Green Room Award winning cabaret artist, Melissa Langton, certainly knows how to enchant a crowd. With her hour-long cabaret show, A Singer Must Die…and Other Bedtime Stories, Langton boldly ventures into dark comedy. Along with a bit of witty dialogue and amusing poetry, her engrossing performance is bound to entertain all.
Accompanied by pianist Stephen Gray, Langton shows great versatility in her performance. She opens the show with Leonard Cohen’s ‘A Singer Must Die’, a song about the struggles with artistic integrity, that she effortlessly captures. She cleverly interweaves grim songs on disillusionment and the human condition with cheeky lullabies about sweet revenge and an unforeseen romance. From gospel tunes to touching ballads, she never falters with the different moods every song brings. With every song, Langton creates evocative images and a heightened sense drama, and it quickly becomes easy to get pulled into her bleak but quirky world.
Langton possesses an impressive comic timing, which she uses to her advantage. She tells a tale with each and every song, and pulls out the punchline with a sleek wave of her hand. Most importantly, Langton’s powerful, luscious voice firmly secures her rightful place on stage. She displays tremendous gravitas with her captivating presence, and delivers songs that showcase her impeccable vocal talent.
A Singer Must Die…and Other Bedtime Stories could probably benefit from Langton interacting with the audience, but her knockout performance is highly enthralling by itself. This one-woman show is remarkably sinister, yet also utterly delightful and heart-breaking all at once. Langton is an incredibly mesmerising artist, and her love for cabaret truly shines.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
A Singer Must Die…and Other Bedtime Stories
Performed by Melissa Langton
Directed by Mark Jones
Chapel off Chapel, Melbourne
24-29 September
Melbourne Fringe Festival
www.melbournefringe.com.au
18 September – 6 October
