Considerations of quality

A couple of months away travelling and a couple more laid up with pneumonia and I saw fewer shows in 2017 than in recent years (but still well into the double digits). Reflecting, it is clear that quality over quantity can be incredibly rewarding. And what quality there was on offer… so much so that my usual top five favourite, has been blown out to the following ten:

1. Torch Songs (Mama Alto, Brisbane Powerhouse, Wonderland Festival)
2. Lady Beatle (The Little Red Company, La Boite Theatre Company)
3. My Name is Jimi (Queensland Theatre)
4. Once in Royal David’s City (Queensland Theatre)
5. The Play that Goes Wrong (Lunchbox Theatrical Productions, QPAC)
6. Chef (Persona Inc & Atobiz Ltd, Brisbane Powerhouse, Brisbane Festival)
7. Nigel Kennedy: Vivaldi The New Four Seasons + Dedications (Nigel Kennedy, QPAC)
8. Kinky Boots (Michael Cassel in association with Cameron Mackintosh, QPAC)
9. Spectate (Counterpilot, Metro Arts)
10. Humans (Circa, QPAC)

And honourable mention to the UK’s National Theatre Stage to Screen show Yerma… Gut-wrenching, phenomenal theatre thanks to Billie Piper’s devastatingly powerful performance.

And mention also to the following highlights:

• Best performance:
  • Elaine Crombie as a hilarious house-slave in Queensland Theatre Company’s An Octoroon.
  • Merlynn Tong in her intimate and vulnerable one-woman work, Playlab’s Blue Bones
  • Cameron Hurry as badly behaved brother Valene in the darkly irreverent The Lonesome West by Troop Productions
• Best AV – Spectate (Counterpilot, Metro Arts)
• Most thought provoking –- Octoroon (Queensland Theatre, Brisbane Festival)
• Best new work – Merlyn Tong’s Blue Bones (Playlab, Brisbane Powerhouse)
• Best Reimagining – Signifying Nothing (Macbeth) (Hammond Fleet Productions, Brisbane Festival)
• Best musical – Kinky Boots (Michael Cassel in association with Cameron Mackintosh, QPAC)
• Best cabaret:
  • Torch Songs (Mama Alto, Brisbane Powerhouse, Wonderland Festival)
  • Lady Beatle (The Little Red Company, La Boite Theatre Company)
  • Song Lines (Michael Tuahine, Brisbane Powerhouse, Brisbane Cabaret Festival)
  • Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs (Alan Cumming, Brisbane Powerhouse, Brisbane Cabaret Festival)
• Best music – Nigel Kennedy: Vivaldi The New Four Seasons + Dedications (QPAC)
• Best opera – Mark Vincent Sings Mario Lanza and the Classics (Lunchbox Productions, QPAC)
• Funniest – The Play That Goes Wrong (Lunchbox Theatrical Productions, QPAC)
• Most fun – Let Them Eat Cake (Act/React, Anywhere Festival)
• Most madcap – Chef (Persona Inc & Atobiz Ltd, Brisbane Powerhouse, Brisbane Festival)
• Most immersive – Trainspotting Live (In Your Face Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse)
• Most moving – Once in Royal David’s City (Queensland Theatre)

2018 looks set to continue to showcase both the wonderful work of this state’s creatives and innovative works from both here and further afield. Festivals will continue to punctuate the cultural calendar, serving to oscillate audiences between feast and famine like a cultural bulimic… although with Brisbane Powerhouse’s Melt Festival moving to May (maybe at the same time as Anywhere Festival) it may be a shower than usual start to the year.

Captivating cabaret

Torch Songs (Mama Alto)

Brisbane Powerhouse, Turbine Studio

November 23 – 26

“Torch Songs” is not a fun drag queen lip sync show. This is evident not just from Mama Alto’s own admission but, in fact, from the moment the gender transcendent diva and jazz singer statuesquely slides on to the stage, hair clustered with gardenias, to open the cabaret show with the legendary Billie Holiday’s ‘Blues are Brewin’.

The self-confessed big Melbourne star is compelling performer with a versatile countertenor voice as she tributes vintage torch singers of the Ella Fitzgerald sort (torch songs meaning usually ballads sung by the great divas in share of their strong emotions of desire or loss).

In Della Reese’s ‘Stormy Weather’, her textured voice is stylish, seductive and full of emotion. Similarly, when she flawlessly shares a melody of Sarah Vaughan’s ‘Wild is the Wind’ inset with Roberta Flack’s ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’, it makes for a captivating experience, bringing tears to some eyes, such is pure and heartfelt honesty of its beauty. As notes are lingered lovingly for savour by songstress and audience alike, there is no denying both the lusciousness of her vocal textures and the superbness of her vocal control, whether in belting out an ending or favouring distinction and delicacy.

When we indulge her in performance of Leo Sayer’s ‘When I Need You’, we are rewarded with a sublime experience that entrances all. And a late-show share of ‘Songbird’ showcases her intuitive delivery of both lyric and melody, serving as a highlight in its musical mashup with ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’, courtesy of collaborator and Musical Directress Miss Chief’s perfect piano accompaniment. Having worked together for seven years, the duo have a natural, witty banter with each other and the audience alike, full of fun but also mutual respect. It is an appreciation that is also shown for all songs, even when ‘(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman’ becomes an audience sing-along.

“Torch Songs” is a spellbinding experience thanks to the exceptional talent of its star. This may be Mama Alto’s first solo show in Brisbane (she also appeared at 2015’s Wonderland Festival as part of the Glory Box ensemble), but you have to hope it will not be her last. Beyond her mastery of jazz standards, she sings with such dramatic power and interpretive depth that the result is an unforgettable, absolutely beguiling experience of musical magic in which to marvel.