Opening with Le Gateau Chocolat’s glam version of Nessum Dorma and following with the acrobatics & striptease of The English Gents almost indicates the range of acts in this show at the Sydney Opera House. There is an entertaining and energetic mixture of circus and vaudeville.
Most contortionists show great flexibility and improbable poses. Captain Frodo maintains a clowning, bumbling banter as he dislocates and twists his way through two tennis rackets. The crowd groaned as he performed inexplicable manoeuvres. It is funny and horrible.
Ursula Martinez combines magic and striptease. She makes a small red cloth disappear and reappear and removing her clothes makes it all a little more challenging. She later performs a very funny song, accompanying herself with flamenco style guitar, about her mother’s Spanish accent.
There are some conventional circus acts included that are skilful and enthralling. Yulia Pykhtina’s hula hoop performance, Bret Pfister’s aerial work in and around and through a ring without a safety net, and an English Gent impossibly spiraling around a lightpole, must require incredible strength and skill. Sitting in the small and beautifully lit Studio Theatre gives one a fascinating close-up view of these performances.
Gerry Connolly’s Queen Elizabeth dropped in to give her fellow Australians her amusingly disparaging views on subjects such as Italian cruise ships, Sydney’s drive-by shootings, Camilla, and Alan Jones.
The acts continue at a rapid pace and the very vocal response from the crowd indicates the audience has been well satisfied. Le Gateau Chocolat asks, : “Why lycra?” and we will probably never know but we will know we have had a good time.
LA SOIREE opened at the Studio theatre, Sydney Opera House on Wednesday 11th January and runs until Sunday, 12th February, 2012.
© Mark Pigott
21 January, 2012
Tags: SYDNEY THEATRE REVIEWS- LA SOIREE, the Studio theatre Sydney Opera House, Captian Frodo, Ursula Martinez, Yulia Pykhtina, Bret Pfister, English Gent, Gerry Connolly, La Gateau Chocolat, Mark Pigott, Prudence Upton.