By Cameron Woodhead
MIDSUMMA
A NIGHT AT THE MUSICALS ★★★
Le Gateau Chocolat and Jonny Woo
Arts Centre Melbourne
Until January 22
Nigerian-born diva Le Gateau Chocolat (La Soiree, La Clique) makes a welcome return to Melbourne for the annual Midsumma festival, teaming up with London-based drag artiste Jonny Woo for A Night at the Musicals.
Jonny Woo and Le Gateau Chocolat in A Night At The Musicals.Credit: Aaron Crocker
Their drag cabaret doubles as a spoof of and homage to musical theatre. And while it may not achieve the transcendence of Gateau's solo work – lack of pants notwithstanding, there's something very seat-of-the-pants about the shtick that (just barely) holds the show together – lovers of show tunes will find much to enthuse them.
Some of the best bits are duets. Gateau and Woo open with an exquisitely silly rendition of the signature tune from Phantom of the Opera (Gateau's cavernous bass assaying the role of Christine). They bring a plangent contrast to the Chess ballad I Know Him So Well. They demolish the fourth wall as the singing kitchenware in Beauty and the Beast, and finish on an upbeat selection from Grease – the audience contributing to Summer Nights in a spot of mass karaoke.
The artists have individual moments of glory. Woo invokes pretty much the entire cast of Les Miserables while lip-synching to At The End of the Day, and offers athletic tribute to Liza Minnelli's performance in Cabaret. Gateau brings out the big guns for I Dreamed A Dream and frocks up as the unlikeliest Disney princess of all time to sing Let It Go from Frozen.
Admittedly, the show has little polish and almost no musical or dramatic cohesion – a weakness the performers try to muscle out with raw presence and, less convincingly, improvisation. Still, the talent on display is unquestionable, the sense of fun and frivolity hard to resist.