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| Catherine Alcorn in 2012 |
[CABARET ~ ADELAIDE PREMIERE ~ AUS]
Space Theatre, Fri 10 Jun.
New Year’s Eve. 1939. Deep in the bosom of a Sydney speakeasy. Expectations for the future are high and our hosts Phil Scott and Catherine Alcorn are there to help us bring in the New Year with good-natured repartee, predictable puns, double entendres and a great selection of show tunes of the time.
It’s a great format that works really well. After a time apart, Phil and Catherine are very happy to be playing with each other again. Phil Scott’s hands dance deftly up and down the piano while serving up punchlines and interjections to complement Catherine’s stories. Alcorn is as vivacious as ever. She’s enjoying being back in Australia again after a tour of the US, and she serves up the expected diet of big ballads, heartfelt confessions, and tawdry humour. She belts out the big numbers with ease, and teases with quieter endings to some songs that show a more subtle side of her vocal ability.
As it always seems to be, these were also difficult times for musicians trying to make a living and we’re treated to a couple of humorous live advertisements on stage that bring back fond memories. We’re also advised about what to do if there is a police raid – the law was always hot on the trail of establishments selling illegal alcohol!
If we didn’t have retrospective knowledge about the horror that was about to be unleashed on the world in 1939 30 Something might have convinced me that 1939 was a good time to be alive – great songs, musicians who entertained, a sense of fun, eager audience interaction, and lots of dumb jokes. Just for an hour I was back there in another era that despite the bawdy nature of much the banter, felt ironically innocent.
(This review also published on The Clothesline.)
