Written, directed, and performed by Amy Bodossian. Open Studio, Northcote. 23rd Sept – 09th Oct.
The media release for Phlegm Fatal playing at Open Studio in Northcote for Melbourne Fringe Festival, said great things. Amy Bodossian is entrancing and wild and an artist of the spoken word. “Like a mortician I can make the dead look pleasant, presentable. I am an artist” The media release gave certain expectations that were completely blown out of the water. For one thing, Bodossian barely mentions death; her show is more about life, and love. ‘Phlegm Fatal’ a blend of original poetry and song, doesn’t get off to a swinging start. Her quirky personality and saucy friendliness draws the audience in and prepares them for a night of shocking jokes and naughty anecdotes. However her first poem is about the beauty of the moon. Not bad as far as poems go, but it drops a little bit like a cold cup of tea on the palate after the pizzazz of the opening song Come on to my house in which Bodossian threw lollies to the audience. Ordinarily any deviation from the song-patter-song formula of cabaret is refreshing, however after three poems in a row, it was more than time for a song. This is not to say that the poems weren’t beautiful or enjoyable. Bodassian has a wonderful grasp of language, and a very humorous system of delivery. The poetry is spoken in a very 60’s beatnik style over music, played on guitar, piano and clarinet, by the very talented ‘Paul’. The name of the show is a little deceptive, there are not that many references to bodily fluids except for the occasional, not so discrete nose wipe. While the show got off to a slow start, it picked up pace from the moment Bodossian donned washing up gloves and sung Domestic Bliss. She was physical, ironic and funny. All of a sudden the audience experienced the true potential of her bluesy voice, she swings from a gutsy high belt, floating melodies to a deep earthy croon on those low notes that even some men would not be able to reach. From that point on, Bodossian actually was entrancing. The poem about childhood, would speak straight to that inner child that resides in the soul of any person who grew up in Australia. It left you with tingling toes and warm memories. The original song about her childhood toy Clowney was utterly beautiful and heart wrenching at the same time. The highlight of the whole show. She announced the last poem of the show, of which the closing line was “To leave the stage” and it was the perfect ending to this show, not that the audience were sick of her, but that it was entirely appropriate. However two songs followed and the audience was left with a rendition of Kylie Minogue’s Love Me. A quirky show, filled with love and cheekiness, great for anyone who likes a bit of spoken word.
Star rating: 2.5 out of 5
Venue: Small and cute, on the plus side they serve sangria and crepes. On the very very low side, the ‘stage’ is right next to the entrance, and the band due to perform after Bodassian kept on walking in, unapologetically mid song, and rudely dumping their instruments right in front of the stage. This might be acceptable for a gig at a pub, but not during a one woman cabaret. There should have at least been a sign on the door saying “Wait until applause”
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
The cabaret stage, a new frontier for manly men
Statement for Siemens Award Melbourne Press Club (Adele Scott)
The piece The cabaret stage, a new frontier for manly men, written in June 2010, was originally posted on my blog www.breakingevenrevues.blogspot.com and then published on the band’s own website, as well as quotes from the piece being used for promotional material. I discovered this Melbourne a Capella group, Suade, through my fiancé, who went to uni with one of the band members. Suade were approached by the owners of the Butterfly Club to perform in the Inaugural Melbourne Cabaret Festival, to be held in July 2010. Having a close association with Neville Sice and David Read, Suade asked me to write a review of their preview show, in order to promote the show for the cabaret festival some more. As the band has been a finalist in the X-Factor amongst winning several other major singing and music awards, this review is particularly newsworthy for the Melbourne arts and cultural industry. Suade have made the transition from concert to cabaret and are set to make it in the performance and comedy industry of Melbourne. I personally find it very disappointing that more cultural articles do not make front page news (This does not include tabloid style celebrity gossip), but are relegated to the back pages of newspapers, as András Szántó (2009) says, “news bosses rarely care about ‘soft’ arts stories. They are into ‘hard’ reporting on wars and money and sport—boys’ stuff”. People complain that Australia is a cultural wasteland and many of our talented artists move to other countries, robbing us of the potential for developing our own cultural industry. It is a great passion of mine. I would say even a goal; to make cultural arts journalism more prominent in our sport obsessed Melbourne. It’s ok to love a football team (I do); however it is not ok to let football and sport news and gossip to dominate such an important part of our culture, in Melbourne. As a journalist I want to report on, our wonderful arts scene in Melbourne.
The cabaret stage, a new frontier for manly men (by Adele Scott)
They sauntered in. All rumpled casual clothes, unshaven faces and boisterous manner. It wasn’t until Suade had shuffled between the narrow aisle of the Butterfly Club and stepped onto the stage, that the audience realised this rowdy bunch of men weren’t audience members making their way into the tiny fifty seat theatre, but the a Capella singing sensation Saude. All male, all singing and no dancing. A white lie, the boys began the evening with The Longest Time (A crowd favourite) and a bit of ‘man-choreography’.
The show was to be a debut of Suade as a cabaret. While the Melbourne based boys have been fronting up to competitions and singing festivals for nearly 10 years, they were all cabaret virgins. The group even admitting to researching the definition of what cabaret actually is (A slippery concept to grasp even for the most veteran cabaret goer). The transition from concert to cabaret however was a lot like their beards, rough around the edges, but perfectly appropriate. In between originals like Can’t we just be friends a song about taking one for the team, there are also some great covers in the mix. A medley from Greece was aptly performed, and the idea of Sandy being played by a man, seemed surprisingly right.
The stand out moments in the show was when the boys deviated from the script and joked amongst themselves and the audience. Even though it took the members of Suade 10 minutes or so to warm up, with their natural showman antics, comic charm, and cheap testicle jokes (funny non-the-less) they soon had the crown eating from the palm of their hands. Despite clunky segues and obvious differences between scripted and unscripted dialogue, the larrikin spirit and manly boisterousness contrasted beautifully with angelic harmonies and impressive musicianship. In the ‘intimate’ 50 seat theatre of the Butterfly Club, Melbourne’s leading cabaret venue, the relationship between performers and audience could not be more tangible. You could cut the air with a knife, and this isn’t just the atmosphere, but the humidity created by bodies and belly laughs. This is all a part of the charm of the Butterfly Club, which has this year, celebrated its 11th Birthday from its home in South Melbourne. The owner’s David Read and Neville Sice, have successfully run the Butterfly Club as an independent arts venue for more than six years, without government support. The run of this show Blokes Don’t Sing was a preview show, in preparation for this year’s inaugural Melbourne Cabaret Festival, produced and directed by the Butterfly Club owners.
Do you ever get that feeling, as you are watching or listening to a great performer, when your heartbeat increases and the bottom of your stomach falls away? The feeling that usually accompanies a Tim Minchin song or a great ballad at a rock concert. Well Suade can make you feel that way for the whole hour and 15 minutes they were on stage. Apart from my aching smile and laugh muscles, the hardest part about this show was picking a stand out moment. Perhaps it was the Korean Boy Band tribute in reverse karaoke or the song where one man donned a giant testicle suit for the entire duration. Maybe it was the poignancy and joy in the song about one band member’s son. For a first time cabaret, an audience has never applauded so long or called so loudly for an encore. The blokes from Suade graced us with one last song, an upbeat cover of All Night Long and as the boys shuffled, minced and sidled back through the narrow aisle and steamy room to the exit, I have no doubt that every single person in the audience were wishing that the show could have gone all night long.
Suade will be returning to the cabaret stage at the Inaugural Melbourne Cabaret Festival in July this year. For more information visit www.melbournecabaret.com
Rating: 4 out of 5
Venue: There are not many venues in the world that would allow a performer to pelvic thrust into the owner’s face, who happens to be sitting in the front row...loving it.
The piece The cabaret stage, a new frontier for manly men, written in June 2010, was originally posted on my blog www.breakingevenrevues.blogspot.com and then published on the band’s own website, as well as quotes from the piece being used for promotional material. I discovered this Melbourne a Capella group, Suade, through my fiancé, who went to uni with one of the band members. Suade were approached by the owners of the Butterfly Club to perform in the Inaugural Melbourne Cabaret Festival, to be held in July 2010. Having a close association with Neville Sice and David Read, Suade asked me to write a review of their preview show, in order to promote the show for the cabaret festival some more. As the band has been a finalist in the X-Factor amongst winning several other major singing and music awards, this review is particularly newsworthy for the Melbourne arts and cultural industry. Suade have made the transition from concert to cabaret and are set to make it in the performance and comedy industry of Melbourne. I personally find it very disappointing that more cultural articles do not make front page news (This does not include tabloid style celebrity gossip), but are relegated to the back pages of newspapers, as András Szántó (2009) says, “news bosses rarely care about ‘soft’ arts stories. They are into ‘hard’ reporting on wars and money and sport—boys’ stuff”. People complain that Australia is a cultural wasteland and many of our talented artists move to other countries, robbing us of the potential for developing our own cultural industry. It is a great passion of mine. I would say even a goal; to make cultural arts journalism more prominent in our sport obsessed Melbourne. It’s ok to love a football team (I do); however it is not ok to let football and sport news and gossip to dominate such an important part of our culture, in Melbourne. As a journalist I want to report on, our wonderful arts scene in Melbourne.
The cabaret stage, a new frontier for manly men (by Adele Scott)
They sauntered in. All rumpled casual clothes, unshaven faces and boisterous manner. It wasn’t until Suade had shuffled between the narrow aisle of the Butterfly Club and stepped onto the stage, that the audience realised this rowdy bunch of men weren’t audience members making their way into the tiny fifty seat theatre, but the a Capella singing sensation Saude. All male, all singing and no dancing. A white lie, the boys began the evening with The Longest Time (A crowd favourite) and a bit of ‘man-choreography’.
The show was to be a debut of Suade as a cabaret. While the Melbourne based boys have been fronting up to competitions and singing festivals for nearly 10 years, they were all cabaret virgins. The group even admitting to researching the definition of what cabaret actually is (A slippery concept to grasp even for the most veteran cabaret goer). The transition from concert to cabaret however was a lot like their beards, rough around the edges, but perfectly appropriate. In between originals like Can’t we just be friends a song about taking one for the team, there are also some great covers in the mix. A medley from Greece was aptly performed, and the idea of Sandy being played by a man, seemed surprisingly right.
The stand out moments in the show was when the boys deviated from the script and joked amongst themselves and the audience. Even though it took the members of Suade 10 minutes or so to warm up, with their natural showman antics, comic charm, and cheap testicle jokes (funny non-the-less) they soon had the crown eating from the palm of their hands. Despite clunky segues and obvious differences between scripted and unscripted dialogue, the larrikin spirit and manly boisterousness contrasted beautifully with angelic harmonies and impressive musicianship. In the ‘intimate’ 50 seat theatre of the Butterfly Club, Melbourne’s leading cabaret venue, the relationship between performers and audience could not be more tangible. You could cut the air with a knife, and this isn’t just the atmosphere, but the humidity created by bodies and belly laughs. This is all a part of the charm of the Butterfly Club, which has this year, celebrated its 11th Birthday from its home in South Melbourne. The owner’s David Read and Neville Sice, have successfully run the Butterfly Club as an independent arts venue for more than six years, without government support. The run of this show Blokes Don’t Sing was a preview show, in preparation for this year’s inaugural Melbourne Cabaret Festival, produced and directed by the Butterfly Club owners.
Do you ever get that feeling, as you are watching or listening to a great performer, when your heartbeat increases and the bottom of your stomach falls away? The feeling that usually accompanies a Tim Minchin song or a great ballad at a rock concert. Well Suade can make you feel that way for the whole hour and 15 minutes they were on stage. Apart from my aching smile and laugh muscles, the hardest part about this show was picking a stand out moment. Perhaps it was the Korean Boy Band tribute in reverse karaoke or the song where one man donned a giant testicle suit for the entire duration. Maybe it was the poignancy and joy in the song about one band member’s son. For a first time cabaret, an audience has never applauded so long or called so loudly for an encore. The blokes from Suade graced us with one last song, an upbeat cover of All Night Long and as the boys shuffled, minced and sidled back through the narrow aisle and steamy room to the exit, I have no doubt that every single person in the audience were wishing that the show could have gone all night long.
Suade will be returning to the cabaret stage at the Inaugural Melbourne Cabaret Festival in July this year. For more information visit www.melbournecabaret.com
Rating: 4 out of 5
Venue: There are not many venues in the world that would allow a performer to pelvic thrust into the owner’s face, who happens to be sitting in the front row...loving it.
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