With an opening only fit for the crème-de-la-crème of cabaret divas, Spanky as alter-ego Candice McQueen, (a kind of Courtney Love manifestation) makes her stunning return to the Melbourne Cabaret Festival.
The multi-award winning comedy show musically navigates through the life story of McQueen, a thousand year old ‘Mr-Sister’ with an unflappable ‘nastiness’ that she has weathered through the decades witnessing the crucifixion of Christ, the Lion King style birth of herself and an ill-fated relationship with the late River Phoenix.
An appropriated version of Don McLean’s American Pie operates as the narrative posts, illustrating the rise and demise of McQueen. The soundtrack suits the uber American-centric premise of the production and the changing of the lyrics to be ‘bye-bye vegetarian guy’ to represent the death of River Phoenix is humorous albeit obvious and unoriginal.
The show excels when the focus remains on a consistent theme. The influence of the 90s in building McQueen’s character is the only constant, with welcome reappearances of All Saints and Alanis Morissette’s most popular songs. Any attendee identified as not singing along with Morissette’s You Oughta Know is in the vast minority.
The mix up of music, at times switching from generation to generation, muddles what the production should be geared towards: the cringe-worthy decade of the 90s. By beginning in songs from the noughties, despite McQueen’s original character being largely a product of the previous decade, several inconsistencies emerge which means the show at times lacks a real sense of continuity from act to act.
Spanky’s performance as McQueen is naughty, wicked and trashy. While McQueen’s voice, attitude and general demeanor becomes grating overtime, Spanky’s impeccable ability for impersonation is a refreshing departure from the vain at times vapid ‘Mr-Sister’ persona. The impersonation of McQueen’s supposed 90s boyfriend Phoenix is faultless, as well as a strange but brilliant rendition of Marge Simpson from The Simpsons singing ‘Closer’ by Nine Inch Nails.
McQueen backing vocalist Robert Tripolino’s acoustic rendition of ‘Revolver’ by Madonna is by far the highlight of the cabaret. The slowed down duet version of the largely underrated song is beautifully soft and sensual and perfectly demonstrated the superb vocal abilities of Spanky and Tripolino.
The humour was hit-and-miss throughout, while side-splittingly funny in the first half, the show lost momentum and punch in the second half. While Spanky’s ability in storytelling, visual creation and diffusion between time, place and people is brilliantly executed, the shows lacklustre climax is unfortunately more fizzle then finish.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Spanky in Candice McQueen: Nasty!
Writer & star: Spanky
Co-direction: Spanky and Jonah Klein
Guitar & vocals: Robert Tripolino
The Chapel, Chapel Off Chapel, Prahran
Melbourne Cabaret Festival
www.melbournecabaret.com
26- 28 June
