The City of Sydney Cabaret Convention 2003:
The Gala

Sydney Town Hall (May 27th through 31st - 2003)
Sydney, Australia

"Gala" is a term that has been cheapened by misuse; more often than not the event it refers to rarely lives up to expectations. Saturday night was one of those rare exceptions when the "gala" really delivered value - and more!

In my last report I told you something of the past history of these finale events. They were an excuse for a big party with a three-course dinner and entertainment afterwards. Before telling you about this remarkable Gala night, let me give you a bit of context.

In previous years, the last night of the Sydney Cabaret Convention moved from the lower Town Hall (temporarily designated as the Sydney Cabaret Club) to the very large Sydney Town Hall auditorium, a vast and ornate ceremonial space decorated in "high Victorian" splendor, more befitting as the setting for symphony concerts and fancy dress balls than the art of cabaret. Of course, many more people could come to the party, but it never had the feel of cabaret.

Even more problematic was the choice of artists for the Gala; they rarely represented cabaret. During the previous six years, we were treated to old rock-and-roll artists, moody blues singers who never looked at their audience and one or two popular lounge acts. Oh, there were some remarkable exceptions to this litany of questionable entertainment choice for the finale, such as the great Julie Wilson, our own remarkable Toni Lamond and Judi Connelli, but even then the setting of the vast spaces in the Town Hall was all wrong. This all changed for the Sydney Cabaret Convention 2003.

In another of those innovations that Ron Creager and Christopher Coogan made to the format of this year's convention, this final bash was held in the same wonderfully delineated space that had so successfully housed the Convention for the week: the Sydney Cabaret Club. This served to drive home the message that cabaret is about intimacy and style, qualities that should not be compromised. The buzz around the room at the end of the night was that this was one of the finest decisions (among many great changes) that the Convention organizers had made.

I have already discussed the Winners in my previous report. As part of the evening, the recipients of the four awards given by the judges on behalf of the City of Sydney, the sponsor of the Convention, performed a part of their winning set. Part of the thrill of being there for this moment was the fact that these young artists were "sharing the bill" with fellow professionals, all of whom have made a career in cabaret performance. As I said in my last report, this was a genuine "passing of the torch" to a new generation.

The Gala opened with performances by the Garry Scale and Chelsea Plumley, two young veterans of theater and cabaret in Australia. Garry Scale performed a variety of functions as Host throughout the week, most notably doing a warm-up number to start off each evening. For the Gala, he repeated the best of these songs, "Self-Obsessed" (Jeff Harvey) to kick off the night and introduced Chelsea Plumley's set.

During the four Showcase nights of Sydney Cabaret Convention 2003, Chelsea acted as Compere, introducing each act, performing a song at the start of the night and generally keeping the show on track. For the Gala, we had a chance to hear a much more satisfying sample of her work. Some of you in New York may have heard Chelsea perform there in 2001, around the time of the NY Cabaret Convention. She is a first-rate pianist who often accompanies herself in performances of unusual, little known songs juxtaposed with more familiar standards. On this occasion, Chelsea Plumley was also accompanied by Michael Tyack, one of Australia's finest music directors and a mainstay for many of the performers at this year's Convention. For this show, she performed Bart Howard's "In Other Words," Christine Lavin's amusing "Regarding What I Said To You," the haunting "I Never Danced With You" by Stephen Dorff and John Bettis, and concluded with John Wallowitch's witty "Dutch Ecology." All in all, a heady mix of sophisticated music to launch the main part of the show.

Following the performances by all the award-winners, Jason Langley (accompanied by Michael Tyack) took center stage for a delightful set. Jason is one of those young professionals who has made his mark here in drama, musical theater and cabaret, as well as teaching and directing. His ingenuous boy-next-door charm, in tandem with a clear high baritone voice and witty delivery make his performances a consummate joy. For the Gala, he selected a group of songs that represented a range of moods and styles. Starting with "Better" (Kleban), followed by a pungent evocation of grass-roots Australian theater-touring called "Once in a Blue Moon" (Clarke/Enright), an amazing version of Peter Allan's "Planes" interspersed with an amusing travel anecdote, followed by the outrageous "Come te gusta mi Pinga" (Alan Chapman) and ending with one of the most haunting renditions of Cole Porter's classic "I Concentrate On You" that I have heard in a long time.

And then Gery Scott came on stage. It is hard to describe her to you without sounding as if I were a little bit insane. Her performance provided me with one of those life-changing and totally defining cabaret experiences that was instantly committed to memory, along with my first exposure to Mabel Mercer, Julie Wilson, Sarah Vaughan, Sylvia Syms and a host of other greats. The impact that this woman made on me and the rest of the audience was so special that I want to digress and tell you something about her career.

Gery Scott, who is about to turn 80, has been living and working in Australia since 1980, performing and teaching young singers at the Canberra School of Music as the head of the course in contemporary singing. However, her performing career has spanned more than sixty years and ranged over twenty-six countries. Her first recording, STORMY WEATHER, dates from 1941, after which she went on to work with various BBC bands in London. In the 1950's Gery toured Europe performing with Woody Herman, Bud Shank, Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan. Gery Scott was the first Western jazz and cabaret singer to tour the then Soviet Union, selling millions of records there in 1961, all capped off by a recital for the launch of Sputnik I. After returning to England for a recording session with Parlophone under Beatles manager George Martin, Gery Scott moved to Hong Kong and opened her own recording company, Orbit Records in 1962. In 1967, she was appointed entertainment director for the Hilton Hotel Far East chain. 1970 saw another landmark with the opening of the famous Scotts of Singapore. Gery Scott is the recipient of two Canberra Critics Circle Awards for services to cabaret. I suggest you try to contact the CD Collector here in Sydney (http://www.cdcollector.com.au/) to get a sample of the work from her as preserved on her 1998 CD release, A LOT OF LIVIN'.

For her set at the Sydney Cabaret Convention, Gery Scott opened with a swinging version of "I Get A Kick Out of You" (Porter), segued seamlessly to a heart-wrenching performance of Peter Allan's "Don't Cry Out Loud" and lifted the mood with a snappy "When In Rome" (Coleman/Leigh). At this point, this woman could have taken her audience anywhere she chose, moving so effortlessly and elegantly from joy to sadness. For her next number, Gery chose one of the great cabaret ballads, "Something Cool" (Barnes). Ever since I first heard June Christy's recording I have longed to hear a live performance of this classic that caught the pathos and understated pain of this song; Gery Scott gave me the performance of my dreams and more as she held the entire audience in the palm of her hand. It does not get much better than this! In another change of pace she finished the set with a deliciously dry talked/sung rendition of Coward's "Uncle Harry" and received a standing ovation. In response, Gery Scott encored with Sondheim's "Send In The Clowns" in a performance that made me - and everyone else within earshot - forget every other rendition of this remarkable ballad they had ever heard. Once again the audience was on its feet. Of course, Gery's backing supported her magic. On this occasion she worked with a trio consisting of her superb accompanist Tony Magee, along with Scott Dodd on bass and Nick McBride on drums. For me, Gery Scott's set represented that rare moment in cabaret when the singer and her song are indistinguishable. This sort of alchemy comes only after many years; to witness it is to be blessed.

Dale Burridge, another great veteran of Australian musical theater and cabaret had the unenviable job of following Gery Scott and closing the evening's entertainment. Performing with Vanessa Scammell, he performed "Once In a Lifetime" (Bricusse/Newley), followed by a beautiful version of "Ballad of the Sad Young Men" (Wolf/Landesman) and concluded with David Friedman's eloquent "We Can Be Kind." All in all, another great set in an evening of many fine moments. To bring the entire Sydney Cabaret Convention 2003 to a rousing conclusion, all the performers in the room who could fit on the tiny stage came on to lead the audience in a boisterous version of Berlin's "There's No Business Like Show Business."

I had intended to tell you about some of the other fine professionals who performed during the second half of each of the four Showcase nights, but I will save that for my next report which will also include some comments about the young performers whose work was heard on those occasions.

David M Schwartz

Reports of the 2003 Sydney Cabaret Convention

Reports of the 2002 Sydney Cabaret Convention

Reports of the 2001 Sydney Cabaret Convention

Daily Reports of the 2000 Sydney Cabaret Convention

Daily Reports of the 1999 Sydney Cabaret Convention

Daily Reports on the 1998 Sydney Cabaret Convention

Back to CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE Home Page

 

 

If you would like to receive a free e-mail subscription to CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE, please e-mail cabarethotline@svhamstra.com and place the single word "SUBSCRIBE" in the subject line. Note: Your subscription will be sent to the e-mail address you subscribe from - and please include your real name along with the city where you live.

NOW YOU CAN JOIN CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE!