‘A Gay Escapade’: A Fabulous Musical Revue
Image: Image: Clara Harrison In A GAY ESCAPADE At Qtopia. Image: Annabelle Radford
Even if you鈥檙e not familiar with the names John Kander and Fred Ebb, you will definitely have heard their music. The duo are responsible for timeless jazz standards including 鈥淐abaret鈥�, 鈥淎ll That Jazz鈥�, 鈥淣ew York, New York鈥�, 鈥淢aybe This Time鈥�, and dozens more from the roughly 20 musicals they wrote together.听
Kander and Ebb鈥檚 musicals 鈥� among which are the perennial hits,听Cabaret听and听Chicago 鈥斕�distinguish themselves from the general repertoire in that they feature fractured, flawed, hopelessly human characters and risque subject matter; they are visceral, raw, saucy, and most of all, utterly camp.听
So what better setting for a Kander and Ebb revue than the austere loading dock of a once notorious gaol, and who better than a motley ensemble of outrageously talented queer performers? To wit:听A Gay Escapade.
Presented by Little Triangle in Qtopia鈥檚 newly created performance space, The Loading Dock,听听A Gay Escapade听is a queer and loving tribute to two musical geniuses who gave the world songs that could speak to the full gamut of emotions.听
This show is a framed around love and relationships, and the songs have been curated into vignettes featuring interchanging members of the ensemble. The vignettes tell stories of new love, old love, lost love, clumsy love, wistful love, and life in all its trash and glory. They are sad, funny, romantic, sexy.
Each number transitions smoothly into the next; the whole ensemble remain in character, sometimes interacting from the sides of the stage.听
The set is simple; a large pink heart, pierced with a multitude of arrows hands on the back wall, is the only design element. There鈥檚 an upright piano at the left and, apart from the occasional hat, cane, arrow, or musical instrument, it鈥檚 a bare, black stage. The performers are also predominently dressed in black.
Musical director and pianist, Aaron Robuck, does a brilliant job at providing the soundtrack, assisted only occasionally by a guitar, ukele, piano accordian, cymbals and a spontaneous chorus of bells (wink).听听
Now for the performers. All are incredibly talented with excellent voices, great dramatic and comic skills, and loads of charisma. Allegra Wilson acts as a kind of ring leader, and she certainly knows how to control a crowd, but the whole ensemble has equal prominence. That ensemble is: Gavin Brown, Nina Carmen, Jayden Castle, Juliette Coleman, Izzy Hanly, Clara Harrison, Sebastian Nelson.
This is, quite simply, 90 odd minutes of absolute joy. So, to paraphrase a famous songwriting duo, don鈥檛 sit alone in your room, come to this cabaret!
