Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Friday 1st September 2017.
Award winning performer, Amelia Ryan, is 32 weeks pregnant, and this is the inspiration for her latest production,
The Breast Is Yet To Come. The Adelaide based and internationally acclaimed cabaret favourite, Ryan, was accompanied by Mark Chamberlain on keyboard for this comical tale of mixed emotions and the effects of pregnancy on her body and her mind. With seven weeks to go, she is off to Sydney for a final performance or two before taking a break from performing for the last part of her pregnancy and the birth of her son, and treated her many Adelaide fans to one performance of this production at the tightly packed Nexus venue. Normally in cabaret format, for this performance only a few tables were set in front of the stage, and the main part of the space was filled with rows of chairs, so very large was the predominantly female audience.
As usual, her performance was a string of extremely funny songs, mostly parodies of well-known numbers, interspersed with hilarious dialogue, this time focusing on the joys, and otherwise, of being pregnant. To give herself a short break to catch her breath, the production is in two acts, which also conveniently allowed the audience to take a trip to the bar for refills. Ryan's shows go very well with a few glasses of sparkling wine.
Not all of the songs were parodies, such as her brilliantly funny reworking of
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious; the classic,
Blue Moon, fitted her monologue unchanged. A highlight of the evening, though, was an original and exquisitely beautiful song written in association with composer/lyricist, Josh Belperio, a rapidly rising star in his own right. This collaboration could, and should, be the start of something big for both of them. An entire show of their original material surely has to be a future project, and sooner rather than later.
Having mentioned him numerous times during the performance, Ryan finally brought her fiancée, Zac Tyler, onto the stage for a duet, his guitar replacing Chamberlain's piano as the accompaniment. This provided not only a satisfying conclusion to this performance, but also acts as a link to the next one, when they become a family. If you are in Sydney, be sure to catch Amelia Ryan's show when she visits. You'll be glad that you did.
