MIKELANGELO AND THE BLACK SEA GENTLEMEN are hopping on board their gypsy caravanserai this month to launch their third CD in Australia; in August and September they tour the United Kingdom. Curiously, a Black Sea season is not planned for this current round of promotions, although front-man Mikel, of the circus strongman proportions, hopes that the Black Sea region will loom up through the band's spy-glass sometime in the future.
Like Mikel, this tour will be "bigger than Ben Hur."
"There are plans for the Gentlemen to circumnavigate the Black Sea, playing shows along the way and filming the journey to make into a docu-melodrama," he says. "This will be some years in the planning and executing. As the politicians say, we will have everything in place by 2020."
In the meantime, this charismatic clutch of musos, mystics and misfits remains in the thrall of new creativity, with their CD, Dead Men Tell a Thousand Tales, and a swag of Aussie tour dates firmly stuffed 'neath their collective cummerbunds.
The Gentlemen are Rufino the Catalan Casanova on violin, The Great Muldavio on clarinet, Guido Libido on accordian and Little Ivan on doublebass. Chuck in such fabulous instruments as the vibro-slap, the jaw-harp, the tulip tone-blocks, the glockenspiel, the tin whistle and the spoons for added ethno-music cred and crackle.
But dominating the line-up on that stalwart Centralian stage was the uber-male, Mikelangelo, alternately alluring, intense, pathetic, promiscuous and gentlemanly; all these personae seamlessly linked by the booming baritone and immaculate presentation that have become his performance trademark. (He also plies the guitar, drums, cymbals, glockenspiel and piano).
Mikel maintains that the band's enduring creative ethos is the art of storytelling, "the heart of what we do as a group. We tell fairytales with all the good bits left in - the beauty, the wonder, the hilarity and the horror."
He describes the band's musical genre as Kabaret Noir. "To create this, we throw in an unlikely but tasty variety of ingredients into the pot to cook, and from that we make a hearty and rich stew, a formidable marinade, so to speak."
The Gentlemen who devise and serve this pungent pastiche and mellifluous melange are, according to their leader, gentlemen all, "wonderfully charming fellows who break most established codes of gentlemanliness, whilst upholding a strong sense of honour among thieves."
I asked Mikel how the band got its name. He sidled up close to deliver his answer, his breath redolent of the aromatic sage and wild lavender that grow rampant near the shores of his beloved Black Sea: "It was whispered into my ear by a Black Sea mermaid who rescued me from certain fate after a storm washed me overboard."
Thanks to this mermaid, the Gentlemen concoct and serve their formidable marinade to audiences on far distant shores. Things Will Never Be The Same.
Mikelangelo and the Black Sea Gentlemen sidle into the Street Theatre on Sunday July 12 at 6 and 9pm. Tix $28/$23/$19. To book call 6247 1223.
If history has taught us nothing else, it's that from the chamber music of the 1700s to the raw, gritty beats of the 36 Chambers, chambers and music are a winning combination. To add further weight to the argument, I present bright young Sydney things, CHAMBERS.
Don't let those reference points lead you astray, though, as there's nary a viola nor a gravel pit in sight. Instead, the band's heart lies in that maligned and often misunderstood decade, the '80s. In Chambers, you can hear the dark, brooding atmosphere of Echo and the Bunnymen, the pulsing, shifting backbeat of Brian Eno and, in particular, the shimmering guitar wash that characterised many Creation Records' bands, chiefly often overlooked shoegazers Ride. "All of us are avid fans of music from that era and especially that scene. Most of [the music] was made before we were even a tadpole, but that just goes to show how great those bands were!" guitarist Sydney Weston enthuses. "They may not have been the highest selling bands, but they had longevity."
Around two years ago, after the bell rang for the last time and school was out forever, Sydney and classmates Thom Benjamin (bass) and Isaac Yeo (guitar/vocals) teamed up with Mat Gardner (drums) under the name Man Ray. After a quick rethink - "There were a few other bands around with names like Man Ray and we wanted to distinguish ourselves" - the four settled on their current moniker. "I guess it is a reference to the Chambers brothers from (Rob Reiner's 1986 film) Stand By Me. Those guys are tough," Sydney says.
From there, it was simply a matter of holing up in a jam room, bashing it out and letting their common influences dictate their musical direction. "We each knew what we liked and were influenced by individually but never really discussed a group sound, [we preferred] to just let it happen rather than force it," Sydney explains.
Selecting five of their best, Chambers decamped to Sydney's Big Jesus Burger studios - Australian indie rock's Hitsville, USA - at the end of last year and recorded debut EP A Slow Decay, an accomplished set presenting a band with a strong sonic vision and songwriting skills to match. Despite the tight timeframe - just four days to record and mix it all - Sydney explains everything basically fell into place.
"We had done quite a lot of recording prior to this EP, so we knew what to do, what not to do, and when to supply the tea to the man twiddling the knobs," he says. "We really wanted our EP to reflect our music the way it was - bare and beautiful. Chris (Townend, producer) was really great to work with, he got what we wanted straight away and did an amazing job. We went into the studio with the hopes that we could come away with something really special and different, and we did!"
Chambers play the ANU Bar on Saturday July 25. Get your ticket at the door and head to www.myspace.com/chambersband for a free download of A Slow Decay.
Actor-director-producer Melissa Georgiou was training at NIDA when a tutor told her about a character she'd be perfect for, in a play by American writer John Patrick Shanley. Georgiou had never read the play before and searched high and low until she found the script: WOMEN OF MANHATTAN.
"When I read it I absolutely fell in love with it," says Georgiou - so much so that she decided to produce, direct, and star in it herself.
Women of Manhattan, playing at the Courtyard Studio til July 12, centres on three women - Judy, Rhonda Louise, and Billie - trying to make it in New York. Their careers are going great guns but their "emotional lives are a wreck," explains Georgiou.
"In a series of sharply written, subtly revealing scenes, their situations change. The three are hopeful about better times ahead, but also painfully aware that the brittle, competitive Manhattan lifestyle disappoints as quickly as it rewards."
Judy (Georgiou) has been "overtaken by cynicism" from meeting dud man after dud man. Rhonda Louise (Nicole Nesbitt-Allan) suffers from self-esteem issues. Meanwhile, the "very dramatic" Billie (Melissa Twidale), dissatisfied with the smooth contentment of married life, decides to import some drama - to "stir the pot just because it needs to be stirred," jokes Georgiou.
And if that situation sounds at all familiar to modern telly audiences, Georgiou is quick to point out the analogue.
"Basically it's very similar to Sex and the City," she says, "except there's no sex or nudity!"
The script was written in 1986, but Georgiou has updated it to 2009 - partly for the clothes. Like Sex and the City, Georgiou has tried to make the play's fashion "a talking point,"
"Everyone looks very glamorous!"
In the original script Judy, Rhonda Louise, and Billie are Yankee, but Georgiou has transformed the women into Aussies. "I wanted it to be very relatable to Canberra audiences," says Georgiou. "I thought I could do that better if I made it about Australian women and their journey, being in the big smoke,"
"I think it's not just for theatre-goers," says Georgiou, adding that the play has been "attracting a lot of people who are interested in relationships,"
It's the kind of night at the theatre good for groups of women, who can "go out for cocktails after" to discuss the play.
Women - and men, Georgiou argues - can leave the theatre thinking, "'Oh, I can relate to that character' and walk away with something new that might help them in the dating world,"
Women of Manhattan plays at the Courtyard Studio, CTC, until Sunday July 12, showing at 8pm and on Sunday at 2pm. Tix $20 thru Canberra Ticketing - call 6275 2700 or visit the CTC website at www.canberratheatre.org.au
A woman's tendency to share her most personal truths with her hairdresser is the basis for Robert Harling's tragi-comic play STEEL MAGNOLIAS. You might remember the film, based on Harling's off-Broadway play, which brought together a powerhouse of stars including Julia Roberts, Dolly Parton and Daryl Hannah. Now, Australian audiences have the great fortune to see an impressive lineup of theatre stars in these dynamic, memorable roles. Debra Lawrance (Pippa from Home & Away!) joins Jacki Weaver, Ana Maria Belo, Marian Frizelle, Geraldine Turner and Jennifer Hagan to bring Truvy's Louisiana beauty salon to life onstage.
Harling wrote the play based on his own experience of coping after his sister's death following a kidney transplant. The character of Shelby, the diabetic daughter of Lawrance's character M'Lynn, is inspired by Harling's sister, while the women from the salon where his mother had her hair done each Saturday inspired the characters who visit Truvy's salon in Steel Magnolias.
In order to embody M'Lynn's Louisiana born and bred character, Lawrance and her fellow performers spent time with a language coach. "A normal Louisiana accent is quite easy; it's very energetic and quite easy. There's a lot of high and warm energy, which I think in some ways mixes with the Australians and our very relaxed way of speaking. People get very entertained, almost musically, by the sound of the Louisiana accent."
Many women in the film and theatre industry have complained about the lack of decent, meaty roles for women, but there is possibly a Renaissance of sorts happening.
"Throughout history, there were Greek tragedies full of strong women's roles and Shakespeare was full of lots of strong women's roles as well," muses Lawrance.
"The last three plays I've been involved with have all been a full women cast and that's just been a coincidence. They've all been incredibly well received and they've all been really, really well written, and something that the audience really identifies with. None of them have been sort of chick flicks, if you like, or chick plays, but they're dealing with universal themes, so I think [the lack of decent roles is] a cry, because not enough women writers have taken the bull by the horns and actually done something about it."
Thank god, then, for Steel Magnolias.
"It's a universal story of women taking care of each other in good times and bad times and I think that's just a universal given. It's quite a healing play, with timing, because of the war and climate change and global crisis, and all sorts of nasty stuff. It's just nice to know that there's these nice women, with a womanly healing energy, around in the world."
See Steel Magnolias at the Playhouse from July 8 to July 18 @ 8pm, with matinees on Saturday 11 and 18 @ 2pm. Tix $50/$43/$35/$22 - to book call 6275 2700.
To you, 'Cio-Cio San' might just be another of Rivers Cuomo's unintelligible 'El Scorcho' lyrics, but to bluebloods around the world she's the tragic heroine of Puccini's 1904 opera MADAME BUTTERFLY. This year OzOpera are bringing this classic opera to Canberra as part of a national tour, with Perth-born soprano Elisa Wilson singing the role of Cio-Cio San (Butterfly).
Madame Butterfly tells the story of American lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton, stationed in Nagasaki, who marries 15 year old Geisha girl Cio-Cio San. Cio-Cio San falls head over heels for Pinkerton, converting to 'the American God', but Pinkerton only marries 'in the Japanese style: for 999 years, but with the right to cancel the marriage each month'. He leaves Japan for three years, abandoning Butterfly and their child. Butterfly remains faithful to her husband, but when he returns she discovers that he has not been so. Tragedy, as they say, ensues.
"The music of Puccini is just so beautiful," says Wilson, adding that Butterfly "is one of opera's great heroines. She sacrifices everything for love and for honour."
"It's really a role that you have to grow into. Even though Cio-Cio San starts at fifteen years old, emotionally she is so deep, there's so many layers to her, that you've got to have a lot of life experience," says Wilson. "As a young singer, you're scared of [Butterfly]."
And Cio-Cio San is one of the hardest roles for a soprano - themselves the kamikazes of the opera world.
"Sopranos lay it on the line, and so do tenors. It's the glory notes, the dollar notes, that people want to hear. You can sing beautifully through the whole opera but if you mess up the top notes you have failed!" laughs Wilson.
"There's a certain element of bravery or stupidity in what we set ourselves up as."
Wilson discovered opera by way of professional jealousy.
"I used to be a violinist in my early days as a student in high school, and I was playing in the orchestra one day for some dude who was singing up on stage, and I went home to my mother and I said 'I can sing better than that!'," says Wilson. "I pretty soon gave up the violin and turned to singing because I loved it. Having said that, I come from a very musical family: my parents were both singers, I have six siblings and they're all singers, and I married a singer,"
"It's always cacophonous in our household!" laughs Wilson. "I think that's why we all became singers because with so many children, whoever spoke the loudest or the highest got heard!"
Opera is, to many people (myself embarrassingly included), one of the harder 'high-art' forms to get into, but this production is designed for "the people" says Wilson.
"I think all of us in the opera feel very strongly that if you've got an opera for the people, a company called Opera Australia, it should be opera for all Australians, not just for people in Melbourne and Sydney."
"There's no reason why taxpayers who are funding these companies shouldn't see what the product is, and have the opportunity to enjoy really high-quality performances,"
"It's one thing to put on a show in a theatre that's set up for it, and quite another to devise a show that can be moved around 50 different theatres,"
Opera is "heightened emotions" explains Wilson. "It gives me the opportunity to play out onstage emotions or situations that of course I would never be in, in real life [...] the prostitutes or the perennial virgins or the murderesses,"
OzOpera's production has been directed by National Living Treasure John Bell, whose approach to staging the play has been "completely traditional," say Wilson. "To work with a director of his calibre was [...] very attractive."
"He lets the character of each person, of each actor, shine through in the role."
"We didn't know what to expect," says Wilson of working with Bell. "He was keen to point out that opera isn't his natural [...] idiom or style, so he wanted to know what we had to offer,"
"He would work with what we gave him."
Bell's inclusive directorial style was initially "intimidating,"
"We expected to be told exactly [...] what shape he wanted a scene to be," says Wilson, "but then as we realised what he was doing, how he was just gently tweaking this little thread, to make it match up with that thread that he had in mind from a previous scene, there's this little gentle pull [...] on the fabric of the show."
The cast sing in English, with a modern translation originally performed by the Welsh National Opera, and the story has been updated to be set in 1945, "just after the bomb."
But Wilson maintains that it's "honest production" of Puccini's opera. The aesthetic of the late Jennie Tate's production design is "so beautiful and so authentic, down to the last little ribbon and little bit of rope on the obis," says Wilson. Bell's traditional staging - in these days of radical interpretations of the text - has a point, says Wilson.
"A lot of people might never ever see Madame Butterfly again in their lives, and they really should be given the chance to see Madame Butterfly in its proper state without being fiddled with, [so] give them Butterfly, give them the proper story!"
OzOpera's Madame Butterfly tours to the Canberra Theatre Centre on July 23 for three nights only, til July 25. Tix $64-$75, U27 $45-$50. Info and bookings 6275 2700.
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