A Night at the Opera House, part 2

All this talk of music and I had completely forgotten about Sunday's Grammy Awards. I suppose they are highly anticipated in Australia, but they were completely off my radar, implying that perhaps there is not quite the equivalent media frenzy as back in the U.S. I was happy to hear, however, that New Zealand's own Flight of the Conchords won the award for Best Comedy Album. And speaking of New Zealand, I was just there! But more on that in my next entry.

Back to the Opera House.

Slinky fishnetted legs swaggered to jazz standards in the smokey, dimly lit spotlight of The Studio. The draping sleeves and feathered hat gave the "singer" the look of a Muppet crossed with Sally Bowles doing karaoke. Her hands were real, but her head was all foam. Tonight, at a cafe table in the small theater, I sipped a glass of champagne and watched with a smile as puppet after puppet "performed" song and dance in SOMA Puppets' Cabaret Décadance.
http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/whatson/SOMAPuppetsCabaretDecadanse.aspx

Two puppeteers dressed in black worked in seamless unison to create flawlessly believable gestures and movements of each character, often risqué and always with humor. Implied and shared limbs converge as the three individuals become one performer. Sometimes the men in black were part of the act as they would interact with the puppet, and other times they were merely the momentum behind the dance.

And let me not forget the tri-lingual M.C., a French/Spanish/English-speaking foam-faced woman who waltzed across the stage between acts, occasionally lending her limbs to the main performances.

From life-sized characters with the Swedish Chef's style real hands, to sock puppets with elastic shoulders, to foam-beaked birds with feather fans as tails, the variety in song and style was beyond impressive. The performers were obviously trained in choreography and their inherent enthusiasm for their art and the music they'd chosen roused the audience to clap and laugh throughout the performance. Nina Simone's "Love Me or Leave Me" was one of my favorites, as the silver sequined starlet shimmied and swayed, swinging her green feather boa as she gestured and sang.

With Mardi Gras celebrations just around the corner, this was the perfect Priscilla Queen of the Desert-style performance to set the flamboyant tone for the festivities to come.