Presented by the Adelaide Cabaret Festival
Reviewed Sat 19th June 2010
http://www.adelaidecabaretfestival.com
Venue: Space Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre
Season: finished
Duration: 1hr
Bookings: for all Cabaret Festival shows: BASS 131 241 or http://www.bass.net.au
Mitchell Butel takes ‘time’ as his theme for this show, in all its aspects, running through 24 hours in song and poetry, from morning, signalled by a few bars of the movement of that title from Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite, right around to the next morning. He is accompanied by a fine jazz trio led by musical director, Darryl Wallace, at the piano with Joel Prime on drums and Tim Bowen on bass. First up, though was Lèah Kline’s and Joost van der Knaap’s Get Away, a recitation and some views on ‘time, including some depressing quotes that raised a few laughs.
Having given a starting point as morning he went into a fine version of Joni Mitchell’s Chelsea Morning that developed into a medley that included a much revamped version of the Dolly Parton hit, 9 to 5 sitting, interestingly, alongside Pink Floyd. There is also plenty of humorous patter between numbers. Now You Know, from Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily we Roll Along proved popular and there was a groan at the announcement that he didn’t plan to include too many show tunes.
Moving away from the journey through 24 hours for a moment Way Ahead of My Time, from the pen of Peter Mills, brought plenty of laughs as a gay caveman waxes lyrical. A long string of great songs followed, including several classic including About a Quarter to Nine, from 42nd Street, Putting on My top Hat, Stepping Out With My Baby, Leonard Bernstein’s Tonight from West Side Story, a vocal version of Thelonius Monk’s ‘Round Midnight and Frank Sinatra’s big hit, written by Johnny Mercer, One for my Baby. There was also a reminder that at 3:30 daily Play School begins on the ABC, with him singing the theme.
This was a very pleasant evening of song, with Butel’s rich, versatile and expressive voice to the fore. In cabaret terms it might be considered a walk on the mild side, but none the worse for that. It was great to hear Butel deliver so many terrific show tunes, jazz standards and a few novelties performed so smoothly in such fine arrangements and with a great trio backing him.
Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Arts Editor Glam Adelaide.
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