theatre review - Whats The Show

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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Adelaide Fringe – The Sun and The Hermit

2 March 2024 Alby T Grace

There is, undoubtedly, a preponderance of clowns in The Fringe these days. It’s a form that has grown increasingly popular among performers, with every third Fringe show and their dog having studied at Gaulier last year. Due to this, finding a really interesting, unique and funny clown show is becoming increasingly rare.

Not so with The Sun and The Hermit. Belinda Anderson-Hunt takes the stage from the entrance door after some kooky house music makes us pause for a moment. The house music, like everything else in this show, is a choice – and after Belinda has made a series of really unusual, off-kilter, but fantastic choices, we’re left convinced by the skill and complexity of this performer.

The “plot”, such as it is, involves Belinda’s neutral character entering the stage, revealing a variety of old, dusty props and costumes, then taking on various characters. Most are barely verbal, and many appear cartoonish. The initial opening sequence is explosive and hilarious, making us all lean forward to discover what Belinda will do next.

I shouldn’t spoil anything much about the show – partly because I don’t want to ruin any surprises, and partly because I have no idea if it will happen again when you see it – but there are moments, especially in the first fifteen minutes, you have to see to believe. If you can see, through your crying laughter.

As the piece settles, it sufferers a little from becoming a bit same-same, but that’s ok – Belinda is such an open, raw and clever performer that we will go anywhere with her. While the core of the Sun and The Hermit is humour, and it is very, very funny, lurking around the edges are some dark, disturbing, and strange happenings. Shades of Beckett’s Footfalls strike me momentarily; later, I wonder whether I’m meeting a new character from Lynch’s Eraserhead.

Sitting with Belinda as she journeys through these various iterations, we are left to think about motherhood and growing old, the transformative power of honesty, and the unbearable honesty of being a child.

Any criticisms I have are mild and probably irrelevant on a second viewing – as Belinda tells us, at the completion, the show is different every night, and we may have witnessed one of the most bizarre incarnations.

Overall, it’s fantastic. Belinda is a deeply charismatic and authentic performer, and we don’t feel a moment of artifice as she hurls herself headlong into each new iteration. The spirit of Fringe is here in the room with us, Frank Ford looking down on the stage and smiling – this is the edge-of-your-seat, don’t-know-what’s-going-to-happen-next sort of stuff we’re begging to see.

The Sun and the Hermit is only on for TWO MORE NIGHTS! Book your tickets and head to the Migration Museum at 9.50 pm on Saturday and Sunday to experience the hilarious madness. It’s a trip well worth taking.

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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Carlotta: The Party’s Over

2 March 20242 March 2024 Linda Lokhee

Part of the lure of seeing an entertainer, the self-proclaimed and well-earned title of the ‘Aussie living legend’ Carlotta AM, is the hope that the show will be fabulous. And that plenty of sequins, feathers and bright costumes will adorn her – and Carlotta did not disappoint.

She burst onto the stage to thunderous applause and cheering from the audience, wearing a black outfit covered in dazzling diamantes and dark feathers for her show, The Party’s Over.

It seemed this title implied Carlotta would retire, yet in her own words, she would perform until the day she can’t, as retirement would be too boring. Carlotta has had a long and varied career, and it seems she isn’t going to quietly exit showbusiness to drink cups of camomile tea and knit!

The musical director, Helpman Award winner Michael Griffiths, accompanied Carlotta on the piano, singing some songs alongside her. Michael brought a polished charm to the stage. Also on the set were two talented musicians playing the bass guitar and drums.

The Hayes Theatre is a small venue that allowed Carlotta an evening that seemed an intimate performance, and at times, she exuded warmth and felt like she was friends with everyone in the audience. Indeed, she did have some friends in the audience, and she kindly gave a shout-out to her one-hundred-year-old friend and another friend in the biz with whom she had previously worked.

Carlotta has a quick sense of humour and injected a lot of levity into her show. No one was safe from her witty remarks, especially not the front row, who traditionally were targets for a comedy show! No topics and no people were off limits, even the ex-PMs, a certain broadcasting studio whose security was exceptionally high, “millenniums”, and even her own self, making light of her age and that it was a “hideous age” she was currently at.

She made everyone laugh when alluding to keeping up with the demands of performing standing up for long periods when she was in her eighties and feeling too hot in her costumes. (She had three costume changes, each as captivating and fabulously outrageous as the last, complete with tall, sparkly headpieces and gigantic feather fans).

Carlotta’s singing voice was strong and robust, and she sang classics such as I Write the Songs, My Way, and I Still Call Australia Home. She had the audience singing along, clapping, and swaying in their seats.

Scattered throughout her show, Carlotta reminisced about different parts of her life. She had performed in Les Girls in Kings Cross for almost 30 years, followed by a career in television. She gave a condensed version of the history of Kings Cross and how lovely it used to be, with a good reputation where people from overseas wanted to come to dine at the Bourbon and Beefsteak pub and see shows at the Les Girls nightclub.

Carlotta is a seasoned performer comfortable in her own skin. She is an advocate for the LGBTIQ+ community, leaving the audience with a message to always be yourself and not be silenced on your thoughts because – “darlings, life is too short.”

Running Time: 75 minutes, no interval
Performances: 28 Feb -3 March 2024
Hayes Theatre 19 Greenknowe Ave, Potts Point

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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O.M.A.G.E.E. (The Optimal Mind Association for Getting Everything Excellent)

26 February 2024 Alby T Grace

O.M.A.G.E.E., featuring Jessica Zerlina Leave, is a one-woman show portrayed by a very competent performer who shifts between three different characters.

Each displays a certain aspect of apparently different cults – Linda, who helms the cult LifeLife (perhaps a sort of N.X.I.V.M. amalgam); Taylor, who starts out in an all-vegan Egyptian worshipping cult and then forms her own (the titular O.M.A.G.E.E.) and Lilly, a ten-year-old girl in a sort of school-cult situation.

If you’re confused by this explanation, you’re not the only one. The play looks at various aspects of cultishness – shades of Warren Jeffers, shades of Scientology, shades of Exclusive Brethren – and most of the show is presented with a tongue-in-cheek, humorous style. It does this with these three separate characters, but the narratives don’t seem to interweave – the cults seem to be separate, and that’s a little baffling.

Jessica Zerlina Leafe, the performer and writer, does a good job portraying the different characters, although it took me some moments to realise Lilly was different to Taylor. The show is a comedy, but unfortunately, most of the jokes didn’t land for me. Having said that, there were some good chuckles in the audience and a few punters who laughed all the way through.

It’s a very difficult subject matter to make light of, and that was where the play could have worked better. An early scene where Lilly, the ten-year-old, has some strange things done to her by a senior man is played for laughs but doesn’t really come across as funny to me. The intention is clear but read in a certain way; it made me feel a bit uncomfortable.

The text could do with a trim-down – because the characters are all brainwashed in various ways, often they are spouting a kind of word salad. Sometimes, this text is nicely written and clever, but it takes effort to focus at other times.

The beginning was the most promising aspect of the show, and I want to see further development of the Linda character and a more interactive audience experience. It would be interesting to see Linda gradually convince the whole audience to join her cult – but unfortunately, Linda wasn’t super present in the latter parts of the show.

The venue is lovely and spacious, but the sound bleed from the bar next to the stage must be very difficult to perform with, so massive props to Jessica for pushing through that and staying on course.

Overall, the show has a lot of promise, and Jessica is a strong performer and a funny, unique writer. I’d suggest another round of development and performance to seek out what’s working and throw away what isn’t.

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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