chicago

pop. six. squish. uh uh. cicero. lipschitz.

last weekend, john and i went to see chicago, one of broadway's best musicals! we showed up at the incredibly large burswood casino theatre not really knowing what to expect. sure, i'd seen the movie version, but in my experience, it rarely does justice to the actual musical. and now i can confidently say that it didn't.

the theatre version of chicago was awesome! even with minimal set- some chairs and good lighting- and the band stand on the main stage, you could really feel what they were doing. i suppose it just shows that good singing and acting can go a long way. the show was also surprisingly funny, which i hadn't really expected.

the australian cast was incredible. i wasn't certain about that idea at first (no offense to aussies of course) but they won me over rather quickly. they were acted and sang with north american accents (very chicago sounding, actually) which i imagine can't be easy. apparently the lead roles are quite well-known aussies but uhm, ya, i had no idea.

some interesting facts about chicago:

-it's been performed in over 10 languages
-an incredibly large amount of "famous people" have had roles in it
-it received 6 Tony awards in 1996, the year it opened
-it's grossed over 300 million on broadway alone (850 million worldwide)
-an estimated 18 million people worldwide have seen the show

and i am now one of them. i would highly recommend chicago to anyone looking for a fun night out. it's funny, the music is catchy, the costumes are nifty and all that jazz (wah wah).

but seriously, if you'd have been there, if you'd have seen it, i betcha you would have done the same!
xo

the cat empire

no, it's not my worst nightmare: an empire of cats? eek!the cat empire is actually a super cool band from melbourne that john and i went to see on friday night. well, it wasn't only them, but they were the headliners and the best act by far.

the show was being held in south perth, in a park right on the river front. there was room for picnic blankets as well as a standing-room-only section. we started our night in the picnic section, munching on some snacks whilst listening to "the beautiful girls" and then a dj set, before moving to the back of the standing room only section for "the cat empire". which is as close as i get to being in the crowd nowadays.

their music is really quite infectious, groovy, danceable music. the entire crowd was jumping and dancing around, and it didn't even bother me (because it makes sense to dance like that to this type of music, unlike when people go ballistic dancing at other shows and it just doesn't work at all). they haven't released a new album yet (coming out later this year), so the show was mostly just a "best of" type of thing, which seemed to please the crowd even more.

the night was all over by 10pm, as this venue is in a residential area, but that suited us just fine because i work on saturday mornings and we're clearly getting old.

the cat empire plays a lot of festivals around the world and are a typically festival-type band, whose music is great to listen to at any time but even better when you're seeing it live. i'd recommend that you look them up sometime!

xo

http://www.thecatempire.com/home.aspx

good morning mr gershwin

sunday night, my friends and i got dressed up and headed to a show. "good morning mr gershwin" is a dance show performed in yup, gershwin style. it drew heavily on the theme of the 1920-30's hollywood style.

the show was from the "compagnie montalvo hervieu", a french dance company and was in perth for the international arts festival. the night started with a hip-hop routine (which was incredible!) and proceeded to flow through different genres of dancing, from tap to jazz to ballet. there was also some signing and in true 1920-30's style, a bit of comic relief. the show relied heavily on a large screen on which they were airing a series of videos of the cast, often underwater and occasional (often) naked. it made sense at the time but doesn't really as i describe it now.

the show followed a "past to present" time-line and went from lighthearted "gargle singing" to a dramatic racism-exclusion choreography. apparently the choreographers are well known for their ability to showcase "real themes using a variety of styles and multi-media".

overall, the show was fantastic. good dancing, good laughs and the occasional full-frontal to tie it all together. you should check it out if it comes around.

xo