Star Theatres. 22 Oct 2021
Currently available during the last two weekends of October at Star Theatres on Sir Donald Bradman Drive is the poorly publicised Back to Back Short Show Festival. It’s a celebration of local talent conveniently scheduled so that you may attend two or even three one-hour cabaret-style shows back-to-back in one evening.
In the opening number, the five men who dance energise the cabaret room in a robust display of prancing machismo while dressed in unbuttoned white shirts flying away off their bodies -beautiful like angels’ wings. This is going to be good!
And then there is the second act. Quirky. A projection introducing galactic conflict is followed by two of the men dressed like extras from a gay Ben Hur dancing a wrestling match until a kind of Nordic pupae complete with fur drops down from the fly tower and wiggles while confronted by both warriors. It’s so bad it's good fun, and an introduction to the variety these talented men of multicultural backgrounds are going to give us.
The next surprise is a young man singing a song of a lost love. He can’t go on with the lament and a voiced-over producer gives permission to pick a lady from the audience to waltz with. And he picks my wife! This is just getting better and better!
The numerous following acts are all short, surprising and inventive. The men have trained in distinctly different styles – ballet, hip hop and jazz - and the mishmash of the group choreography punctuated by some stunning tumbling and acrobatics is fresh and novel.
But wait! There’s more! A Vaudeville tap dancing duo complete with straw hats. Men dressed in fluorescent Woody Allen sperm suits (aka Everything You Wanted To Know About Sex *But Were Afraid To Ask) on wheels, a narcissistic American cowboy, and a mallet-wielding macho man. A bit of singing. What a hoot! Charlie, Kurt, Ricki-Jai, Willian, and Felipé – take a bow! Plenty here for the ladies, and the men, too.
David Grybowski
When: 22 to 31 Oct
Where: Star Theatres
Bookings: startheatres.com.au
