Reviewed Friday 7th March 2014
That Adelaide favourite of the cabaret circuit, Carla Conlin, has a new show and
Where's My Pony?! And Other Stories Of Betrayal is a cracker. She only performed for two nights this year and, unsurprisingly, both were sold out, just like all of her previous shows, with the intimate cabaret venue and cocktail/wine bar, La Bohème, packed to capacity with highly appreciative patrons.
As a small girl of seven, Carla wanted a pony. To stop the nagging, her parents promised her one on her fifteenth birthday, if she never mentioned it again. They assumed that as she grew older she would forget about that obsession but, on her fifteenth birthday, she experienced her first betrayal, when her pony did not eventuate. Her first number finds her as this little girl, resplendent in her party dress, being coaxed onto the stage by her accompanist, shy at first, to sing about her party dress and the party, in a little-girlish voice.
This is only the start of her meanderings through the betrayals encountered in the life of a young woman, with many, of course, prominently featuring men. She refers to the three signs of a successful life: a great career, a perfect relationship, and money. She tells that most people only manage two out of three but, in spite of aiming for all three, she still has none. All of the things that you are told, that you can do or be anything that you want, are nonsense and, worst of all, the expectations gained from following the lives of the Disney Princesses are impossible to achieve in real life.
Walt Disney has to suffer, and so he does, in some hilarious rewordings of a few of the princesses' songs.
The one person who does not betray her, naturally, is her accompanist, Matthew Carey, who is in demand by every cabaret artist in town, as well as international artists who visit during the Adelaide Cabaret Festival in June each year. Carey is an experienced and highly talented cabaret accompanist, and teacher, at various times subtle, lifting, supporting, underscoring, driving, and adding enormous energy to the faster, swinging numbers.
Slipping off the red child's party dress Conlin reveals another red number underneath, but considerably more stylish, stunning, and far better suited to a cabaret diva who, among her many other talents, also works occasionally as a catwalk and photographic model in the fashion industry.
Putting unreasonable expectations for the future and great jobs aside, Conlin next considers the requirement for being in a good financial state, lamenting about the rising costs of housing, and rising debt. For the second time, as humorously as in an earlier song, the ecology and climate change is taken into consideration. So what about the perfect relationship we ask? I think, from personal experience, we all had a fair idea of what would come next.
From a rib tickling introduction, by way of the perfect man who turns out to be the complete opposite, she slips into a gentle and poignant interpretation of
I've Got You Under My Skin, that then transforms into a smoothly swinging version half way through, a nice contrast to the many comical songs in this show. The final number was a touching but humorous conversation between Conlin, singing, and Carey 'speaking' through his piano.
It was all over too soon, but there was no lack of Conlin's clever wit in her tale of woe at her lack of achievement of those three life goals. Her choice of songs and her hilarious new lyrics provided a lot of variety along with the laughter. Once again, Conlin has successfully presented a sophisticated cabaret performance that connected with every person in the audience, sending each of them away still smiling, and reliving some of the moments in their conversations.
Hopefully, Conlin will bring this show back for another outing during the Cabaret Fringe in June, so that those who were too slow in booking and missed out can have a chance to see it, and those who saw it can see it again, as they will no doubt want to do.
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