Tinsel: A Christmas Drag Cabaret and Dinner

Tonight Ash, Simone and I headed to Mission to Seafarers after work for a pre-holiday celebration by attending Tinsel: A Christmas Drag Cabaret and Dinner. The show featured performances by several drag artists, DJ Jack Hardmen on the decks, and a three-course dinner by award winning chef Jamie Donovan. The attendance at tonight's show was lower due to a few late cancellations because of the current coronavirus wave of the Omicron variant sweeping through Melbourne, but that didn't dampen people's spirits.

My favorites Dazza and Keif were the MCs for the evening and opened the show with their dance routine to the Beastie Boys' "Intergalactic." Each artist did two routines for the night, and their second one was to a medley of Lil Nas X songs. Uff the Queen brought the glamour with her lip syncs to "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend" and Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You." Miss Friby had the most interesting and humorous numbers of the night with her renditions of Amy Winehouse's "Back To Black" and The Champs "Tequila."

 

In between acts we were treated to our three-course dinner. It began with a mix of entrees including hummus, Panko crumbed mushroom arancini, and house tea-smoked salmon. The mains were a mix of foods from around the world with a slow-cooked beef brisket, tandoori chicken, polenta triangles, Mexican corn cobs, and a Middle Eastern grain salad with roast pumpkin. For dessert we had little chocolate and pecan pies and pavlova cups. Overall it was a fun evening with a variety of acts, good food, and a chance to catch up with friends before Christmas.

Midsumma Festival- Fuck Fabulous

A delayed Midsumma Festival is currently happening around Melbourne, and tonight Ash and I went to the Arts Centre Melbourne Fairfax Studio to see the queer cabaret variety show Fuck Fabulous. Hosted by Yana Alana, this "protest party" featured a range of people in the ensemble, including circus performers (Jess Love, Seth Sladen, Dale Woodbridge-Brown), performance and drag artists (Nicci Wilks, Gabi Barton, Koko Ma$$), and dancers and musicians (Glitter & Snatch, Bec Matthews). 

 

Each artist performed solo and in different group configurations alongside a live band and had multiple chances to shine throughout the evening. There were so many great moments in this show with different acts and skits that were feminist, punk, humorous, acrobatic, honest and full of rage on topics such as politics, women's rights, body inclusivity, identity, climate change and sexual assault. Both Ash and I absolutely loved it and thought it was once of the best things we've seen in a long time. Post show we left the theatre feeling empowered and ready to take on the world.

Melbourne Cabaret Festival- What's Love Got To Do With It?

The Melbourne Cabaret Festival is celebrating its 10 year anniversary this year and tonight Sean and I went to see a performance by American born and Melbourne based drag queen Nefertiti LaNegra (aka Mark Brown II) in the show What's Love Got To Do With It? at Chapel Off Chapel.

This show by the self-proclaimed Serena Williams of drag is about the complexities of love and contains vignettes about Nefertiti's experiences interspersed with songs. Accompanied by a pianist, Nefertiti sang different songs about love, ranging from a stripped back version of Amy Winehouse's "Tears Dry On Their Own" to Beyonce's "Love On Top." The hour long show was engaging and uplifting, but also quite vulnerable and honest at points as it delved into the topics of race and domestic violence.

MICF - Dazza & Keif and Hans

Tonight I ventured down to the Malthouse Theatre for my two Melbourne International Comedy Festival shows this evening. Sean joined me for the first one, which was Dazza and Keif and their show Go Viral. We saw the duo in January at So You Think You Can Drag and were looking forward to seeing them in their own show. Dazza (Keely Windred) and Keif (Danni Ray) are desperate to become YouTube famous for their mad breakdancing skills. However, a staged breakdancing battle in a Bunnings car park doesn't quite go to plan, and they not only get defeated by a girl, but also become inadvertent feminists. The show features some hilarious dance routines to classics such as Bomfunk MC's "Freestyler" and Darude's "Sandstorm." Dazza and Keif are played with some nuance, and you end up feeling real emotion for them as they go through some ups and downs in their friendship.

My second show for the evening was cabaret star Hans with Like A German. Hans (Matt Gilbertson) has done many shows at the Adelaide Fringe and even appeared on America's Got Talent in 2018 (making it to the quarterfinals). Hans talked a bit about his experience in the States, but the majority of the show was him and his band singing songs and having lots of fun with the crowd. He did a hilarious polka style mashup of Australian rock classics on the accordion, and got two guys from the crowd to change into some sequin hot pants and vests to dance and see who was the bigger Hans fan. It was a very entertaining and fun show full of fabulous costumes and music.

MICF- Celia Pacquola and Velvet

I've been to a lot of shows over the course of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and the past two evenings have been my final ones for this year. On Monday night I went to see Celia Pacquola in The Looking Glass at the Comedy Theatre. Celia is a veteran of MICF and has branched out into acting with the comedy Utopia and drama The Beautiful Lie on the ABC. However, she joked that if someone as messed up as her can have that kind of success, imagine what a person with their life together could do. Celia's show mainly covered her being a single woman, love for beer, visits to a cat cafe, and a hilarious hate read of a passage from Miranda Kerr's book "Treasure Yourself." The ending was a very funny throwback to a story from the start of the show.

Tonight I headed down to the Malthouse Theatre for the disco cabaret show Velvet. The room was pumping from the start with DJ Joe Accaria playing music to get people in the mood. The show is set in a Studio 54-esque nightclub as a young conservatively dressed man (Brendan Maclean) wanders in and is intrigued by who he encounters. The cast is a hugely talented group that includes an acrobat, aerialist, hula boy, muscle man, two female backup singers and the legendary Marcia Hines.

Each member of the cast had their own moment to shine, with hula boy Craig Reid a real stand out. Marcia Hines nailed her vocals, but my favorite moment was Brendan Maclean's touching stripped back version of "Stayin' Alive" on ukulele. By the end of the show Maclean's character has transformed and is dancing around in a sequin jumpsuit with large feather collar. Velvet is a fantastic and entertaining show that will literally have you grooving even after it is finished - it's the only show I've ever been to where the audience stuck around to dance.