Chloe Dallimore in Cabaret with David Cashman on piano. Teatro Vivaldi dinner and show, April 4-5, 2008.
Cuisine - exciting; entertainment - dull. Go for the dinner, not for the show.
My title would be Stagestruck – The Musical. Plot consists of random name-dropping anecdotes (Patrick Swayze, Liza Minelli etc. etc. etc.), regular reminders that Chloe goes to New York, details of David’s car deodorant.
Action consists of incy-wincy spider type arm movements, with occasional whole body shimmers – sexy or funny (or superficially titillating) according to your taste. Dallimore’s voice in low register is strong for easy listening, but at big stage volume and high pitch in this intimate venue her tone loses roundness and becomes mere blast.
Dallimore’s main claim to fame is for her comic Swedish character, Ulla, in The Producers, but even her brief demonstration which concludes this show was no more than mildly funny. She began with what promised to be an interesting interpretation of All That Jazz, until it rose into blast-level volume without feeling. Too many songs had the same format, while those that avoided blast, such as My One True Friend, turned all gooey and sentimental.
The most dramatic moment was when singer and pianist lost contact and their place and had to start again. Irony stepped in with Bette Midler’s words “let me stumble, and be surprised”.
The patter was mere pitter-patter, coming over as little homilies, rather condescending to us on the receiving end – even though she praised us for being a “magical” audience at the end. Though some responded as expected to the mention of celebrities, applause was not much more than polite.
My conclusion is that Dallimore should stick to the big musical stage. She does not have the warmth and directness of communication with an audience needed for intimate cabaret, nor has she put together a dramatic narrative for her songs to give the evening a sense of drive and purpose. The result is bland, in great contrast with the atmosphere, and the cooking, at Teatro Vivaldi.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
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