BWW Reviews: ADELAIDE CABARET FRINGE 2015: ADULT-ISH Is An Hilarious Look At Not Quite Growing Up

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Friday 26th June 2015

Luna Eclipse is a multi-talented performer, best known around Adelaide as a Burlesque artist, as well as one of the main swing dance teachers in town. This is her first solo show building on past performances and showing a few facets of her talent that have not had a lot of exposure.

She has reached a stage where adulthood, and all of the responsibilities that go with it, continually impinge upon her life, taking a lot of the fun out of it. She ponders that it might be time to grow up and become an adult but, can she really do it, or is Adult-ish the best that she can manage? Will she ever understand the taxation system, decipher superannuation, and learn the language spoken by her accountant? Will she fit in with an office job? These and other provocative and probably irrelevant questions are answered in this hilarious performance.

Luna Eclipse embraces stand-up comedy, sketch comedy, mime, dance, striptease/Burlesque, and some unique 'interpretive dance'. In spite of her insistence that she is not really a singer, she even sings. That is an impressive list of abilities, and all crammed into a fast paced hour of cabaret, because they are all drawn together under the one idea, and she brings the audience right into the performance.

The intimate upstairs performance venue at La Boheme was completely sold out and the audience was bursting with anticipation as the performance began, and Luna Eclipse stepped onto the stage, with a big smile for those eagerly awaiting her.

She explains how her past has been in performing arts, allowing her to avoid those annoying adult things, but perhaps it is time to get a 'real' job. It does not take us long to realise that this is an unrealistic expectation as she sits at an office desk, to the strains of a Latin Jazz version of St. James Infirmary Blues, and shows us what a dreadful waste it would be if she ever succumbed to such a fate. The stage is definitely where she belongs.

If your finances are ailing what do you do? Why, you take what you have left and head to the casino, of course. Cue Sinatra singing Luck Be a Lady Tonight and a striptease card game with a member of the audience. Poor Frank was almost drowned out by the cheering, laughter and applause.

On and on she goes, from one near miss to another, as she tries, and fails to become an adult. Nothing seems to fit, not even a fitness regime. As for marriage and motherhood, well, let's not go there, it was too funny a sketch to think about a second time. Stomach muscles were aching quite enough the first time. There were philosophical moments, too, and then the final a capella sing along on Don't Worry, Be Happy, proving that she can sing, after all, and the tasteful kazoo accompaniment by several members of the audience added a final touch of class.

Another big round of laughter, cheering, and applause carried on through a final dance routine and her eventual departure from the stage. I could not have asked for a better final performance for my Cabaret Fringe reviewing schedule. Luna Eclipse made the transition from Burlesque to solo cabaret without a moment's hesitation, and presented a coherent and very clever performance, solidly filled with just about every form of entertainment, all executed with an accustomed ease and enormous enthusiasm. She is a remarkably talented performer with a sensational stage presence, exceptional comic timing, and superb audience engagement. Watch for future performances.

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