Licenced to thrill again

Skyfall: The Music of James Bond (The Little Red Company)

QPAC, Concert Hall

July 15 – 16

Those who saw Brisbane Festival’s “Skyfall” at the South Bank Piazza in 2021 know how enticing a musical celebration of the music of James Bond can be in The Little Red Company’s capable hands. In return season at QPAC (rescheduled due to flood impacts upon the Concert Hall) “Skyfall: The Music of James Bond” still has a license to thrill, only this time with walls, and amazing acoustics that enriches its sounds from the first introduction of Luke Kennedy in ‘Licenced to Kill’.

Just like its source material films, this is a show that gets bigger and better with every outing, with this season featuring additional numbers and an onstage team of 19 singers, dancers and musicians, including special guest vocalists Rebecca Cassidy and Mat Verevis joining Queensland’s first couple of song Naomi Price and Luke Kennedy.

Cassidy adds some impressive operatic soar to numbers like ‘The World is Not Enough’, the main theme and opening song for the 1999 Bond film of the same name (originally performed by Scottish-American rock band Garbage), which weaves in touches of the James Bond theme at the end of its composition. Verevis, meanwhile, croons away in ‘80s love ballad ‘For Your Eyes Only’ and delivers an exquisite ‘No Time To Die’, giving the dark and moody theme a vocal reverence befitting Daniel Craig’s final outing and 007.

Once again, Kennedy’s share of Sam Smith’s tender ‘Writing’s on the Wall’, is a highlight thanks to its haunting beauty, especially encapsulated in his impressive falsetto. Indeed, Kennedy’s vocal dexterity is on show throughout the evening, including in some impressive note holds.

With guest performers, this season is more concert than cabaret fare, but it is still just as entertaining, in-part due to the hostess-with-the-mostest banter (and solid song performances) from Price, including with drag performer Beverly Kills (recently announced as a contestant of Season Two or RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under) who assists in share of a memorable ‘Goldfinger’.

With the assistance also of dancers Bridie Anstee and Shani Sweetnam, there is a lot going on, but celebrating the music of James Bond remains central and it is appropriate the band is positioned in raised, tied staging allowing for full viewing opportunities. Thanks to the considered arrangements of Maitlohn Drew and Brydon Stace, all sections of the band are given their moments to shine in punctuation of the vocal performances. Damian Sim’s keys add dynamism to Shirley Bassey’s tribute to the man with the Midas touch, Martha Baartz’s alto saxophone elevates Price’s cheeky ‘Nobody Does It Better’ and Josh Sinclair gives a smooth early trumpet testament to the fight going on and on in “Thunderball”. Mik Easterman, meanwhile, has never been better, delivering an essential accompaniment of Kennedy’s bombastic ‘Live and Let Die’, which electrifies the audience into interval.

Jason Glenwright’s lighting design characters each number with distinction, spotlighting along to the fatal sounds of broken dreams in a red-soaked ‘A View to a Kill’ and sparkling the entire Concert Hall for Price’s spectacular ‘Diamonds are Forever’. And the fashions (Zoe Griffiths, Wil Valor, The Hemmingbird and Urbbana) are again spectacular, especially Price’s glitzy gold tuxedo.

“Skyfall: The Music of James Bond” is full of infectious energy, culminating in its on-your-feet mashup encore tribute. The explosive reimagining of the Bond catalogue, created by Adam Brunes and Naomi Price, is a celebration not just of iconic Bond bangers, but a showcase of some of the city’s best musical talents. Diamonds are forever, but sadly this show is not! Thankfully, hungry-for-more audiences can rejoice in the return of the company’s Matilda Award-winning musical celebration of Elton John’s iconic songbook, “Your Song” for an encore season at QPAC in September.

Photos c/o – Steph Do Rozario

Lady Beatle love love love

Lady Beatle (The Little Red Company)

La Boite Theatre, Roundhouse Theatre

August 7 – 10

When The Little Red Theatre Company first bought “Lady Beatle” to La Boite, the show soon became one of my favourites of 2017. And from the moment Naomi Price bursts forth with the penultimate ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ it is clear that the tradition is set to continue with the smash hit cabaret’s return to Brisbane. Her appropriate dress of military-style jacket, retro round John Lennon mirrored glasses and fabulous boots (Costume Designer Leigh Buchanan) simultaneously sets the tone of swinging sixties London, but also the everywhereness of Liverpoolean grey. With the brilliant, virtuosic lonely hearts club band in accompaniment, we are thrown straight into the show’s journey through the Beatles’ immortal catalogue. And with reimagined and reinterpreted songs featuring sparkling original arrangements, what a ride it is set to be, both over the course of the opening night performance and for the duration of the show’s Australian Magical Mystery Tour.

If great cabaret is about taking people on a journey and giving them an experience as opposed to just singing some songs, then “Lady Beatle” is cabaret at its greatest and all you need for a wonderful night out. The songs are threaded together by a story of sorts and knowing how they will eventually unite does not diminish the show in re-experience. While the aha moment of revelation of the identity of Price’s character is lost, in its stead is an appreciation of the clever craftedness of its story’s tapestry throughout the show’s duration.

Like the collection of music we are celebrating, “Lady Beatle” is far from being one-note in its approach. Reimagining of the Fab Four’s songs bring them to new life in accompaniment of its tender and personal story. The musicians work wonderfully together to realise the show’s bold and diverse soundtrack and are also fittingly given their own times to shine. Most notably, on guitar, Jason McGregor’s solo makes ‘Got To Get You Into My Life’ complete, while, on drums, Mik Easterman belts us into an upbeat, eclectic medley of ‘Love Me Do’, ‘Revolution’ and ‘Let It Be’.

Price’s voice is also as on-point as ever, ranging from rich reverberation in ‘Eleanor Rigby’ (also featuring a stunning string arrangement by Bass Guitarist Andrew Johnson) to the gentle emotion of a stripped-back ‘With a Little Help From My Friends” and the stirring strength of a poignantly heartfelt ‘Don’t Let Me Down’.

Jason Glenwright’s impressive lighting is as kaleidoscopic as the night’s soundtrack and represents a key component of the show’s experience, from its sparking accompaniment to ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds’ to bathing the Roundhouse Theatre space in blue for later yearning. And while lighting band members in separate colours seems like such a simple idea, it works perfectly to invigorate peppy early-career numbers of the ‘Twist & Shout’ sort. Indeed, lighting is integral in emphasising the musical mood throughout the show to its ‘Here Comes The Sun’ concluding celebration.

The Little Red Theatre Company’s story of the Lady Beatle may not be the one you expect, but the show is all the better for this, especially given Price’s genuine charm as a performer. She is playful with the audience, often taking herself into the crowd, including to make a paired-back ‘Penny Lane’ an early highlight, and her energy is infectious. Even in the show’s emotional moments, in her hands, the experience still resonates with joy… because who doesn’t feel good in clap and sing-a-long to classics like ‘Yellow Submarine’ and ‘Hey Jude’.

It might be 50 years since The Beatles’ historic final rooftop concert, but with creators Adam Brunes and Naomi Price’s “Lady Beatle”, the band’s biggest chart toppers are able live on anew. As its yellow submarine-sized tour across the country is sure to be, its experience seems to be over all too soon, leaving audience members departing with smiles on their faces, warmth in their hearts and wish for a soundtrack release in order to keep relieving its joy.