Review: A NIGHT WITH HAYDEN TEE – UP CLOSE AND INTIMATE Shares Heartfelt Expressions Of Well Known Musical Theatre Favourites In A Combination Of Cabaret And Cosmetic

Sunday 8th December 2019, 7:30pm, Eternity Playhouse

Broadway and West End star Hayden Tee returns to Sydney for A NIGHT WITH Hayden Tee - UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL. Sharing Tee's love of music and makeup, this unscripted cabaret shares songs with a rare natural voice and personal connection.

Fresh from Auckland where he has just finished another turn as Javert in Auckland Musical Theatre and Amici Trust's production of Les Misérables, Hayden Tee returns to the city where he was talent spotted for the West End run of the same musical, then for the role of Marius. Joined by regular collaborator and pianist Nigel Ubrihien and cellist Karella Mitchell, Tee shares an evening of self-discovery as he has decided to be more open in engaging with his other passion of being a make up artist, a career he pursued before taking to the stage and does go back to between acting engagements.

Tee intersperses songs from his new album FACE TO FACE and musical theatre numbers with personal stories from his professional career and also his personal life including his recent realization that he should not have to hide what makes him happy and that if he doesn't want to fit a society definition he shouldn't have to. There is a delightful candid quality about his stories, his cheeky humor and his interactions with Ubrihien.

The standout of the evening is his singing though. He understands the importance of interpreting well known music and demonstrating a personal connection with it and ensuring that audience engage with it on a new level, beyond what they know from music in the context of shows or how a pop singer has recorded it. It is so refreshing to hear a singer confident enough in their own voice and character to refrain from the overused go to of American accents, instead presenting pieces like John Kander and Fred Ebb's So What from CABARET, I Don't Need Your Love from Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss' SIX, and Wig In A Box from John Cameron Mitchell's HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, with his own New Zealand accent. For pieces presented in character he does adopt the gruff British for Miss Trunchbull with a growling seductive purr, a role he recently performed on the West End and an American southern for 1776's Molasses to Rum. His expressions range from fun and playful to deep and emotional. He presents the most anchored in emotion There's A Fine, Fine Line with a truth that I've never heard an artist fully connect with before. His Empty Chairs At Empty Tables has a haunting tone with memories of hope transitioning to grief, anger and guilt. His rendition of Stars is thoughtful and tender as he infuses a new meaning to the work and presents it with a sensitivity as he presents an interpretation when the man being sought is not Jean Valjean but rather the side of himself that he has hidden for so long.

While this was a one night only engagement, hopefully Hayden Tee will bring the cabaret show back to Sydney so more people can enjoy his glorious voice and heartfelt interpretations. In the meantime, there is his new album.

https://www.darlinghursttheatre.com/whats-on/hayden-tee-up-close-and-intimate

https://www.haydentee.com/

Photos: Sean Sinclair @ Forespoke

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