Review: Take a fun journey through the 20th Century and its music with TALES OF A TIME TRAVELLING SONGSTRESS

29th September 2016, 7pm, Erskineville Town Hall

Bobbie-Jean Henning brings her one woman cabaret TALES OF A TIME TRAVELLING SONGSTRESS to Sydney Fringe. Drawing on the music that filled the 20th century the audience is taken on a journey through the decades, and a number of continents, with a fantastical story of impromptu time travel.

The premise of the work, written by Henning, is that a Kittie, a young woman born in 1912, has woken up in 2016 following a night at a party in 1941, hence the evening gown, and is ready to share her secret of randomly waking up in another place and time with the waiting audience. The improvised space of Erskineville Town Hall involves a thrust performance space allowing Henning to move around the 'stage' and visually connect with the audience and present from a variety of locations. The floor is littered with discarded sheet music and Kittie's shoes lay abandoned next to a side table whilst hand drawn images and animations provide a backdrop for the performance

Henning presents a bright, engaging performance as she shares Kittie's story. She moves lightly as she recounts memories, including a fabulously fun disco era. Part of Kittie's background is that she loves music and therefore it plays a large part of what she takes from each time and place she visits, often taking singing jobs to pay her way wherever she finds herself. Henning has blended in works by Gershwin, Sondheim, Cy Coleman, and Sia along with a hilarious Vaudeville piece and foreign language songs. Whilst passionately presented, some of the songs do lack some polish and precision and the pared back keyboard arrangements leave the vocals very exposed.

Henning has woven a variety of emotions into the story ensuring that this isn't just a happy, feel good hour of entertainment. Kittie shares poignant stories of love and loss that the unexplained condition have created, tearing her away from loves and leaving her isolated as she learns to cope with having to make new friends so often, sometimes in places where she doesn't know the language.

TALES OF A TIME TRAVELLING SONGSTRESS is an intriguing premise for a story and a wonderful way to cover a range of styles and genres in one show.

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