Twisted Broadway – An Overview with Gratitude

The Amazing folks at Twisted Broadway ask us NOT to review because everyone volunteers their time and there is very limited rehearsal. I’m not sure why they are concerned….if ever anything deserved an absolute rave review, it’s this marvellous annual fundraiser – one of the nights of musical theatre I look forward to most each year.

Producers Kate Macdonald and Daniel Benge started this charity fundraiser in 2010 with a small show at Red Bennies in Chapel Street and in just a few years it has grown to be the most important fundraiser in Melbourne’s theatre world.

We all know, or should do, that the money raised goes to HIV sufferers through Oz ShowbizCares/EquityFightsAids, but the Charity extends far beyond that. There’s the gift to US, the audience, in reminding us that we’re part of the magical world of theatre and that we truly do have some of the finest performers in the world not just in Australia, but right here in Melbourne. Then there is the gift to the performers themselves…the invitation to be part of this; the question “What’s the opposite sex song you’d kill to sing but will never get the chance outside of this one night?”

The range of material was staggering, the performances Gob-smacking. The orchestra, under James Simpson, never faltered. The guest choreographers …the astonishing Michael Ralph, Yvette Lee, Romina Villafranca, Joseph O’Sullivan and Jan Di Pietro ….gave us fabulous dance routines with amazing dancers and very little rehearsal. Jason Bovaird’s lighting was stunning and we didn’t miss a set or props at all (The Production Company generously gave the use of their Nice Work If You Can Get It set…with the orchestra set in profile on a steep rake upstage). And Eddie Perfect and Kate Ceberano MC’d with élan and panache (She’s Elan, he’s Panache). Chris Parker did his usual superb job in directing, and there aren’t enough superlatives for the performers themselves, every one a star.

So what are the elements that lift this night to a standard far beyond most of the shows we see on main stages. Two things….Passion and Commitment. Each performer brought that little extra something and we are all the richer for it.

There are always going to be personal favourites, and so I’ll list mine without taking anything away from the others. Queenie Van de Zandt knocked Anthony Newley’s ‘What Kind of Fool Am I’ out of the Arts Centre and halfway down St Kilda Road (though I wish she had sung the alternate penultimate line “Why can’t I fall in love, till I don’t give a damn”) – and got a standing ovation; Troy Sussman, David Rogers-Smith and Mark Dickinson were hilarious as the three strippers from Gypsy; Nathan Pinell and the dancers nailed Jan di Pietro’s fabulous “I Got Rhythm” tap routine,  Rob Mills was “surprisingly good” (actually he just keeps getting better) with ‘Climbing Uphill’ from The Last Five Years; Michael Ralph’s routine for ‘Be Italian’, from Nine was perfection….the dancers were great, Mike Snell’s vocals spot-on and Ooooooh, those tambourines. But it was the male singers who won me totally. Tom Sharah’s “Don’t Rain On My Parade” showed what an amazing artist he is; John O’Hara is a brilliant interpreter of lyrics and he moved me with ‘Unusual Way’ (Nine); Luigi Lucente has that indefinable something which sets him apart and ‘Breathe’ – from In The Heights literally took my breath away and my eyes started pricking with tears; and then….despite chuckles when he started the song (some people consider Abba Naff….I’m not one) …the sheer artistry and superb voice of Michael Cormick reduced many of us to blubbering messes with his emotional ‘The Winner Takes it All’ (Mamma Mia). Why, oh why, don’t we more of this astonishing artist?

What a night! If this is Twisted, them may I show my age by quoting the late, GREAT Chubby Checker….Let’s Twist Again.

Coral Drouyn