THE LOST LOST CABARET is the little sister to London’s The Lost Cabaret and the child of Choo Choo Troupe. If your keen for some alternative comedy, look no further to The Forresters in Surry Hills (you’ll have to climb up 2 flights of stairs to find the space, but never fear, there’s a bar up there) on the last Friday of every month.
G&T in my hand, as always, but no front row seats as this is packed and I’m running late because I spend an hour eating Greek food beforehand – I digress (in this and in life), so I fold up my coat and use it as a booster on my seat so I can see the performance area.
Jeromaia Detto emcees as a recent Australian Talent-Factor-Idol (I think I’ve butchered that – sorry Eugeen) winner named Eugeen. Detto’s characterisation grew on me. Turns out I was dressed in theme – flamingo earrings. He did a fine job handling heckles and attempting to get the crowd to participate in some musical numbers – I say attempting because we were hopeless.
Acts for the nights included Rose Cooper, Jean-Paul Bell, Debbie Zuckerman, Jared Jekyll and more. As talented as an emcee is, the enjoyability of a variety show is always dependent on whoever fills the line up on the night
Rose Cooper kicks us off with two songs. A bit unsure during song one, but by the second half of her act, Cooper had me in stitches. Big tears in my eyes from laughing. And yes, if you were walking through Surry Hills Friday night, I was a part of the audience screaming ‘suck my tits!’ during her act. Brava.
Jared Jekyll’s act made me feel really uncomfortable…and not in the way it was supposed to. I really felt uneasy with the premise being someone chugging energy drinks, not sleeping, and meaning to skip medication in order to exacerbate a condition for our entertainment. Really gave me early 1800s sideshow vibes… we didn’t have to sell out a condition in a potentially dangerous way to confront people with it? I’ve since watched his other stuff online and he’s a funny guy, hopefully I see more of him around.
Sometimes the transitions were too clunky, not having mics set up, trying to set up cameras to film. On a smaller scale it’s a nice reminder of where we are and what we’re watching, but as soon as Detto left the stage and the act was fumbling for too long it got tedious.
But I’ve gotta get to the highlight of my night… Debbie Zukerman. I don’t know what happened. It’s the first and last thing I came back to when talking about the show. Shopping in Europe. I keep saying it, it’s in my head, it’s not going away. Zuckerman’s performance was weird, hilarious, eclectic, shiny, Visa, Mastercard, diamonds!
Also a quick shout out to Steve. Choo Choo Troupe advertised we’d be hearing ‘Steve’s groovin’ sounds’ and that’s exactly what happened.
If you only give the time of day to expensive, upscale productions, it’s easy to lose sight of the heart that shows like this bring to performance. There’s no accommodating to a subscriber base, it’s about creating art, and you never know what that’s going to result in. THE LOST LOST CABARET is a mishmash of the abnormal, musical, and comical. I’d go again.
