Directed by Cate
Clelland
Musical Direction by
Nicholas Griffin
Free Rain Theatre
The Courtyard Studio,
Canberra Theatre Centre to 7 November
Review by Len Power 7
November 2015
The second in Free Rain’s cabaret evenings, ‘A Taste Of Tinseltown’
focussed on the songs from the movies.
Interestingly, many of the songs chosen were written for Broadway shows before
being used in the movies. Two members of
the cast of the previous cabaret, ‘Buzzin’ Broadway’ – Louiza Blomfield and
Kirrah Amosa – joined the new cast of this show to present a good mix of well-known
and enjoyable songs.
Fraser Findlay sang a well-controlled and pleasing ‘Maria’
from ‘West Side Story’ and also ‘Unchained Melody’, which was used to great
effect in the movie, ‘Ghost’. He and Tim
Sekuless then made ANan amusing comic team with ‘Make ‘Em Laugh’ from ‘Singin’ in
the Rain’.
Tim Sekuless sang ‘Kansas City’ from ‘Oklahoma!’ with great
energy and excitement, nicely capturing the awe experienced by an innocent
country lad on his first visit to a big city.
Kirrah Amosa was impressive with the heart-felt ‘Don’t Forget Me’ from the
TV show ‘Smash’ and Lexi Sekuless was sexy and fun with ‘File My Claim’, the
Marilyn Monroe song from the gold rush movie ‘River Of No Return’.
New to Canberra, Amy Lapthorne gave us a nicely sung ‘Colours
of the Wind’ from the Disney movie, ‘Pocahontas’ and Colin Milner was in fine
voice with ‘Some Enchanted Evening’ from “South Pacific’. He and Louiza Blomfield gave an appealing
performance of the romantic duet, ‘You’re Just In Love’, from ‘Call Me Madam’.
With Henry Mancini’s haunting ‘Moon River’ and Stephen Sondheim’s
‘I’m Still Here’, Louiza Blomfield had the opportunity to display the wide range
of her singing and acting skills. The
entire cast was impressive with their ensemble singing of ‘I Can’t Help Falling
In Love With You’ from the movie, ‘Blue Hawaii’.
Musical director, Nicholas Griffin again gave fine accompaniment
on keyboard. The bizarre modern arrangement
of Harold Arlen’s ‘Over The Rainbow’ was the one jarring note in a set of
otherwise nicely chosen songs. Kirrah Amosa
gamely tried to make something of it, but the arrangement (not by Nicholas
Griffin) was all style and no substance.
Once again, the various costumes were well-chosen. Cate Clelland has directed the show well,
keeping it moving along at a good pace with simple but interesting narrations
about the songs.
Free Rain are on a winner with these evenings of themed cabarets. I’ll look forward to future editions.
Len Power’s reviews
can also be heard on Artsound FM 92.7’s ‘Artcetera’ program from 9.00am on
Saturdays.
