Ben Apfelbaum

MISERY LOVES CABARET : TORCH SONGS LIGHT UP BONDI

 

In a tongue in cheek, campy performance Shannen Sarstedt creates a persona who tries to be the archetypal tragic torch singer like Edith Piaf and Judy Garland.

When we first meet the performer she is enigmatically cutting up onions, wearing too much makeup, (face glitter, kohl under the eyes), when she suddenly leaps up, goes to the microphone and whilst caressing it, commences her highly amusing patter, interspersed with the songs that are the spine of the cabaret.

She is wearing a dark blue chiffon like dress with caped arms, gold glitter shoes and her faux fur coat slung over her shoulder. She does look like the torch singer she wishes to emulate!

The story goes that – in order to get a job at a bar she conjures up a sad tale of an orphan whose mother abandoned her and whose father is gunned down. She is hired but must sing sad songs rather than happy ones as a happy customer will only come once whilst a sad patron will return again and again. To her consternation the orphan girl has never been in love or had her heart broken, prerequisites which would qualify her to be a genuine torch singer.

She goes on a quest to find a man with whom she can fall passionately in love and who will break her heart when he inevitably casts her aside. To her consternation she finds a man with whom in fact she does fall passionately in love with but in fact despite her best efforts to push him away he draws closer to her. In a flashbulb moment she realises that you don’t need to be miserable to sing torch songs.

Highlights included lovely versions of  The Turtles Happy Together, Charlie Chaplin’s Smile, Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game, Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart and Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now.

Shannen Sarstedt has the virtuosity to sing torch songs, but mischievously plays with our expectations in selecting mainly late 20th century songs, some of which were actually happy.  

Her appealing, very playful performance was enhanced by the warm, understated and sympathetic playing of pianist Antonio Fernandez.

With this cheeky persona and a soaring, sonorous, bell like voice, Shannen Sarstedt creates a winning formula of humour and enchantment. The warmth of her performance banished the chill of a Bondi night in the middle of winter.  

MISERY LOVES CABARET played at the Parlour Tent, Bondi Pavilion on Tuesday 17th and Wednesday 18th July, 2018. 

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.