Boys Like Me; The Vaudevillians

Posted on February 26, 2014 by jolitson

Boys Like Me

Sydney Theatre, February 25

Courtney Act. Photo: supplied

Boys Like Me: it’s a great title, with a double meaning that aptly describes Courtney Act’s highly entertaining new cabaret show.

Not only does Act (the drag persona of Shane Jenek) talk insightfully about what it’s like to live “on the gender divide” but – given the string of amorous adventures detailed – we can safely say boys like Shane/Courtney a lot. As did the boys, and girls, in the audience at this one-off performance staged as part of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (of which Act is a patron).

Act has to be one of the most gorgeous looking drag artists around (hell, I’d love to look like her), appearing here in three stunning outfits: a short, shimmery green dress, a long blue gown with sequins and feathers, and a flesh-coloured dress with rhinestones split up to here, under which she confided she wore nothing but duck tape.

Quick-witted with a warm, engaging manner, a certain way with words and an innate sense of comic timing, Act is a natural, charismatic entertainer who tells naughty stories with winning charm. Rather than getting too close to the bone, as it were, she pitches anecdotes just the right side of “too much information” – though her sex life (and Shane’s) features prominently and in some detail at times.

The image of a Pomeranian rooting a Rottweiler to describe one relationship will be hard to forget. (“Sorry Mum”, quipped Act whose parents were in the audience).

We hear how Shane lost his virginity to a girl (known to be accommodating). There’s a very funny story about separate sexual encounters with identical male Canadian twins, both of whom professed to be straight, and a moving account of finding his own sexual identity and appeal somewhere between Shane and Courtney.

Accompanied by a four-piece band led by musical director Lance Horne on piano, Act sang Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl”, “I’m Not That Girl” from Wicked, Madonna’s “Like a Virgin”, Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now”, “Sweet Transvestite” from The Rocky Horror Show and a West Hollywood twist on “At the Ballet” from A Chorus Line, among other songs.

Despite battling sound problems, she sang with a warm, clear, bright voice and wrung the emotion and meaning from the songs beautifully.

The show also featured a couple of duets with transgender man Chaz Bono (born Chastity Bono to Sonny and Cher). Bono is no singer but a good sport and the reworked lyrics to “Bosom Buddies” (“we’ll always be gender rebels”) made for a powerful moment.

In the end, the message of Boys Like Me is that sexuality isn’t straightforward, there really are 50 shades of pink, and a real man is someone who isn’t afraid to be themselves.

Running two hours including interval, the show could do with a bit of a nip and tuck, and would arguably work better without the interval. But it’s an entertaining night – and a forthright, thoughtful one at that.

Act is featured in the new season of RuPaul’s Drag Race (a reality TV competition for drag queens), which has just begun screening in the US, so her profile is set to soar. Here’s hoping she wins. #teamcourtney

The Vaudevillians

The Vanguard, February 20

Major Scales and Jinkx Monsoon in The Vaudevillians. Photo: supplied

Meanwhile, across town, Jinkx Monsoon, the winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race season five, which screened in the US last year, is performing with Major Scales in The Vaudevillians, also as part of the Mardi Gras arts festival.

Monsoon (the drag persona of Jerick Hoffer) and Major Scales (the alter ego of composer/musician Richard Andriessen) play 1920s vaudevillians Kitty Witless and her sidekick Dr Dan Von Dandy.

The conceit of the show is that while touring Antarctica they were struck by an avalanche and frozen for 90 years. However, thanks to global warming they have thawed out and returned to civilization only to discover that many of their original songs have been pinched by contemporary artists.

Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” was really a suffragette anthem. Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” was the opening number for their musical theatre sequel to Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. Snoop Dogg’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot” celebrated the invention of the electric iron.

With Von Dandy at the piano (and Monsoon frequently draped over it) various other numbers – “Anything Goes”, Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love”, Queen’s “Fat Bottomed Girls” and a mash-up of Britney Spears’ “Toxic” with “Big Spender” from Sweet Charity, among others – are given a vaudeville-like musical treatment.

Monsoon has a fierce, diva-esque presence (“read a book” she snaps when a reference to Henrik Ibsen is met with blank stares) and a superb, big, ballsy, belting voice to match. Her physicality is pretty impressive too (think headstand on an audience member’s lap – yes, there’s audience participation – dramatic falls to the stage and leaps onto the piano).

Scales, meanwhile, does dandy-on-speed to a tee and even manages to wear a fez with something approaching a dandified sense of style.

The Vaudevillians is fierce, fab and funny. Fans of RuPaul’s Drag Race, in particular, will be in their element.

The Vaudevillians plays at The Vanguard, Newtown until March 2. Bookings: thevanguard.com.au

LIMBO

Posted on January 17, 2014 by jolitson

Spiegeltent, Hyde Park, Sydney

January 9

Heather Holliday in LIMBO. Photo: Prudence Upton

Right now, Sydney resembles a three-ring circus – in the nicest possible way – with audiences very happy to “roll up, roll up” to around a dozen shows that fall under the circus banner, all happily strutting their stuff in venues around town.

Most high profile are the sexed-up circus-cabaret-burlesque cocktails, which Sydneysiders just can’t seem to get enough of. The three biggies are Spiegelworld’s Empire, which is playing in a Spiegeltent at the Entertainment Quarter in Moore Park; La Soirée in the Studio at the Sydney Opera House; and LIMBO, the main house show in the Sydney Festival’s Spiegeltent. (The Festival is also presenting a number of smaller shows in the more intimate Circus Ronaldo Tent).

They’re all terrific in their own way but for my money LIMBO is in a class of its own.

Rather than just consisting of one different trick or act after another, LIMBO creates its own enthralling netherworld. Fierce, highly theatrical, full of joie de vivre and sexy without trying, it has a coherent aesthetic, style and sense of drama, having been created by an ensemble from the ground up.

It is produced by Strut & Fret (the Australian company behind last year’s Sydney Festival show Cantina) in association with Edinburgh’s Underbelly Productions and London’s Southbank Centre.

Directed by Australian Scott Maidment and featuring a supremely skilled, versatile, international cast, LIMBO combines staggering circus acts (given a fresh spin) with some sensational dance routines and little linking vignettes.

It’s all tightly choreographed to an eclectic score played live by a funky band led by New Yorker Sxip Shirey, with knowing winks and smiles from the physical performers.

A contorted Phillip Tigris. Photo: Prudence Upton

Acts include astonishing contortion by the suited Phillip Tigris, delicate Chinese pole by Mikael Bres complete with a floating feather, unbelievable balances by Danik Abishev, who hops on one hand along a series of poles, eye-popping sword-swallowing and fire eating by Heather Holliday, and aerial hoop by Evelyne Allard.

Dancer/choreographer Hilton Denis (So You Think You Can Dance Australia) taps up a storm and is one of a trio with Bres and Abishev in a surprisingly beautiful sway pole act over the audience’s heads that elicits gasps as they narrowly miss each other, while collecting glasses and programs from the audience as they swoop past.

Dramatically lit by Philip Gladwell with sexy Weimar-esque costumes by Zoe Rouse, LIMBO is an entrancing, exhilarating, rollercoaster ride. I laughed, I marveled, I sat opened mouthed and I thrilled to the theatricality of it all. Highly recommended.

LIMBO plays in the Spiegeltent in the Festival Village, Hyde Park until January 26. Bookings: http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au or 1300 856 876

An edited version of this review ran in the Sunday Telegraph on January 12

Amanda Palmer

Posted on January 15, 2014 by jolitson

The Spiegeltent, Festival Village, Hyde Park, Sydney

January 9

Amanda Palmer at the Sydney Festival. Photo: Jamie Williams

I have to confess that I was an Amanda Palmer virgin – in the sense of never having seen her live – until now. I’ve read about her, of course, and I’ve heard her songs but never encountered her up close, in the flesh.

My 20-something plus-one, meanwhile, knew nothing about her beyond her letter supporting Miley Cyrus’s right to twerk. We were both blown away.

The post-punk cabaret star, who was one half of pioneering cabaret duo The Dresden Dolls, has toured here regularly, most recently with her new band the Grand Theft Orchestra.This time it’s just her on keyboard and ukulele performing in the decadent timber and mirrored surrounds of The Spiegeltent – a venue that seems almost tailor made for her – for Sydney Festival.

We heard her before we saw her, as robust strumming on the ukulele from the back of the tent heralded her entrance. Singing “In My Mind” unplugged she wandered through the tent before hitting the stage.

In slinky, cream satin vintage gown with long black gloves, fishnets and those famous, arching eyebrows, Palmer has a charisma that quickly draws you into her orbit as she weaves an almost immediate, spell-binding rapport with her audience.

Her patter moves from the droll to the personal and pointed. Her gorgeous, versatile voice cajoles and seduces. She reduces you to mirth one minute and breaks your heart the next, seemingly effortlessly.

Her repertoire ranged from the comic “Vegemite (The Black Death)”, which she wrote for her author husband Neil Gaiman who unlike Palmer loves our yeasty spread, to an intense version of Ted Egan’s “The Drover’s Boy”, during which performer Sabrina D’Angelo emerged from a Drizabone and Akubra to heighten the drama of the song.

Other numbers included “Map of Tasmania”, Palmer’s joyously cheeky ode to the unclipped female bush, the Dresden Dolls’ perky “Coin-Operated Boy”, Bat for Lashes’ “Laura” sung as a beautiful duet with Brendan Maclean, also dressed in a slinky slip with a spiky blonde quiff, and a moving song about her tough last year.

She ended in upbeat fashion with “Ukulele Anthem”, her paen to the power of music and creativity even if – or especially if – it’s on a simple ukulele that anyone can learn to play.

It was a beautifully balanced song list from across her career that would have delighted fans (though there was no number from her latest album “Theatre is Evil”) as well as serving as a brilliant introduction to newbies.

After the first show Palmer tweeted: “oh my god that was surreal. so many people who didn’t know me at all. this festival is going to be actual WORK.” But work that will doubtless win her umpteen new Aussie fans.

During the show she confessed to being “obsessed” with Australia. Right back at you Miss Palmer! Come back soon.

Amanda Palmer plays in The Spiegeltent until January 19. Bookings: Sydney Festival 1300 856 876

An edited version of this review ran in the Sunday Telegraph on January 12

Independent Music Theatre: creating a new home for small-scale musicals and cabaret in Sydney

Posted on July 24, 2013 by jolitson

The Independent Music Theatre team. Left to right: Lisa Campbell, David Campbell, Neil Gooding, Michael Huxley, Richard Carroll, Simone Parrott, Michelle Guthrie, Jay James-Moody and Jessica Burns

Yesterday’s announcement that a new, not-for-profit consortium of producers and organisations called Independent Music Theatre (IMT) is to run the Reginald Murphy Hall in Potts Point as a home for small-scale music theatre and cabaret has my heart singing.

It’s exciting news given the potential for the company to become an important and much-needed addition to Sydney’s musical theatre scene.

Currently known as the Darlinghurst Theatre, the 111-seat venue was home to the Darlinghurst Theatre Company from 1999 until this March when the company vacated it to move into the new Eternity Playhouse in East Sydney, opening in November.

Having won the tender from the City of Sydney Council to become the next resident company, IMT will announce a new name for the venue in the coming weeks.

Describing themselves as a “collaborative partnership”, IMT comprises a team of organisations who already have runs on the board producing small-scale musicals and cabaret: Luckiest Productions (David Campbell, Lisa Campbell and Richard Carroll), Neglected Musicals (Michelle Guthrie), Squabbalogic (Jay James-Moody and Jessica Burns, who are soon to stage Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson at The Factory in Marrickville), Neil Gooding Productions (who produced the Australian musical The Hatpin by Peter Rutherford and James Millar) and independent producers Michael Huxley and Simone Parrott.

Commercial musicals currently dominate the music theatre scene in Sydney – and there aren’t that many of those each year given the relatively limited audience compared to London or New York.

It’s not that Sydney doesn’t see small-scale, independent musicals but the productions are sporadic and scattered around various venues. Presenting regular shows in one venue will give the work a very useful focus.

Having their own home, where they can support each other, will also give the companies involved a better chance to survive and thrive.

Initially IMT’s audience is likely to be industry-based along with serious musical theatre fans but if the work is good a broader audience will hopefully follow pretty quickly. London’s Menier Chocolate Factory is an obvious model, whose success will doubtless be encouraging for the IMT team.

The chance to see musicals from overseas that would otherwise be unlikely to make it to our shores – whether that be little seen classics or more recent, innovative work – is so important for the development of the artform, as well as for the people who want to make it and perform in it.

Developing new Australian musicals – that most challenging of theatrical beasts – is something that IMT will hopefully be well placed to undertake in the fullness of time.

It is a small venue but the IMT team are specialists in the field of small-scale music theatre and cabaret and should have the expertise and nous to choose the right shows and make them work in the intimate setting.

Neglected Musicals is already associated with the venue having presented terrific rehearsed readings of nine musicals there including No Way to Treat a Lady, On the Twentieth Century and Variations by Australia’s Terry Clarke and the late Nick Enright.

Stephen Colyer’s Gaiety Theatre (not associated with IMT) has also had success staging musicals there, including Hello Again and Kiss of the Spiderwoman.

The first IMT production is likely to be presented at the start of next year. I can’t wait.

You can find IMT at www.independentmusictheatre.com or follow them on Facebook or Twitter @IMTsydney

Sweet Dreams: Songs by Annie Lennox – review

Posted on July 5, 2013 by jolitson

Slide Lounge, July 1

Michael Griffiths in Sweet Dreams. Photo: Kurt Sneddon

Michael Griffiths’ new cabaret show Sweet Dreams: Songs by Annie Lennox is a cleverly crafted, beautifully performed piece in a similar vein to his previous cabaret hit In Vogue: Songs by Madonna.

Written and directed by Dean Bryant (as was Griffiths’ Madonna show and Christie Whelan Browne’s wonderful Britney Spears: The Cabaret), Sweet Dreams is clearly thoroughly researched, taking us through the life and career of the androgynous-looking, Scottish singer-songwriter who was one half of British synth pop duo the Eurythmics.

But it does so much more than simply trot out biographical details interspersed with songs.

The witty, insightful, linking dialogue gives us an insight into her life and creativity, showing how she channeled her heartache and other experiences into her songs.

Sitting at the piano, looking casually urbane in skinny-fitting trousers, shirt and tartan tie (a nod presumably to Lennox’s Scottish background), Griffiths gives an extraordinary performance that is understated yet passionate.

He speaks in the first person as Lennox but makes no attempt to impersonate her. Likewise, he interprets the songs in his own, musically thrilling way – playing the piano with the same sensitivity that he brings to his singing.

The factual information is combined with personal reflections and witty observations – all delivered with perfect comic timing. Bryant has also incorporated a couple of gently comic motifs: Griffiths lighting a candle, which he then blows out, waving the smoke away as he tosses the match aside to symbolise putting paid to bad song ideas; and bits of sage advice from Lennox’s father (“As my father would say, Anne Lennox ….”).

All the songs that you’d hope for are there, including Why? Walking on Broken Glass, There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart), Who’s That Girl?, Love is a Stranger and Missionary Man among others.

For Thorn in My Side, Griffiths enlists the audience to do backing vocals – which they do with great enthusiasm.

Sweet Dreams (which premiered last month at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival) is intelligent, compelling cabaret offering a different kind of take on its subject to so many biographical cabaret shows that we see. For 70 minutes, Griffiths holds us in the palm of his hand – an angel playing with our hearts. Catch it if you can.

Sweet Dreams is at fortyfivedownstairs in Melbourne until July 7 as part of the Melbourne Cabaret Festival and then at Hobart’s City Hall on July 12 & 13 as part of The Festival of Voices.

Go Your Own Way, the Story of Christine McVie: review

Posted on June 29, 2013 by jolitson

Slide Lounge, June 27

Catherine Alcorn with Marty Hailey and Tamika Stanton. Photo: Kurt Sneddon

Catherine Alcorn made her mark on the Australian cabaret scene with her debut show The Divine Miss Bette, in which she stepped into Bette Midler’s shoes.

Now, for her second offering, Go Your Own Way, the Story of Christine McVie, she takes on “the other woman” in Fleetwood Mac.

Christine McVie is nowhere near as colourful a character as Midler, which gives the show’s writer Diana Simmonds less to play with. The English-born singer/songwriter is apparently living a quiet life in her homeland with her beloved dogs and by all accounts is perfectly happy not to be part of Fleetwood Mac’s current reunion tour – though she herself has said little about it publicly.

There was the tumultuous time the band went through when recording Rumours, during which Christine and husband John McVie were breaking up as were Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, which is naturally dealt with, and a relationship with Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson.

But overall there’s not a great deal of drama to McVie’s story. Simmonds (who was brought in late) takes a fairly straightforward, chronological approach to the narrative but laces it with some nice, deadpan, throw-away humour and some of the lingo from the 60s and 70s to give it some spice.

She also gives voice to Nicks at one point via backing vocalist Tamika Stanton – an effective device that might perhaps be worth exploring a little more.

Musically, the show is a cracker. The set list of songs (all written or co-written by McVie with the exception of Go Your Own Way by Buckingham) is fantastic: The Chain, Little Lies, As Long as You Follow, Say You Love Me, Over My Head, Don’t Stop, You Make Loving Fun, Oh Daddy, Everywhere, Songbird and, course, Go Your Own Way.

The enduring popularity of Fleetwood Mac’s music (given a boost in 2011 when Glee covered six tracks from Rumours) means that the show will have great appeal to Mac fans and indeed anyone who likes that period of music.

What’s more, Alcorn sings it superbly – arguably better than McVie herself. She has a rich, powerful voice, which she uses with sensitivity and skill, and a big, warm stage presence.

Starting the show in the present day, she removes a tailored jacket, loosens her hair and dons a mauve, fringed and sequined kimono-like jacket to take us back to the start of Christine Perfect’s (as she was born) career, adopting a light English accent and a slightly lower register than normal for the dialogue. A number of rugs thrown onto the stage help lend the space something of a hippie feel.

Alcorn is backed by a terrific three-piece band led by musical director Isaac Hayward on keyboard, with Marty Hailey on guitar and Nick Cecire on drums. Stanton and Hayward provide strong backing vocals.

Having debuted at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival and then performed it at the Melbourne Cabaret Festival, Alcorn will presumably now go her own way with the show – and if she has half the success she has had with The Divine Miss Bette, she’s onto a good thing.

Meanwhile, The Divine Miss Bette has a season at Sydney’s Glen Street Theatre in Belrose from July 23 – 28.

Adam Guettel in Concert: review

Posted on June 8, 2013 by jolitson

Slide Cabaret, June 6

American composer-lyricist Adam Guettel

Tony Award-winning Broadway composer-lyricist Adam Guettel is currently in Australia for the first time for a series of performances and masterclasses.

Soon to appear at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival and Melbourne Cabaret Festival, he did a one-off performance at Sydney’s Slide cabaret lounge this week.

The grandson of legendary musical theatre composer Richard Rodgers, Guettel has been compared to Stephen Sondheim, while Sondheim himself has described his music as “dazzling”.

I must confess that I didn’t know a great deal of his music before seeing him perform at Slide. I have a cast recording of his musical Floyd Collins (which Kookaburra was going to perform a few years ago but then cancelled) but only a passing acquaintance with his other shows – so the chance to hear his music, performed by the man himself, was special and very welcome (thanks to producer Jeremy Youett of Your Enterprises).

Accompanied on piano by his longtime musical director Kimberly Grigsby (musical director of Spider-Man on Broadway), Guettel performed songs from Floyd Collins, The Light in the Piazza (for which he won Tony Awards for Best Original Score and Best Orchestrations) and his song cycle Myths and Hymns.

He also sang a few numbers from several new musicals he is currently writing including Days of Wine and Roses based on the 1962 film about an American couple who succumb to alcoholism, and Millions based on Danny Boyle’s 2004 film about two young brothers whose mother dies and who find millions in stolen cash – a musical Guettel described as being “about saints and cherubs” and how the boys “un-break their hearts”.

For several of the numbers he was joined by Haley Bond, a vocalist with a beautiful, pure voice, who he revealed to be his fiancée. As you’d expect there was an easy, intuitive rapport between the three of them.

Guettel has a great deal of charm, displaying a nice, self-deprecating, laid back sense of humour. He kept talk fairly tight, telling us mainly about the songs, but there was a lovely honesty to the way he engaged with the audience.

He played guitar for a couple of numbers, explaining amusingly how he is self-taught on the instrument so has to retune it when he wants to change key, as he did between two numbers here.

You can see why he is compared to Sondheim (though for my money he doesn’t rival Sondheim – but then who does?). His music is often complex with shimmering textures and emotional intensity. Many of the songs had a melancholic, yearning beauty but there were none you’d describe as showstoppers and for a cabaret show it could have done with a bit more variety musically, more changes of mood, and more light and shade.

Perhaps Guettel sensed that because at one he said that next time he came to Australia he’d bring some perkier songs.

Perhaps too, the songs didn’t have quite the same power performed out of context that they would have in the shows they come from.

Nonetheless, it was a treat to hear him perform his own music, much of which is undeniably beautiful, and especially to hear the new material, including a song called Something That We Know, which he said had never been heard publicly before. Fans of his will be very happy – and doubtless the show will win him more.

Adam Guettel performs at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival on June 22 and the Melbourne Cabaret Festival on June 29 & 30.

The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Sarah-Louise Young

Posted on May 15, 2013 by jolitson

Sarah-Louise Young discusses her new cabaret show Julie Madly Deeply

Sarah-Louise Young

Over the years, people have often said to Sarah-Louise Young that they can see a bit of Julie Andrews in her.

“It’s probably just because we’re both very well spoken,” says the British musical theatre and cabaret performer in her crisp, beautifully enunciated English accent.

Modesty aside, Young also has a great singing voice and though she wouldn’t consider comparing herself to Andrews – “that would be scandalous” – she is excited about performing the Andrews songbook in a new cabaret show called Julie Madly Deeply.

The songs will be intertwined with stories and anecdotes from Andrews’ life along with “a selection of witty and insightful elaborations” as the press release puts it, promising a show in which “Miss Squeaky-Clean finally comes clean.”

But Andrews fans can rest assured that though Julie Madly Deeply may be a little mischievous at times, it comes from a place of love.

“It’s always been our benchmark that if she ever came to see the show she would love it. We are describing it as a cheeky and affectionate love letter,” says Young.

Julie Madly Deeply starts its Australian tour at the Noosa Long Weekend Festival on June 16 then goes to the Adelaide Cabaret Festival followed by dates in Victoria, New South Wales and the Northern Territory.

It follows in the wake of Dame Julie herself, who tours Australia for the first time this month. However, Andrews doesn’t sing anymore after her four-octave voice was damaged during a throat operation in 1997, leaving it to Young to turn on the pure but killer vocals in songs from Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music and My Fair Lady as well as less well known Andrews numbers.

Young’s cabaret career is riding high. She won Best Musical Variety Act at the 2013 London Cabaret Awards and in 2011 was named one of Time Out London’s Top Ten Cabaret Artists.

In 2010, David and Lisa Campbell brought her show Cabaret Whore to the Adelaide Cabaret Festival then toured it around Australia the following year. During this time, Young met Richard Carroll, who works at the Campbells’ production company Luckiest Productions. They hit it off and co-conceived Julie Madly Deeply, which Carroll is producing.

Sarah-Louise Young will play a Julie Andrews impersonator in Julie Madly Deeply

Young has been a fan of Andrews since childhood. “When I was a little kid my parents got divorced and I thought if Julie Andrews came in, married my Dad and made a dress from curtains then everything would be all right,” she says.

When it came to putting a show together about her, Young says they wanted to avoid doing something that comes across like “Wikipedia live. You can’t tell anybody’s life in 55 minutes, it’s just not long enough,” she says. Nor did she want to pretend to be Andrews.

“My producer Richard and I felt very strongly that nobody can sing like Julie Andrews. You can’t impersonate that voice. There is so much love and respect for her that we didn’t want to put words into her mouth.

“Obviously we’ve read her autobiography and watched hours and hours of documentaries and we thought very, very carefully about the best framing device. It would be easy to do an hour of her songs and chat about them but the device we use is that I play a Julie Andrews impersonator doing a tribute act,” says Young.

“That person can investigate other people’s relationships with Julie Andrews so I play Audrey Hepburn, Richard Burton, Carol Channing, Liza Minnelli – little bits of all of these. So there will be times when I do my best to sound like her but it’s also a lovely excuse to explore the other relationships in her life.

“We’ll sing the hits from her shows and also a few unexpected songs that you don’t associate with her. There’s such an amazing back catalogue of songs so we’re going to do a medley at the end because we just couldn’t fit in all the songs that we wanted to.”

Young believes that although Andrews tried to change her sweet, wholesome image later in her career with some interesting choices including working with Hitchcock and famously going topless in the film S.O.B. directed by her husband Blake Edwards, “it was really tough for her. People wanted to see her in that maternal role because it made us feel safe.

“She was obviously a lovely woman but it was well known that she swore like a trooper and was a great practical joker. She worked with Hitchcock, she did some really unusual and interesting stuff but people didn’t want her to break the mould.”

Young hopes that people who see Julie Madly Deeply “will fall in love with the songs again and go home and watch the movies, and question their own relationship with her.”

Noosa Long Weekend Festival, June 16; Adelaide Cabaret Festival, June 19 – 20; Chapel off Chapel, Melbourne, June 21 – 22; Karralyka Centre, Ringwood, June 25; The Q, Queanbeyan, June 26; Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, June 29; Seymour Centre, Sydney, July 4 – 6; Riverside Theatres, Parramatta, July 7; Glen Street Theatre, Belrose, July 9.

An edited version of this story appeared in the Sunday Telegraph on April 7.

Jo Litson: Scene and Heard

Articles and reviews about the performing arts in Sydney – and occasionally beyond.

Category Archives: Cabaret