THEATRE REVIEW: VELVET, Perth Fringe Festival – 25 January, 2017

Shane | 30 January 2017 | Reply

THEATRE REVIEW: VELVET, Perth Fringe Festival – 25 January, 2017
The Spiegeltent, Perth, Western Australia
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar

Marcia Hines – the teenage expat American who became Australia’s Queen Of Pop and ‘70s icon – completely slays Fringe Festival’s discotastic Velvet in a performance that shows she is everything she ever was, even at 63.

Her co-stars – musical director Joe Accaria, singers Kaylah Attard and Rechelle Mansour, acrobats Emma Goh, Mirko Köckenberger and Stephen Williams, ‘The Incredible Hula Boy’ Craig Reid and singer/actor Tom Oliver – set the scene superbly for this disco circus that is part coming out tale, part spectacle and grandeur and part Priscilla rave-up.

As soon as the Queen sings with majesty and power, resplendent in a glittering golden dress, the show is hers, and she delivers wonderful tracks from the Countdown era, including It’s Raining Men and You.

As if Hines’s majesty wasn’t enough, Velvet is cram-packed with aerial acrobatics, impressive balancing acts, hula madness, and plenty of near-nudity. There’s even a hint of BDSM – what would Molly think?!

Oliver performs a version of The Bee Gees’ Stayin’ Alive armed only with a ukulele – strangely Jeff Buckleyish, it works magically – before the cast finish this irresistibly enjoyable and sexy show with more fun and frolics and disco fever.