At Last, the Etta James Story gives us Vika Bull at her peak, singing in celebration of the enormously influential American performer who was revered by musicians and singers for much of the last half of the 20th century.
Multiple Grammy Award winner and nine times winner of the Soul Blues Female Artist of the Year, Etta James died in January 2012, at the age of 73. Her musical contribution to the world was acknowledged when she was inducted into both the Blues, the Rock and Roll and The Grammy Halls of Fame.
Bull’s vocals are mighty in this show; she has the range and versatility to do honour to a personal heroine, and she is in her element throughout. She also narrates parts of the production, sharing this role with musician/actor Tibor Gyapjas, who lays down his trumpet to take the mike.
At Last bills itself as a ‘narrative concert’ with a script by John Livings. Sadly, it is the script that lets the whole show down. Musically speaking, the production is unimpeachable, but tired and trite writing, with the over-use of phrases like ‘takes its toll’ and ‘drug-fuelled lifestyle’ have an anaesthetic effect on the listener. Telling the story in the past tense further distances the audience from the subject.
The narrative jumps around substantially; at one point there seems to be a leap from the Thirties to the Sixties. It also feels lazy: rather than telling Etta’s story from recordings of interviews or from her autobiography (Rage to Survive), Livings seems to have cobbled together a story comprised of equal parts well known facts and clichés. The result fails to give a sense of the individual behind James’ well known struggles with addiction, obesity and the law.
Opening night in the Athenaeum suffered from microphone problems at the start of the first act, and an echo in the first part of the second act. To their respective credits, the performers seemed unflustered. The production also suffers from introducing Vika as Etta too quickly; more of a build-up and some scene setting – perhaps through a short musical medley, for example – would have created a stronger sense of mood and anticipation.
A stronger show would tell Etta’s story in the present tense and in her own words, such as this quote by James from a Los Angeles Times interview in 1992:
‘A lot of people think the blues is depressing but that’s not the blues I’m singing. When I’m singing blues, I’m singing life. People that can’t stand to listen to the blues, they’ve got to be phonies.’
Rating: 3 ½ stars out of 5
Room 8 Pty Ltd present
At Last, The Etta James Story
John Livings – Writer
Vika Bull – Narrator and Vocalist
John McAll – Musical Director, Piano & Keyboards
Tibor Gyapjas – Narrator & Trumpet
Ben Gillespie – Trombone
Chris Bekker – Bass
John Watson – Drums
Dion Hirini – Guitar
Remco Keijzer – Woodwinds
Simon Myers – Producer & Director
Moira Bennett – Producer
Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne
19 February – 3 March
Playhouse, Sydney Opera House
30 April – 5 May
