Book now ! See you on Sunday at Song to Sing O
CABARET IN THE DAY
Until now, cabaret has always been associated with sophisticated nightspots in the city where food, drinks and parking are guaranteed to add another hundred dollars to your forty five dollars-and-upward priced ticket.
Mosman playwright, director and producer, Melvyn Morrow, co-author of the hit musicals SHOUT! and Dusty, has come with what he describes as first class entertainment for economy class price.
From the end of June to the start of September this winter, north shore theatre lovers are in for a feast of cabaret with a difference at Mosman Art Gallery.
And the difference? Time and cost.
Cabaret in the Day.
“What better way to spend a winter afternoon,’ says Morrow, ‘than after a nice lunch at home to walk or drive to Mosman Art Gallery where there’s lots of free parking and take in top class cabaret that’s reasonably priced?”
Morrow won national acclaim as Gilbert and Sullivan updater for The Australian Opera. The Australian even dubbed him ‘our very own W S Gilbert’.
Father of The Chaser’s Julian Morrow (‘His mother and I frequently watch him on TV and visit him in jail’) Morrow cut his satiric teeth in the sixties writing songs and sketches for Gordon Chater and Jill Perryman at Sydney’s Phillip Theatre and for the now legendary The Mavis Bramston Show.
He believes there is a large audience for quality cabaret starting mid-afternoon in winter and guaranteeing that everyone will be home by five, “with luck, for G and T.”
‘We’re presenting four original shows, three nostalgic valentines and one cheeky salute to Broadway, all with sensational stars.
On the G & S front, June 30th sees Sydney Savoy star, Christopher Hamilton, playing the original Savoy patter man, George Grossmith, in A Song To Sing O, which Morrow originally directed at the actual Savoy Theatre on London’s West End. ‘It’s the very model of a minor major musical,’ says the author-director, ‘and a feast of fabulously funny Gilbert and Sullivan songs with the added joy of half a dozen terrific Grossmith comic classics.’
On July 14, the show is Our Glad, Memories of Gladys Moncrieff, Australia’s sweetheart of song. Australian Opera star Christine Douglas is joined by the multi-talented accompanist and baritone, Glenn Amer, to recreate a 1940’s Bundles For Britain concert in which Our Glad sings all her big operetta and musical hits including Vilia, The Merry Widow Waltz, We’ll Gather Lilacs, Tea For Two, a host of others and, of course, Love Will Find A Way.
Broadway Bard (July 28th) was the toast of the 2011 Sydney Fringe Festival winning rave reviews and going on to delight packed audiences at Canberra’s Teatro Vivaldi. Its cheeky premise is that if Shakespeare were alive today, he’d be writing musicals, and so many of his famous characters suddenly find themselves belting out Broadway hits. The show stars brilliant young music theatre performer, Julian Kuo, accompanied by Australia’s hottest new musical director, Mark Chamberlain.
Says Kuo, “I’ve always been a massive fan of both Shakespeare and musicals, and in this show, I get to do both. Just how lucky can you get? As well, I just love the intimacy, interaction and unpredictability of cabaret. It keeps me and a band of Shakespearean characters on our taps as well as our toes.’
Finally in the season, on September 1st, Mr Showmanship, Glenn Amer returns in Romance! ROMANCE!, a journey through the nostalgic world of musical romance. With the fingers of Liberace and the voice of Mario Lanza, Amer plays and sings items from Bach to Bacharach, from The Warsaw Concerto to I’m In Love With Vienna and from April In Paris to September Song.
“I love songs with beautiful melodies and words which explore emotions while actually having something to say. Romance for me is a glorious journey, and I just love lashings of musically whipped cream on my theatrical chocolate cake,” says the amiable Amer. “The thing I like about cabaret is its immediacy, and especially the freedom to choose what music clearly appeals to the audience. And my request segment is one of the show’s highlights.”
One thing is for sure: Sunday afternoons this winter will be warm and welcoming at Mosman Art Gallery.
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