Last Kiss

There was no programme for Last Kiss. The name Moonlight Aviators is in itself sufficient to guarantee high quality entertainment, especially for those having had the chance to see their work at the Spiegeltent or at The Festival of Voices. For Last Kiss, Graeme Quinn has assembled the best singers, dancers, musicians and creatives in the state of Tasmania, and omission to attribute credit to these outstanding performers will be rectified, in part, below.

Last Kiss is a cabaret, set in a cabaret, minus the jarring Americanisms but with the added emotional engagement of the interplay of the four named characters: Max Baldock as Sidney, Mel Ransley as Rox, Mikaela Nichols as Missy and Andrew Hickman as the Club Owner.  Whilst the narrative draws on many similar arcs of doomed love (for example, Moulin Rouge) the retelling is given fresh vigour through the varied musical choices and the clever arrangement of Nic Courto.

Courto draws on jazz, blues, pop, rap and musical theatre. Songs like “Tin Pan Alley”, the blues rock of Stevie Ray Vaughan, sits well beside U2’s “Two shots of Happy”. “Shut Up” by the Black-Eyed Peas counterpoints the popular works of Elton John. Luther Allison’s blues piece, “Cherry Red Wine” and “Roxanne” (swung), are both given with great raw virtuosity by Andrew Hickman, and sit well with numbers like “St James Infirmary”, delivered with similar passion by Mikaela Nichols. Musical theatre interpolations work surprisingly well in this eclectic mix. Mel Ransley gives a poignant reinterpretation of “Pity the Child” from the Andersson/Ulvaeus musical Chess. A mashup of two numbers from Jekyll and Hyde and Martin Guerre (very clever) paves the way for other borrowings from Moulin Rouge and even South Pacific. The climax of the emotional arc comes with “Unbreakable” from the new musical SIX by Marlow and Moss. This mixture of old and new music is adept and fun.

The arrangements are brought together under the direction of Suze Quinn with a consummate jazz ensemble at her command. Comprising keyboard, percussion, reeds, trumpet and double bass, many of the band members are virtuosos in their own right and there are several impressive solos, notably from Derek Grice. Iestyn Parry, Jonathan Stone, John Keenan, Seb Pasanen and Dominic Nguyen do excellent work.

The strength of the writing, musicianship and arrangement is only matched by the quality of the performers. Max Baldock, soon off to university on the mainland, is a young man to watch. Ransley, Hickman and Nichols are outstanding and experienced performers.

Last Kiss iss a visual feast. The set, designed and built by Graeme Quinn is comprised of a classic stage with ruched velvet curtains, semicircular stairs and art deco features such as golden shell footlights. The cabaret bar is a beautiful piece of workmanship. The steamy atmosphere of the underground club is evoked with hazers and strong colour. The costumes (Kate Grieve) leave nothing to be desired. Everything that can shimmer, shimmers, everything that can sparkle, sparkles. There are plenty of sequins, fringes and corsets, bathing costumes and spats.

These are displayed to excellent advantage, as much by the wearers (who are diverse in age and size) but by the stunning choreography of Helen Kershaw. Each number has a unique style which never seems repetitive or hackneyed. Attention is clearly given to such details as the tilt of a head or the flick of a wrist. There’s the obligatory dance with ostrich feather fans. The creative use of the prop continues to be diverting under Kershaw’s direction. Individual dancers occasionally feature in star turns. The intimate space is used well.

There is everything to love about Last Kiss. It delivers all one might anticipate as far as dance styles of the jazz age but with fresh music and engaging narrative. It is only to be hoped that this short season at the Theatre Royal Studio will be reprised in the future.

Anne Blythe-Cooper