Review: performance

Women In Voice 14:
playing 09/03/05 - 24/03/05 at the QPAC Playhouse, Brisbane, Australia.

Friday 11th March 2005

Review 12th March 2005 by Scott Grimmett + added comments by John Frame for Queer Radio

Scott Grimmett writes:

Sheer, unadulterated pleasure

 

Anyone searching for a great night out need look no further than Women In Voice, now playing at the QPAC Playhouse until 22 March.

7 Women, 7 spectacular and wonderfully varied voices, with comic and dramatic talent, singing just for the hell of the fun of it.

Throughout the night, I had to remember to keep closing my mouth.  It kept dropping open with surprise and pleasure, leaving this idiot, vacant grin on my face.  One encore and a standing ovation didn't do justice to this show.  And that is after we know how difficult it is to get a Brisbane audience to throw off its inhibitions and lift its bum off its seat.  After all, standing ovations are what those showy audiences down south go in for.

I loved every minute of this show, and if the audience was a little Methodist at the start, Women in Voice 14 turned them into hard-core revivalists in less than 2 hours.

 

publicity shot for Women In Voice 14

John Frame comments:

Very early in the show, the audience missed an opportunity to suitably applaud the show's host Leah Cotterell for her soulful rendition of "Mona Lisa". Leah tells us that she is a veteran of all previous Women In Voice, either on stage or in the audience, and her love and respect for the artists and audience is obvious.

As great as the women in voice were, my ears and eyes were often taken by the outstanding musicianship of the five instrumentalists who were fully interactive with the vocalists. Easily one of the finest ensembles I’ve witnessed on any stage, and presenting fresh, yet complimentary arrangements throughout the night.

The closing artist, Alison St Ledger, chose a personally relevant assortment of Beatles songs. I very much doubt that The Beatles themselves ever sounded this good in live performance.

Lighting and sound production for Women In Voice 14 was impeccable, fully complementing the 12 great musicians.

Women In Voice 14 is a true celebration of show-business – free of any commercial compromise – and a showcase of music and voice as an expression of what it is to be human.

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