Cabaret Fringe

Cabaret Fringe Review: Route 66

Route 66 is as much an icon of American music as The Crossroads. It seems a little odd then, that this show should include music from The Beatles.

 

Route 66Presented by Heidi & The Rockets
Reviewed 20 June 2015

Route 66 is as much an icon of American music as The Crossroads. It seems a little odd then, that this show should include music from The Beatles. But a mish-mash approach to programming was the least of its problems.

This would have been so easy to turn into a decent, little cabaret show: all it needed was some story behind it. I thought, being called route 66, that we would be taken on a journey along that road, with songs written about, or recorded in, the places on the way. If Heidi Rademacher wants to put together a real cabaret show, then I strongly suggest she does something like this. As it was, we often didn’t get a good introduction to the songs at all, and on a couple of occasions, the audience were left bemused by her questions, not knowing what she was talking about.

Joining Heidi to form The Rockets were: Alex McLeod on keyboard and sax; John Englehardt on guitar; Phil on bass and the ever reliable Brody Green on drums. Excellent musicians all, but, sadly, failed to pull together as a band. They sounded very under-rehearsed.

Musical choice was pleasant and predictable enough: some early Elvis, Bye Bye Love, Stupid Cupid, Da Doo Ron Ron, five early Beatles numbers, Love Potion No 9, etc. The tightest and most applauded number of the night was the instrumental performed straight after the break.

The rock’n’roll dancers were out in force, mainly from the RatPack Dance Academy, and had they not taken to the floor, the evening would be have been quite flat.

Heidi Rademacher is a competent enough singer, but lacks guts and sass. Her attempts to interact with the audience certainly get “A” for effort, but she needs to stop talking to us as if we were five years old and she were Patsy Biscoe (who…incidentally…is being inducted into the SA Music Hall of Fame, next month!).

Had this been a free gig at a pub, this review would not have been so harsh. But when you are charging $33 a head, you should have a much better show written and rehearsed.

Let’s hope they keep working on it and come back with a product more worthy of their collective talents.

Reviewed by Tracey Korsten
Twitter: @TraceyKorsten

Rating (out of 5): 2

Season: Ended

 

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