Follow Spot

There’s very little new under the sun, but Chelsea Plumley may just have discovered a new entertainment hybrid – a cross between a TV chat show and a cabaret. In fact, the whole show was filmed, so don’t be surprised if it pops up on late night TV. It would be a very welcome addition to the local TV scene.

The format is simple, Chelsea turns the follow spot onto three different artists every night and catches them off guard.

The musical numbers are rehearsed, but everything else is improvised, and on opening night three very special guests proved they are just as entertaining being themselves as they are playing a role. With a set consisting of a blow up armchair for Chelsea and three tall, standing on end, and very phallic bean bags for the guests, it didn’t take long for the laughs to start coming, and they really didn’t stop for an hour and 20 minutes except for a song from each guest. The bean bags refused to co-operate and Rhonda Burchmore splay-legged in paisley pants on the floor was an endearing if hardly glamorous sight. John Deidrich took a while to unwind - as long as it took for his phallic bean-bag to fall sideways and knock Rhonda off hers. Anne Wood managed to look almost comfortable on hers.

The three guests answered questions openly and honestly and we got to see elements of their personalities we’d never been exposed to before. We learned that Anne values loyalty over everything else, that John doesn’t suffer fools - gladly or otherwise - and that Rhonda was as tall as a 5 year old at 2 and nagged her mother to take her to dancing classes. Chelsea was quick to interject with appropriate quips and, while Rhonda sang a song dedicated to Lexi, “In My Daughter’s Eyes”, John gave us a beautiful rendition of the little known “One More Walk Around The Garden”, and Anne gave us an hilarious comedy number about not eating dogs in Taiwan!

There were charades, a general knowledge quiz, and a closing number from Chelsea All in all terrific entertainment that we could all benefit from seeing more of.

Coral Drouyn