Photo credit: Prudence Upton
From the back rooms of Berlin to the Opium dens of Shanghai, the delightful Meow Meow has created something wonderfully and uniquely her own. Performing ‘on a jetty’ in Sydney Harbour (‘It’s not Broadway, is it?’) Meow Meow has the audience enraptured from the moment she appears. And what an entrance! (I won’t spoil it for you, but it is original and very funny).
Meow Meow’s Pandemonium may have its roots firmly in the best traditions of Weimar Cabaret and French Chanson, but this is new and funny and very sexy. She is gorgeous, she can sing, she has legs that go on forever, and she has entrancing stage presence. She has eyes that would make a drag queen jealous and a smile that could seduce the hardest heart. There is no doubt about who owns the stage, and that is a wonderful quality in any performer.
Meow Meow is the stage persona of Australian cabaret artist Melissa Madden Gray, a WAAPA graduate who also studied Fine Arts and German at Melbourne University. She has performed extensively in the UK, most recently appearing with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Next week she begins an American tour, not on Broadway but with a show in San Francisco.
Meow Meow has adopted a perfect cut-glass voice that gives her more than a touch of a naughty Joan Collins (or very naughty Joanna Lumley) infused with the spirit of Liza Minnelli’s Sally Bowles. Then she sings, and the power of Shirley Bassey is unleashed.
There are some wonderful songs from the French and German repertoire, but also more modern highlights with beautiful readings of Green Day’s Boulevard of Broken Dreams and Ms Bassey’s If You Go Away. There was also the audience participation that seems essential to any cabaret, but they were the weakest parts of this show, slowing down the otherwise perfect pace. Meow Meow works hard to create an air of chaos – pandemonium, if you will – but the precise timing is always paramount.
Meow Meow was accompanied on stage (‘What is this? It’s not a stage, it’s more of a shelf’) by musicians Ben Dawson, Dan Witton, and Alon Ilsar with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and conductor Iain Grandage. The musicians may change but Grandage travels the world with Meow Meow and their synergy is obvious. It was also refreshing to see the players of the SSO clearly relishing this style of performance. And a special mention to the lighting designer for some brilliant effects throughout the show.
Meow Meow’s Pandemonium is a real highlight of the Sydney Festival program but sadly there are two performances only.
4 ½ stars
Meow Meow’s Pandemonium
Performers: Meow Meow
Sydney Symphony Orchestra
Iain Grandage – Conductor
Ben Dawson – Piano
Dan Witton – Double Bass
Alon Ilsar – Drums
Sydney Opera House
22-23 January 2018
