Adelaide Cabaret Festival. Dunstan Playhouse. 14 Jun 2013
Following her recent highly acclaimed show Songs for Nobodies, Bernadette Robinson returns to Adelaide in concert as part of the Cabaret Festival, and what a concert it was! The Dunstan Playhouse was at maximum capacity and the diverse audience was ready for a good time. Robinson was at the top of her game, for the most part, and did not disappoint her exuberant fans.
Robinson does not just cover songs made famous by others; she becomes those singers, almost, by adopting their physical mannerisms and trademark aspects of their singing styles and tonal qualities. In some ways one might say Robinson is an impersonator, but that would be selling her short, way too short.
Robinson sang solidly for an hour and drew us into the worlds of Judy Garland, Barbara Streisand, opera diva Maria Callas, Edith Piaf, Julie Andrews, Dolly Parton, Patsy Kline, Shirley Bassey and Billy Holiday. It was an eclectic, thrilling and immensely satisfying whirlwind tour of different styles across the decades, and the audience was palpably excited by the journey.
Robinson started with Garland and almost channelled the young star with renditions of 'Singing in the Rain' and 'Over the Rainbow'. Initially her vibrato was a little tight and the sustained high notes bordering on being shrill, but settled down for an hilarious and hyper-entertaining version of 'I Could Have Danced all Night' sung in the style of Streisand followed by Callas, Parton and Bassey! This medley on a single song amply demonstrated Robinson's vocal prowess and versatility.
Her uber emotional performance of Piaf's 'Je ne regrette Rien' whipped the audience into an appreciative frenzy, and her oh-so-proper take on 'I Love the Nightlife' in the style of grande-dame Julie Andrews left them with tears of laughter rolling down their cheeks. But Robinson wasn't being disrespectful of Julie, who memorably graced our stage a few short weeks ago. If anything it was done with deep and heartfelt respect and love! It's almost as if Robinson personally knows these icons of the stage, which gives her a license to send them up!
Robinson also sang extracts from arias from grand opera, but less successfully. As good as she is, Robinson's voice and vocal skills are not a match for the technical difficulties of the Doll Song ('Chanson de Kleinzach') from Offenbach's opera The Tales of Hoffman and 'Visi d'arte' from Puccini's Tosca. But, the portrayal of the characters again delighted the audience and drew emphatic applause, especially when pianist and husband Paul Noonan leapt from the piano to 'wind her up' in the Doll Song!
Robinson's diction and phrasing is superb - one hears the ends of words - and she doesn't indulge in unnecessary vocal ornamentation which sadly seems to be the style of too many young wannabe singers who haven't cottoned on to the fact that real technique is actually important and is at the heart of the eventual success and longevity as a singer.
Bernadette Robinson will be entertaining us for years to come. She is just fabulous!
Kym Clayton
When: Closed
Where: Dunstan Playhouse
Bookings: Closed
