Late Nite Variety Nite

Friday June 5, 2009

Following the sold out Variety Gala Performance, the Adelaide Cabaret Festival’s opening night festivities continued in the Piano Bar with Ali McGregor’s Late Nite Variety Nite.

The Piano Bar shares the northern end of the Festival Theatre foyer with Lyrics Lounge. Although the performers were competing somewhat with the hubbub of the cocktail reception being held in Lyrics’ VIP Lounge, the patrons that stopped to watch and listen enjoyed some special and unusual performances.

McGregor was introduced by her ‘Butler’ for the night, Paul Monaghan and entered singing Max Martin’s “Oops I Did It Again” adorned with a beaver skinned top hat.

Still battling the noise from revellers in the adjacent room, Hayden Tee enticed the audience closer to the stage with many choosing to come and sit on the unused dance floor area directly in front of the stage. Hayden, who had earlier sung “Sweet Dreams” with composer John Bucchino at the piano, sang “It’s a Fine Fine Line” from Avenue Q (Bobby Lopez & Jeff Marx).

Ali McGregor revealed an instrument I’d never seen before. Now at the top of my list-of-things-to-take-when-planning-to-be-marooned-on-a-desert-island, the Omnichord struck me as an electronic autoharp with a built in rhythm machine. After demonstrating the casio-like qualities of her in-built rhythm section, Ali proceeded to present a mash-up of "Cry Me a River" 2002 (Justin Timberlake) vs. its predecessor "Cry Me a River" 1953 (Arthur Hamilton) and a torch song rendition of Radiohead’s “Creep” (Thom Yorke). “Creep” has become a very familiar song in the Adelaide cabaret scene, recently performed in Company of Strangers by Lady Carol. It’s interesting to notice how certain songs take root and become new cabaret ‘standards’.

In the Gala earlier, Virginia Gay and Trevor Ashley had plugged their show Gentlemen Prefer Blokes singing “Two Little Girls from Little Rock” (Jule Styne & Leo Robin). In the piano bar, Virginia took command of the stage on her own singing her adaptation of “Freaky” (Casey Bennetto). Later, ‘Trashley’ talked about his time in the stage production of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, explained tranny trade for those not in the know and boasted of conquests he may or may not have had with Australian celebrities in his re-write of “I’ve Never Been to Me” (Ron Miller and Kenneth Hirsch).

Leonard Bernstein’s most enduring musical was referenced a couple of times during the night. Phil Scott as Liberace played Somewhere first in the style of Lennie himself, then as it may have been composed by other classical music greats ie Mozart and Tchiakowsky. Late nite, Paul Monaghan returned to sing “West Side Story in 45 seconds”.

Nick Christo’s show The Fabulous Frances Faye in Australia runs from June 19-20. Frances Faye was an openly bisexual American songwriter and entertainer who recorded over a dozen albums for the major labels of her day - Decca, Capitol, Verve and others. She toured extensively, making a number of trips to Australia where she performed on local tv variety shows hosted by Don Lane and Mike Walsh. Well known Australian entertainer Mark Trevorrow (Bob Downe) has noted Frances as a great source of inspiration. Nick sang two songs that were regular features of Frances’ act, “The Man I Love” (George & Ira Gershwin) and “Drunk with Love” (Frances Faye).

Adding some Variety to the Late Nite, circus performer Jess Love’s first spot involved a hammer, a nail and her nose. I can’t describe it to you, because I had to avert my eyes. I can tell you, however, that her second appearance of the night demonstrated her great skill with Hula Hoops and a costume malfunction that would put Janet Jackson to shame.

Phil Scott is a gifted pianist and a biting satirist. Having cast off the Liberace outfit he’d worn earlier in the evening, he made a guest appearance at the Late Nite Variety Night and sang a musical valentine to the country town an hour’s drive north of Adelaide. With his new arrangement “The Beer Barrel Polka (Roll Out the Barrel)” (Jaromir Vejvoda) he honoured Snowtown, where in 1999 the bodies of 8 or more people were discovered in barrels in the vault of an disused bank.

Adelaide Cabaret Festival Artistic Director David Campbell and his wife and Associate Producer Lisa took to the stage and treated the audience to a whistled duet, before Phil Scott returned to the piano to accompany David as he belted his way through “Rockabye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody” (Jean Schwartz, Sam M. Lewis and Joe Young).

Ali McGregor and her Omnichord closed the show with another soon-to-be cabaret standard, the classic song by Aussie rock gods AC/DC “You Shook Me All Night Long” (Brian Johnson).

Comments

[anonymous]

When Ali McGregor mentioned "omnichord" during Jazz Cigarette, and having missed Late Nite Gala Nite, I was intrigued by the sound of this mystery instrument. You saved me the trouble of having to google it. She said the venue was too classy for it, but now that I've read your post, I wish did play it - even for just one song!