I guess the question in a tribute show like Beyond the Beehive: Amy Winehouse’s Musical Mastery is: is this interpretation, impersonation, homage or a blend of all three? Tough call when it’s Amy Winehouse.
Amy Winehouse was such an original that deciding to mount a show about her – singing her songs and some existing standards she covered in her unique style – is an ambitious undertaking.
Carol Whitfield has taken on the challenge in Beyond the Beehive: Amy Winehouse’s Musical Mastery, and there is some lovely work, especially in the ballads, like ‘Love is a Losing Game’ and ‘What is it About Men?’ The accomplished four-piece band – Musical Director Ryland Sack on keyboards, Christine Rathjens on bass guitar, Lucy Varley on saxophone and Ryan Evans on drums – are great support, though occasionally the sound balance needed to favour the singer more.
To say Winehouse was a one-off is an understatement – the beehive-topped messy-chic mane, the exaggerated eyeliner, the tattoos, the rock/goth/grunge outfits all presented someone of defiant taste and bold choices, who carried them off because her musical sensibility and grasp were so sure that the presentation was a reflection of the individual’s musicianship and artistry.
Although she nodded to the Winehouse aesthetic, Whitfield didn’t try for impersonation. She’s a singer and actor with an impressive list of performing credits, and has her own approach to the songs and information – although I wonder whether using the songs as counterpoints to the events in Winehouse’s brief, huge life, and maybe knowing Whitfield’s connection to the artist and her voice and creativity may have made it more cohesive, rather than straight biographical info in between the songs.
Whitfield’s narration highlighted the central points about Winehouse – her extraordinary deep, raw, fearlessly expressive voice; her vast improvisational skills; her song writing, music and lyrics, clearly drawn from her own experiences of clear-sighted disappointment and pain; and her ability to blend styles, the best of crossover, reminding us what we lost when she died so young.
The set began with ‘Rehab’, then we had biographical and musical info about Winehouse punctuating the show – her life and her influences, choices and impressive knowledge of the jazz, blues and popular music back catalogue (‘The Girl from Ipanema’, ‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?’), working with colleagues from impressively eclectic musical backgrounds. Such variety reflected Winehouse’s tastes and reached across most genres of popular music for the last century or so.
This reviewer wanted more of Whitfield herself, more of her own investment into the words. She seemed to be standing too far back from the biographical material in the songs. I wanted to see her readings of the work – in the Winehouse style, sure, but still more inhabited by this trained actor-singer, and perhaps an outside directorial/dramaturgical overview may have supported this.
Read: Theatre review: Werewolf, Arts Centre Melbourne
Winehouse loomed too large, in a way. Having said that, watching clips of her as I write this, her fragility and lack of self-confidence, apart from the performance, is palpable, and it would’ve been interesting to weave the two women’s personas together more. Her deep, pain-filled, instinctive musical iconoclasm is inimitable, so let’s see more of Whitfield stepping into Winehouse.
Beyond the Beehive: Amy Winehouse’s Musical Mastery
MC Showroom
Written and performed by Carol Whitfield
Band: Ryland Sack, Christine Rathjens, Lucy Varley, Ryan Evans
Beyond the Beehive: Amy Winehouse’s Musical Mastery was performed from 15-19 October 2024 as part of Melbourne Fringe Festival.
