Adelaide Cabaret Festival. Artspace. 11 Jun 2016
Lyricist Andrew Strano cultivates a '50s, Buddy Holly look in this world-toured show that Adelaide is finally getting a look at. Looking dapper in a blue sequin sport jacket, stretch-fit pants and complementary blue socks, Strano samples the oeuvre of songs about love that he created with composer Loclan Mackenzie-Spencer. Nothing escapes their attention in this theme - incest and self-pity are right in there with the real thing - and it stays pretty complex - musically and psychologically. Except it wasn't complex in the first overly rhymed offering, with Strano groaning with cliches, like "step at a time," and "hell of a climb." All the songs are of the contemporary musical theatre variety and while each is clever in its own way, they have an overarching stylistic similarity. You would be forgiven mistaking they had been lifted out of some Broadway show. Strano's narratives linking his songs betrayed his middle class -an addiction to social media, a rant song about Tigerair, and hoping we think about Salisbury the same way he thinks about Frankston. Pianist Robyn Womersley seemed to keep her distance while providing faultless accompaniment. Loads of the material seems to come from personal experience, and a view we would feel the same.
There was a great musical intelligence evident, but the creative team's ticker didn't talk.
David Grybowski
When: 11 June
Where: Artspace, Festival Centre
Bookings: Closed
