Adelaide Fringe. Michael Griffiths. Le Cascadeur, Garden of Unearthly Delights. Feb 2014.
Make no mistake, Michael Griffiths is a quality and experienced professional performer (including Jersey Boys), and his show ‘Sweet Dreams - Songs by Annie Lennox’ is pure class and highly recommended.
Alone on stage with his Roland digital piano, Griffiths sings and performs a biographical survey of Annie Lennox’s life with particular emphasis on key events that shaped her musical journey. He ‘becomes’ Annie Lennox (without resorting to drag or any affectation) and talks in the first person about ‘his’/Lennox’s life and music.
Written by Australian writer/director Dean Bryant, the show comprises a cleverly constructed sequence of well researched anecdotes and carefully selected iconic Lennox/ Eurthymics songs that help tell the story of her life with humour and insight. Griffiths’ vocals are smooth and strong, and the result is a totally feel-good and immensely satisfying cabaret performance.
With no other musical backing apart from the keyboard, some of the numbers obviously lack the big production sounds of the original versions that were devised by Lennox’s musical and one-time life partner Dave Stewart, but it didn’t matter one jot. It allowed Griffiths’ engaging and warm personality to come through, and his ample acting skill took flight. His vocal inflexion and his piercing gaze totally draw you in.
His performance of ‘There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)’ and ‘Sweet Dreams’ were highlights, as was his enactment of Lennox’s ‘ritual’ (apparently) to purge herself and the world of any inferior lyrics she may have invented. Highly amusing.
This show leaves you with a wide smile on your face, a song in your heart, a new appreciation of Annie Lennox and the Eurythmics, and it leaves you wanting more.
Kym Clayton
When: 27 Feb to 16 Mar
Where: Garden of Unearthly Delights – Le Cascadeur
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
