Review: NAUGHTY: ADELAIDE CABARET FRINGE 2018 at La Boheme

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Sunday 3rd June 2018.

Pamela Shaw begins by singing Naughty, from Matilda: the musical, before launching into a series of definitions and examples of naughtiness, each illuminated in song. Accompanied by that well-known Australian musician, Daryl Wallis, at the piano, we are given a packed hour of marvellous cabaret, New York style. Not only has the Cabaret Fringe scored a winner in attracting her, she is also one of this year's two Cabaret Fringe Ambassadors, and quite rightly so.

Tim Minchin is not the only famous songwriter represented in her show, there are plenty of others, but you will also hear a few songs that you would not have heard before, songs written especially for her by composer friends. The set list is incredibly diverse, with such an enormous variety of music, each given an individual treatment, all of which makes it clear that she can really sell a song.

Shaw takes us back to her early childhood and her desire to attend ballet classes, which didn't happen, through her youth and early adulthood on the path to her highly successful career in the performing arts. If Pamela Shaw's name and face seem familiar, it might be because you saw her in the lead role as Rita LaPorta, in the film, Lucky Stiff, or one of the many other films and television programmes in which she has appeared. Her list of accomplishments is extensive. Superb cabaret performances are not the only string to her creative bow.

This is a polished performance by an artist with loads of talent and considerable experience and should be on your list for this Cabaret Fringe. Pamela Shaw is also involved in a new programme that begins this year as part of the Cabaret Fringe

"A new initiative entitled the Salon Discussion and Masterclass Series will make its debut at the Adelaide Cabaret Fringe this year and be provided free of charge to artists and eligible music and performing arts students from South Australia. The program, consisting of discussions and classes conducted at La Boheme, aims to develop artists, help build career pathways and provide valuable networking opportunities to participants."

Be sure to get tickets to her show.

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