Reviews

Victoria Falconer is a powerhouse composer, performer, musical director, and multi-instrumentalist who has conquered cabaret scenes in Australia and the UK plus multiple Fringe circuits, larger-scale productions including Darlinghurst Theatre Company’s acclaimed production of Once the Musical and Slingsby’s The Boy Who Talked To Dogs.  She has co-created and performed in award-winning Adelaide Fringe shows Fringe Wives Club’s Glittery Clittery and Smashed: The Brunch Party, and there are many more sparkling credits to her name.

Two pen friends write to each other, beginning as teenagers and ending as mature women.  They exchange news of the trials of growing up, of falling in love, of their good and bad choices, pop music, careers, boyfriends, marriage, children, hopes, dreams, and their yearning to meet face-to-face.  Kieran Carroll’s play is based on the real letters New Zealander Tania McNaughton wrote to her friend Ute Dahlke in the DDR, and the letters Ute wrote to her.  The real Tania and Ute, the program tells us, have now been friends for forty-three years.

Yummy is a fabulous cabaret show that features a variety of seasoned drag and burlesque performers led by charismatic emcee, Valerie Hex. This is a sizzling show that is outrageously flamboyant in its costuming, dancing, and circus acts. Apart from figure hugging and revealing costuming the show also features some incredibly vertiginous high heels. Together with the loud thumping music and the unleashed sardonic humour Yummy Iconic produces a cocktail of unrelenting fun and laughter.

Southern Cross Soloists (SXS) is an Australian chamber group ensemble, established in 1995, whose concerts include an eclectic program often re-arranged to highlight solo playing while simultaneously providing suitable minimal accompaniment. This opens up more possibilities for choice, so, as in this performance, we have here opera arias, a duo, two contrasting concertos and even an arranged version of a large orchestral work.