlesque Extravaganza, produced by Michael Boyd and choreographed by Todd Partrick and Matt Browning. But Rhonda Burchmore, veteran cabaret entertainer, is the major drawcard for this Parisian-styled revue.

This show has been kicking around since at least 2016. This post-COVID version of the show keeps the same format but with a few new numbers and some personnel changes, including Rhonda as the new leading lady.

It’s a very portable show, doing three shows in 2 days at iconic theatres across Australia since last year. This explains the minimalist set design and recorded music rather than live musicians. Instead, the $250,000 worth of lavish costumes were a feast for the eyes and brought the era of French cabaret a la Lido and the Moulin Rouge to life.

Musically, there was a lot of variety – from upbeat bass-heavy electronic dance music (Parlez Vous Francais) to jazz big band more traditional ballads evoking old-school Paris (think bandoneon).

The can-can mashup was an example of this in one number – from a modern dance rhythm version, Voulez-Vous, to a 1950 adaptation of Can-Can Polka with kitschy lyrics by Jimmy Kennedy to the original whirling dervish Galop from Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld. The choreography of this number was particularly engaging, with the mix of modern and traditional styles and the oh-so high kicks!

I was absolutely drawn into Michael Boyd’s magic of illusion and was riveted to watching Veronica on the pole and on the floor for her contortion act. Similarly, the short acrobatic act of the male dancers and the intense adagio style pas de deux (acrobatic dance duo featuring high lift poses) were breathtaking. However, Rhonda Burchmore provided the substance of the show with her solid singing chops and personal stories.

Rhonda is celebrating 42 years in showbiz, and I was reminded of Tina Turner, who also flaunted her legs on stage well into her mature years. She looked wonderful in the gorgeous gowns and even entertained us with a very discreet strip tease, assisted by her charming male assistants, culminating in a dramatic costume change.

However, the price of wearing the stilettos that go with such ballgowns is very painful bunions, as she admitted when she rushed to sit down. Most of us ladies are now relishing the current fashion trend of wearing sensible shoes with just about anything.

I would love to see a version of this show where Rhonda gets to wear Hoka One Ones with the sumptuous evening dresses. After all, she’s six foot one “and worth the climb” – she doesn’t need the extra height.

Alas, the Cabaret De Paris was showing only for this weekend, but keep an eye out for this troupe of performers as new show dates are coming soon.

This review also appears on It’s On The House, and check out more reviews at Dark Stories Theatre to see what else is on in your town.

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