★★★★
Adelaide Fringe. Le Cascadeur, Garden Of Unearthly Delights. 16 Feb 20
Here’s a Fringe show which has been a massive success for over 15 years. It rather proves the point that a good idea and some talent is pretty much all you need.
The Amazing Drumming Monkeys are (unsurprisingly) neither amazing nor monkeys, but they are Bongo and Kilko, adding a girl monkey to the mix for the first time. But they’re clever, turning a simple idea into marketing gold, making the most out of every opportunity. The kids love ‘em, especially the audience participation parts of the show, and there are many such parts.
Handing out 100 drums so everyone can drum along is part of the fun, and takes only a short time when the kids are keen… what takes longer, as it turns out, is the attempts needed for Percy the Penguin to dive into his pool to retrieve a discarded plastic bag. This is an example of a great value-add to the show – an environmental message the kids can get behind – and a good way to involved everyone in the event during the many countdowns.
A similar device (theatrically speaking) is used when it comes to getting Froggie to jump into the pool, and this takes a very great deal of time and effort, not to mention more audience participation in the form of James who is enlisted to move the pool into the correct spot.
The Amazing Drumming Monkeys is a great family-friendly show. It moves along and does not overstay its welcome in any way. Highly recommended and endorsed by the kids, aged four to nine.
Alex Wheaton
When: 16 Feb to 15 Mar
Where: Garden Of Unearthly Delights
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
★★★★★
Adelaide Fringe. The Peacock, Gluttony. 16 Feb 20
A five star review, without hesitation!
Hotel Paradiso is the sort of Fringe show everyone should see; it’s sassy and funny and clever and brilliantly put together.
It’s all based on a simple story, acted out on circus theatrics and acrobatics. The Hotel Paradiso lies on the French Riviera and has fallen upon hard times. Those left in the hotel are the owner (Madame), the concierge, the bellhop and the maid. One day they are visited by Miss Sausage (yes, that’s a running gag) and her banker, who present them with a deed of sale, then an eviction notice.
There are six in the cast, which is large by ensemble standards these days, and there’s a lot of action going on. Concentrate too much on one vignette and you’ll probably miss something on the other side of the stage. As a result this is a romp which moves quickly and easily through its paces; kids are entranced by simple gags and pratfalls (Madame turns a drunk-and-despairing scene into a fantastic hula-hoop display).
The musical accompaniment is perfectly suited, being just weird and edgy enough to work its magic. If there is one small issue to note it is that the sparse dialogue can be lost in the ambience; I’m blaming the background noise of air-conditioner and generator in the circus tent. But then again, how to close-mic such a performance ensemble, who are tumbling and turning and balancing five metres off the floor literally every minute?
Hotel Paradiso manages to give it all in a family show: juggling, trapeze, high wire, acrobatics and much more. Superb!
Alex Wheaton
When: 16 Feb to 15 Mar
Where: The Peacock, Gluttony
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
★★★1/2
Adelaide Fringe. Main Stage at Gaslight Tavern. 17 Feb 2020
Janis Joplin was hugely successful and, arguably, paved the way for female rockers who followed her because she trod the counterculture path that others were reluctant to go down first. Anthea Jewels “is” Janis Joplin and being in the audience at her tribute show surely feels like it must have been at the Monterey Pop Festival in the late 1960s, where Joplin cooked up a storm and forever thrust herself firmly and loudly into international consciousness.
Jewells and her talented six piece band (lead and bass guitars, tenor and baritone sax, drum kit, keyboards) brought Janis Joplin to life and sang and played their way through many of Joplin’s classic songs, including Piece of my Heart, Bobby McGee, Mercedes Benz, Cry Baby, Kozmic Blues, Ball and Chain, and more. Throughout Jewells bared her clear admiration for Joplin and knitted the songs together with a heart-felt spoken narrative that gave a glimpse into Joplin’s life and the essence that made her ‘tick’.
It was more than a concert – it was a celebration of a life that was tragically cut short in 1970, at the age of 27, by a heroin overdose. If she was still alive, Joplin would have just celebrated her seventy-seventh birthday and, unsurprisingly, a number of people in the audience were not much younger than that. But advancing years doesn’t stop them accepting Jewells’ invitation to join her on the dance floor and strut out some moves.
Jewells has a powerful voice with a wide range and tessitura that ideally suits Joplin’s songs. Jewells is as comfortable in the high notes as she is in the lower register, with no loss of musicality or strength across the range. Also, her band knows how to complement her voice, with the keyboard particularly emphasising the treble notes to overcome some of the acoustic problems in the small venue.
Jewells really looks the part; wearing nostalgic flared bejewelled tight-fitting trousers and psychedelic tops and hair accessories, to say nothing of the myriad bangles and baubles. She even distributes garish necklaces to audience members to wear – men and women alike – to help wind back the clock to the 60s.
This is warm, generous and celebratory concert. There should be a little bit of Janis in us all, so don’t miss this outfit when they next visit RADelaide!
One grizzle however, the show was billed in the Fringe Guide to start at 7pm, but no-one told the band who were emphatically under the impression that it started at 8pm (“We always start at 8pm!”)
Kym Clayton
When: 17 Feb
Where: Gaslight Tavern
Bookings: Closed
★★★★1/2
Adelaide Fringe. Blackbox Theatre, Noel Lothian Hall. 16 Feb 2020
The Girl Who Jumped Off The Hollywood Sign is an exceptional theatre experience. It has everything: a superlative tightly written script where not a single word is wasted; a highly skilled actor who ‘word paints’ with sublime expertise; perfect costuming; close attention to authentic hair and makeup; a setting (a large skeletal ‘H’) that, in its minimalism, establishes both context and can be used by the actor (rather than it exploiting the actor); and a lighting, sound and special effects plot that has high production values not often found in Fringe theatrical events. This is classy stuff.
The action of the story centres on Evie Edwards – played with perfection by Joanne Hartstone – who has climbed the iconic Hollywood sign on Mount Lee near Los Angeles with the intention of jumping to bring her disappointing life to an end. She is a wannabe Hollywood actress but has never been given a real chance to show what she can do. The story gives every impression that Evie’s talents are at best modest – her talents are a dime-a-dozen – but that doesn’t stop her thinking that, given the opportunity, she could make it and be the next Bette Davis or Jean Harlow or Judy Garland. In fact, Evie gives us glimpses in to the lives of these icons of the silver screen, including the tragic sides that often led to their untimely and tragic ends. It is these references that allow Hartstone to show her talents as an actor. She convincingly brings these past sirens of the screen to life as she gives us a voyeuristic glimpse into their lives.
The Girl Who Jumped Off The Hollywood Sign is a solo performance of around seventy minutes but it flies by as you become totally absorbed in Hartstone’s consummate story-telling and stagecraft.
Evie is also a singer, and a number of songs are skilfully woven into the narrative to lay bare the parasitic and brutal environment of Hollywood. Hartstone sang these with style, and her jitterbugging was classy!
The plot draws its inspiration from the true story of Peg Entwistle, a failed aspiring Hollywood actress - who did indeed climb to the top of the ‘H’ of the Hollywood sign and jump to her death in 1932.
This show is not to be missed. (There is ample parking on site, but there is a bit of a walk to the venue, so do arrive in good time.)
Kym Clayton
When: 15 to 23 Feb
Where: Blackbox Theatre, Noel Lothian Hall
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
★★★★
Adelaide Fringe Festival. The Moa at Gluttony. 15 Feb 2020
The Choir of Man is a great night out, pure and simple. To bill it as a ‘feel-good’ performance that leaves you with an aching smile on your face and restless toes in your shoes that just want to keep on tapping long after the show is over, is an understatement. It would also be dismissive to describe it as a performance chock full of iconic songs sung by a looking-good and sounding-good ensemble of nine stylish, well-dressed hip young men.
The show is all of these things, but it is so much more, so long as your heart is open to having a good time and you don’t mind being jostled around by the full house of humanity that is out for a good time with you, you’ll get it in bucket loads!
So, welcome to The Jungle, a fictitious pub that is loved by its regulars who like nothing better than to rub shoulders and bond with each other in true mateship, share stories, drink – sometimes to excess – and who love to sing. Sing? Why not! It can be the stuff of an ultimate good time. It is a true bonding experience. This is enviable masculinity. Nothing toxic here.
Upon entering the venue, the audience is invited up on stage to the bar for a free beer. Yes, free beer. No kidding. With the ticket price for the show at around $40, arguably you have already paid for a frothy, so why not. But this simple device – of breaking the so-called ‘fourth wall’ between audience and performer – has the effect of establishing the vehicle for the narrative of the show: we are ‘in’ the pub as actual customers, not voyeurs looking in from the outside.
Over the next ninety minutes The Choir of Man tunefully belt out in near perfect three (sometimes four) part harmony numerous songs starting with Welcome To The Jungle by Guns n Roses, and traversing the song lists of an eclectic range of artists including, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Adele, Queen, The Proclaimers, and Australia’s very own John Farnham. Every song is delivered with style, enthusiasm, musicality, as well as with slick choreography that oozes blokes having a wholesome good time – as opposed to appearing ‘studied’ and ‘clever’. There is also some solo stylish tapping, and every one adds to the performance at various times with their own instrument (guitar, banjo, clarinet, piano, percussion, and violin) to complement the backing track. Be under no misapprehension, these guys are genuinely talented, and you really want to hang out with them.
The show is held together by a narrative that is almost an elegy for the fading pub scene. We are told that scores of pubs are closing their doors every day, and with this there is a consequential loss in the aggregate of fellowship in our increasingly commercial and depersonalised global community. The narrative gives sense to the sequence of the songs and keeps the fourth wall well and truly down.
Again, The Choir of Man is a great wholesome night out, pure and simple. It reminds you that it is great to be alive.
Highly recommended.
Kym Clayton
When: 15 Feb to 15 Mar
Where: The Moa at Gluttony
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au