I turned up not knowing what to expect with the title reWorks – Altered Music Theatre indicating that the there has been some reworking to some classic music theatre repertoire and that it was.

This cabaret production, as part of the Melbourne Cabaret festival, was written, conceived and directed by Brian Dixon and he should be applauded. It was a music theatre lover’s dream. Some standards and some not so standards, rearranged and compiled into an interesting, cabaret-style concept that used the talent of the three performers beautifully.

Our leading ladies, Sally McKenzie, Ruth Bishop and Angela Lumicisi, proved themselves as leading ladies in their own right as well as being able to blend and complete the beautiful new chords written by Brian, in their harmony singing.

Had I not known any of the original songs and been a general public patron, each of the arrangements stood fast as perfectly acceptable and strong new songs. Not only were arrangements new interesting and clever but it seemed that most of the songs had a new melody which was like hearing something for the first time, when our new Broadway cast recording arrives from Amazon.com. reWorks gave me the exact feeling something we (self confessed music theatre addicts) very rarely get to do when we have all the cast recordings on our iPods and listen to them over and over again. It was refreshing.

The opening of the show was strong despite opening night jitters, all the girls were seamless. The theme of the piece if one could be pointed out was Love and Relationships and the song list well chosen to represent all aspects of that, with several different versions of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Love Changes Everything” to link it all together.

Some of the highlight for me….were “Maybe This Time” sung by Angela, whose voice is both strong and commanding was rearranged into a ‘50s style shoop wop song, much like “I Won’t Say I’m In Love” from the Disney cartoon Hercules. A gritty bluesy version of “I Dreamed a Dream” sung by Sally….which I think is a keeper. Having been on many audition panels, I am quite over that song, however this gave me a new appreciation for it.

Following an up-tempo version of “Tell me on a Sunday” sung by Ruth, Sally and Angela consoled her with a beautiful arrangement of “Tomorrow”….no red curls in sight, just some mature women reassuring her to stick out her chin and grin and say…..

Brian’s combination of Defying Gravity….DONT MOAN…and “Tear Me Down” from Hedwig and the Angry Inch was most unusual way linking the similar lyrics together and sung in counterpoint, but worked beautifully, for this one, I sat forward in my seat. Probably the highlight for me though was the saucy sexy interpretation of “Memory” from Cats. I won’t tell you what they do…but Brian is a very clever chap.

The lighting at times was fraction on the dark side, but the acoustics of the room enabled the girls to sing alongside accompanist DJ Wiskin. I would have liked some more interaction with the accompanist, it would have been nice to include him as he was in their playing space. 

All in all….did I just say that, I sound like I should be hosting some radio show on JOY, I enjoyed myself immensely, the production was refreshing and vibrant, and if they had a CD I would be playing it in the car or chucking it on the iPod.

Congratulations to Brain, and the girls for a great show, let’s hope after this season we can see it come back with a few more songs and in a better venue.

The Sun will come out tomorrow…….oh Scott shut up!!

Scott has been performing for many years, some of his roles include; Hortensio in Kiss Me Kate and Nicely Nicely in Guys and Dolls for Babirra Music Theatre, the latter for which he won a Lyrebird Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical in 2004. Some of his more recent credits include Elton in The Scarlet Pimpernel with CLOC, Man 2 in Jason Robert Brown’s very popular Songs for a New World, King Herod in Jesus Christ Superstar, with PLOS, Herbie in Gypsy with DTC and Ritchie in CLOC’s A Chorus Line.  In 2006 Scott won the Victorian Music Theatre Guild award and the Lyrebird award for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical for his portrayal of Lefou in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast with Whitehorse Music Theatre. As Director/Choreographer, Scott has worked on Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and There’s No Business Like Show Business for Dandenong Theatre Company and A Chorus Line with Whitehorse Music Theatre. His choreographic credits include; A Chorus Line, Jesus Christ Superstar, Company, La Cage Aux Folles, Bye Bye Birdie and Annie, all for PLOS musical Productions. Scott has worked in various secondary schools working as a choreographer for Grease, Big - The Musical, The Card, and Sweet Charity.