www.MelbourneObserver.com.au
Melbourne Obser ver - Wednesday, February 24, 2016 - Page 25
In One Voice
e urn lbo Me
Every Week in the Melbourne Observer
UNDERSTUDIED By CHERYL THREADGOLD
● Alice Zaslavsky will present a cooking demonstration in the In One Voice Jewish Street Festival on March 20. ■ Following its hugely successful comeback last year, the In One Voice Jewish Street Festival on Sunday, March 20, is promising to be bigger and better this time round – and bagels are very much on the menu, along with that Jewish staple, cheesecake. Festival Manager Judith Weizman says In One Voice is offering an impressive concert line up, an art exhibition, craft stalls, community stalls, a bagel-eating competition, a cheesecake bake-off, cooking demonstrations plus traditional entertainments such as egg-and-spoon races, a sack race and a tug-of-war which will pit Jewish politicians and school principals against youth leaders. “The concert showcases the amazing array of talent within the Jewish community. 2015 favourites, the Bashevis Singers (including Husky Gawenda) are back to sing Yiddish tunes, but there’s a stack of brilliant new talent including Natalie Gamsu, an internationally-acclaimed singer, actor and cabaret artist, shannyn.art who specialises in contemporary Jewish-inspired music,. “There is also Jake Fehily, a 19-year-old actor/singer/ songwriter who rated in the top five for three weeks running on Triple J’s Unearthed, and Karen Feldman, who has just released an album, Mazl – Journey in Yiddish Song.” “We’ll also be hearing from Jewku'ladies, a group of women who have taken up the ukulele under the guidance of Karen Feldman, and many, many choirs – some from schools and others from the community. “Dance, a popular segment last year, will be represented by the Sefra Burstin School of Dance and the Lider Sunday School Dancers from the Russian-speaking community. Also from the Russian-speaking community is singer and guitarist, Leon Bondar, who hails from Ukraine. Bringing it all together are comedians Josh Glanc and Sabina Bracka Berman who will compere the concert.” In One Voice is part of Cultural Diversity Week, March 12 -20, and Weizman stresses that the festival is open to all comers. A full festival program is available on www.inonevoice.org.au - Cheryl Threadgold
ver N ser O Ob TI C SE 3
Observer Showbiz
Radio: Johnny Young on Magic 1278 ..................... Page 26 Theatre: Banquet of Secrets............................................. Page 27 Country Music: Port Fairy Festival looms .................... Page 26 Jim and Aar on: Top 10 lists, reviews .................................... Page 28 Aaron: Cheryl Threadgold: Latest shows, non-por auditions ........ Page 29 PL US THE LLO OVATT”S MEGA CRO PLUS CROSSSWORD
● Jenny Lovell in Understudied. ■ Understudied can be seen at The Butterfly Club from February 24-28. Set in the golden era of Hollywood, Marzipan O’Malley and her friends have been in every well-known film. These are the ‘stars’ who have played flying monkeys in The Wizard of Oz, Confederate Soldier No.2 in Gone With The Wind, and Man in Shady Lane Standing Behind Humphrey Bogart in his entire catalogue. In the back lot of the MGM Studios, they trade their stories of standing in the shadows of Garland, Bogart and Kelly. Understudied is the brainchild of Anna Renzenbrink and features Melbourne performers Jason Geary, Jenny Lovell and LliamAmor. Equal parts comedy and drama, it offers a unique perspective on the Golden Era of Hollywood. Performance dates: February 24 – 28 at 8.30pm Venue: The Butterfly Club, 5 Carson Place, Melbourne Tickets: $32-$25 Bookings: www.thebutterflyclub.com - Cheryl Threadgold
Grease is the word in Beaumaris
Another Other
● Erkki Veltheim, Sabina Maselli, Natasha Anderson and Anthony Pateras. Photo: Jeff Busby ■ Mortality, loneliness, unfulfilled relationships, and loss of religious faith. These were Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman’s favourite topics. Bergman said in his later years that his films made him depressed. How existential is that? That’s not to say they lacked merit and nor does Chamber Made Opera’s Another Other, a sound and light tribute to Bergman on the 50th anniversary of his film Persona, still a benchmark in experimental filmmaking. Created and performed by Natasha Anderson, Sabina Maselli, Anthony Pateras and Erkki Veltheim, the show opens with a montage formed from the faces of the artists, layered and blurred together in classic black-and-white, mirroring an iconic shot from the film. The film centres on the psychological relationship between two women, a mute actor and her nurse. Gradually there is a blurring of their identities, as there is with the voices of the artists behind Another Other. In this interpretation the audience is seated on either side of semi-transparent screens, with the performers visible through the opaque material. Veltheim, Anderson and Pateras contribute sound while Maselli manipulates projections on the screens. Veltheim plays violin, Anderson plays contrabass and garklein recorders while Pateras uses a modular synthesizer to make sounds, manipulate pre-recorded sounds, and interact with the other players. All contribute vocals in various ways. The layers of sound, pre-recorded and live, blend with layers of images that reference Bergman’s filmmaking until a crescendo is reached and the darkly humorous closing line from the film (“One must be infantile to be an artist in our age”) is read. Bergman remains a highly regarded filmmaker because of his drive to produce and express a point of view. He was not the artistic opportunist waiting for someone else’s work to fall into his lap, but a trailblazer for people like Woody Allen. The performers behind this piece are similarly driven to make original art. Like a Bergman film, this is an experimental work at once revealing and discomfiting and though the sky is dark and the landscape bleak, a shaft of light occasionally breaks through. - Review by Martin Curtis
Media Flashes
● T-Birds in Beaumaris Theatre’s Grease: Chris Hunter, Fraser Mitchell, Ash Cooper, Stuart Anderson and Josh Pratt. Photo: Debbie Keyt ■ Beaumaris Theatre presents the musical Grease from March 4 -19 at 82 Wells Rd, Beaumaris. The show’s director is Debbie Keyt, musical direction is by Rhonda Vaughan and choreographer is Camilla Klesman. For performance and booking details visit www. beaumaristheatre.com.au - Cheryl Threadgold
■ Andrew Holden finishes this week as Editor-in-Chief of The Age. The newspaper’s editorial direction will ultimately be controlled by the Sydney office of Fairfax Media. ■ Katrina Yang has joined SBS World News as an Asia Correspondent. ■ Bridget Davies and Tiffany Korssen have been appointed Cadet Journalists for the Herald Sun. ■ Alissa Thomas has been appointed Editor of Shop Til You Drop. ■ Andrew Trounson has left The Australian to join The University of Melbourne’s external relations team.