Soweto Gospel Choir - African Spirit

In their third Australian tour and after a sold-out season last year, the Soweto Gospel Choir returned to Adelaide’s Festival Theatre with their new offering African Spirit.

In its short but spectacular rise on the international stage, the Soweto Gospel Choir has achieved much more than other performers would in a lifetime including winning successive Grammy’s in 2007 and 2008 for Best Traditional World Music Album.

For just on two hours, twenty-six performers costumed in a dazzling kaleidoscope of colour treated the audience to a musical program that is vibrantly enthusiastic and a celebration of community.

Performing in a number of different languages including English, Xhosa, Zulu and Sotho, much of the repertoire draws on a mix of traditional and contemporary South African gospel music interspersed popular song including Bob Dylan’s I’ll Remember You and a medley of Oh Happy Day with Bob Marley's One Love.

At times, the singers are accompanied by a band comprising guitar, keyboards, bass and drums, or dance in engaging traditional forms. However, the Choir’s strength lies within its vocal blends and harmonies, accompanied only by a pair of djembes providing a tribal underscore of rhythmic pulses.

The versatility of the choir is evident, especially in act two with a highly percussive routine titled The Canteen, where cutlery, crockery and glassware become the instruments. In a celebration of the strength of the human spirit, African Spirit is an inspirational program of music and dance.

The Soweto Gospel Choir once again prove why they have become a musical tour-de-force, in turn the audience offering them a well deserved standing ovation.

Soweto Gospel Choir - African Spirit
Festival Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre
Saturday 21 June 2008. Review by Rohan Shearn
Season closed

Altar Boyz

The multi award winning and longest musical to play off Broadway in years, Altar Boyz, has had its highly anticipated Australian premiere to a very enthusiastic response at Sydney’s Seymour Centre.

The shows premise is very basic – the Altar Boyz, a five piece boy band in their final performance of their national ‘Raise the Praise’ tour. In just over ninety minutes, we bare witness to the trials and tribulations of life in a boy band, while they try to redeem the lost godless souls of the audience.

With the early proliferation of musical outfits such as Westlife and Human Nature combined with the evangelistic organizations such as Hillsong Ministries, there is much inspiration to draw upon.

While Altar Boyz has the potential to become a clichéd product of itself, director Kate Gaul has taken everything we have come to love (and hate!) of the boy band phenomenon to present a highly entertaining and fast paced production.

Gaul has assembled a dynamic young cast includes Cameron MacDonald (Matthew) Dion Bilios (Mark) Tim Maddren (Luke) Jeremy Brennan (Juan) and Andrew Koblar (Abraham), who sing and dance their way through twelve original songs penned by Garry Adler and Michael Patrick Walker.

Robert Gavin’s musical direction and leader of the four piece band offers a driving accompaniment to the highly energetic choreography by Anthony Ginandja. While some sound issues did mar the early part of the show, these did settle down as the show progressed.

While opening night audiences can be predictably enthusiastic, if you take the show for what it is - a tongue in cheek swipe at boy bands, Altar Boyz is a fun and entertaining night out. Amen!

Altar Boyz
Everest Theatre, Seymour Centre, Sydney
Wednesday 11 June 2008. Review by Rohan Shearn.
Season plays till 2 August 2008. Bookings: (02) 9351 7940

Queenie van de Zandt – Cabaret in 12 Easy Steps

Queenie Van de Zandt’s Cabaret in 12 Easy Steps is a behind the scenes look at how to develop your own cabaret show.

At times irreverent and unashamedly funny Queenie is accompanied on piano by Peter J. Casey. These two performers have come along way since their early days at the Queanbeyan School of Arts Café.

In between tributes to Andrew Lloyd Webber - thanks to early home videos, the musical repertoire included gems from Tim Minchin and Eddie Perfect. Add to that the obligatory bit of audience participation in the form of a Dutch lullaby, the only low point being the politically correct rendition of Waltzing Matilda which dragged and felt out of place with the rest of the show.

Queenie’s rendition of Defying Gravity from the musical ‘Wicked’ was the standout highlight, making one ask why isn’t this woman in the show?

At just under ninety minutes, Cabaret in 12 Easy Steps is an interesting show that could benefit from some small revisions. With that aside, Queenie van de Zandt is one of Australia’s under-rated talents, who I would like to see more of.

Queenie van de Zandt – Cabaret in 12 Easy Steps
Artspace, Adelaide Cabaret Festival
Sunday 8 June 2008. Review by Rohan Shearn
Season Closed

Amanda McBroom – Crimes of the Heart

Warm, generous and engaging, these are only some of the words that easily describe Amanda McBroom. Coming to public attention as the writer of the 1979 hit, The Rose, McBroom has carved out a career equally as a song writer and musical and dramatic theatre performer.

For 75 minutes, this extraordinary performer accompanied by the fabulous Michele Brourman, an award winning songwriter in her own right, mesmerized the audience with an eclectic program of classics, standards and original song.

In between her generous story-telling, musical treats included Porter’s I’ve Got You Under My Skin, Brel’s Carousel, Dorothy Field’s The Way You Look Tonight, and originals, Dance, Errol Flynn, The Rose and the title song, Crimes of the Heart.

Earlier in the evening McBroom was honoured by the Adelaide Cabaret Festival by presenting her with the 2008 Cabaret Crème Award for her contribution to the artform.

Amanda McBroom – Crimes of the Heart
Banquet Room, Adelaide Cabaret Festival
Friday 6 June 2008. Review by Rohan Shearn
Season Closed

Everybody Loves Rhonda

Created especially for the Adelaide Festival Centre’s 35th Birthday and the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Everybody Loves Rhonda is full of glitz, glamour and those infamous legs!

From the opening number of The Lullaby of Broadway and resplendent in a dress designed by Melbourne couturier Craig Braybrook, beaded with purple Swarovski crystals, Rhonda Burchmore treats the audience to a cavalcade of spectacular frocks and wonderful song, all backed by the Adelaide Art Orchestra under the musical direction of Ray Alldridge.

Musical highlights including Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend, a Madonna inspired Material Girl, an earthy Birth of the Blues. Each number is a chance to show off her range from the emotionally charged In My Daughter’s Eyes, through to the finale of Abba’s Dancing Queen.

Dana Jolly’s choreography adds a certain style in the bigger numbers by including four male dancers, Trevor Holland, Nick Jones, Paul Malek and Troy Savic, all appropriately dressed in formal attire.

For each costume change, special guest Kane Alexander delighted the audience with his smooth interpretations of Oasis's Wonderwall, and the swing standard Ain't That a Kick in the Head, only to join Burchmore for Frank Loesser’s Baby It's Cold Outside.

In a fitting start to the 2008 Cabaret Festival, Rhonda Burchmore once again proves why she is Australia’s leading lady of the musical stage.

Everybody Loves Rhonda
Festival Theatre, Adelaide Cabaret Festival
Saturday 7 June 2008 – 1.30pm. Review by Rohan Shearn
Season Closed