Reviews

As Tina herself says, “Chi si volta, e chi si gira, sempre a casa va finire.” (No matter where you go or turn, you will always end up at home). For Songs My Mother Taught Me, the stage of Her Majesty’s Theatre is turned into a lounge room of sorts; over 30 lampshades hanging from the flies with string lights, a chair and table. This lounge room however, also has a 9-piece band and two backup singers!

This musical version of the short story is a very unusual choice for an adaptation. The classical love triangle scenario is given unique treatment by Ishiguro. In a very straightforward and rather ordinary manner, the story actually confirms the enduring nature of the friendship between the three characters Emily (Gillian Cosgriff), Ray (Angus Grant), and Charlie (Chris Ryan). They meet at university and Emily and Ray share a passion for Great American Songbook music.

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.