Sunday Arts Magazine

8 May 2016

Musicals, The Song Tailors, Jane Ede, Cabaret Fest, Man of Mode

Arts, Comedy, Literature, Music, Performing Arts

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Musicals, The Song Tailors, Jane Ede, Cabaret Fest, Man of Mode

Unbelievably, Brendan didn’t have time to see movies this week! He and David saw Opera Australia’s La Bohéme which is on at the State Theatre until 28 May. For new-to-opera Brendan it was more ‘palatable’ than Madame Butterfly which he saw in 2015…his first opera. He and David discuss this and also opera in general. Both were impressed by the performances in La Bohéme. David generally loves in an opera except the stories which he lets wash over him. Brendan also saw the musical– Little Shop of Horrors–on at the Comedy Theatre until 22 May. Brendan thought it was a lot of fun. And accompanying him to see it was Sue–David’s sparring partner on Friday Drive. David thinks this musical deserves the same status as Rocky Horror. Next on the list for Brendan was CLOC Musical Theatre’s scaled down version of Wicked at The National Theatre in St Kilda– on until 21 May. Brendan had low-ish expectations of it but he absolutely loved it. He can’t recommend it enough. A great production with not a note wrong.

15.00 to 30:36–Musician and songwriter Ruth Picker and singer Rose Alexandar from The Song Tailors are here to talk about their new EP The First Five launched on 09 May. The group and EP are Ruth’s creation. Her grandfather and father played instruments and later her father was a champion ballroom dancer on whom the song Gliding is based. Ruth grew up in apartheid South Africa and wrote poetry and music as an emotional release. She learnt piano from an ex concert pianist who taught her to love music. She later became an accountant and stopped writing and playing for ages. Moved to Australia with her husband (also an accountant) and the song First Impression was for him. Rose will sing it at launch. The trigger to write music again happened in 2013 after some tragic incidents. She’d carried many songs in her head over the years with the help of James Kempster from Rock Candy Productions she was able to find the right singers to match the songs in her head. The concept of ‘the song tailors’ comes from having a tailor-made song for a person with the right singer and musicians on it. Rose was one of these singers. Sh has always sung and is now doing a Bachelor of Music at Monash Uni (Jazz and contemporary) and was honoured to be chosen by James and Ruth. Ruth hopes that Rose and other artists get opportunities from this project. Ruth will continue writing and has another launch later this year.

0:19 to 50:34–Principal Soprano Jane Ede from Opera Australia (OA) is here at Joy again to talk about La Bohéme on from 3 to 28 May at the Arts Centre, State Theatre. She got struck by the music theatre bug at school and did some productions. Her singing teacher thought her voice would be good for opera and after she saw Baz Luhrmann’s La Bohéme on TV she was hooked. Jane talks about the long journey to become an opera singer and the ‘extreme multitasking’ that is required on stage. She talks about OA and her role as the flamboyant Musetta in La Bohéme including the multitasking involved. The right combo of music, drama and a ‘real’ moving character delivers a ‘sucker-punch’ to the emotions. Jane and David discuss her role of Musetta–her star quality, power over men and compassion. Next for Jane is playing Frasquita in Carmen, understudying Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte and The Ring again later in the year. Jane talks about other operas in the season in Melbourne–a new production of Pearlfishers which opened 7 May, an Australian premiere of a Verdi rarity called Luisa Miller starring Nicole Carr who Jane considers a superstar. Within the opera world there are many stars who are very inspiring and this helps Jane and other push their boundaries. She loves modern operas.

50:41 to 1:11:33 mins–David Read is from The Melbourne Cabaret Festival 14 to 26 June — David has been in the Melbourne cabaret scene for a long time. He and his partner Neville Sice took over The Butterfly Club when it was about to close, and got it to grow and thrive. They introduced new acts and provided a supportive environment for performers. They realised there was an audience for these shows and The Butterfly Club was too small to accommodate them. Then they started The Melbourne Cabaret Festival about 7 years ago. Festivals put a spotlight on the particular artforms and develop longstanding partnerships and access to venues. David details how they dealt with the managerial challenges of the Festival. Their latest partnership is the City of Stonnington which is wonderful as it allows them to have a Festival hub around Chapel St. Also this year their new Artistic Director Mike McLeish has many new ideas, one of which is to create a fringe programming stream running alongside the Cabaret Fest, at The Butterfly Club. Also, to keep the ‘spotlight’ on in other times of the year, they have toured to the Perth Fringe World with some acts and also Australia-wide including one with Matthew Mitcham’s Twists & Turns. David previews some acts including–Yana Alana Covered, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust, Ash Flanders: Playing to Win, Sam Hooper & a Kid’s Cabaret program. David also delves into the question ‘What is Cabaret?’

1:12:08 to 1:28:11 mins–Director Dirk Hoult and performer Josh Futcher are here to talk about their show The Man of Mode: A Comedy of Bad Manners at Chapel off Chapel 18-28 May. Dirk started as an actor, studied in Qld, and moved to Melbourne 5 years ago to get into the world of Cabaret and Music Theatre. He Works at The Butterfly Club and has nearly completed his Masters in Directing for Performance at the VCA. Josh is an actor and is also from Qld. He’s been in Melbourne for 9 years where he graduated from 16^th Street Actors Studio and been on the circuit ever since. Dirk talks about why he moved more into directing and both guests talks about their experience of working as an actor which is often tough. Dirk describes their show as ‘a new look at a restoration comedy’. The play, originally by George Etheridge in 1676, has been re-imagined and revamped by Janet Dimelow and is a look at a world 300 years ago. It’s to do with people’s behaviour and the manner in which people relate to each other along with camp gestures. Also how they talk about gender and sexuality which is a reflection on our world today. The play was set just after the austere period of Cromwell, with no music, dancing or theatre. The piece is minimalist, has a play within a play with some out-of-time elements too i.e. Melbourne 1980s. The leading man is sex-driven and gossip and bitchiness is rife.

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