Keeping up Appearances

After the effort of bringing the guitarist from Brazil, and producing and performing our show in the Festival Fringe during February, the prospect of creating a new show for the June Cabaret Fringe feels very overwhelming.

So when a friend posts a message on Facebook asking if anyone would like to join with him in a collaborative show, I begin to think that sounds like a good idea.

It's important to perform regularly, in order to maintain your stage presence, and not lose your nerve.

I message James, saying I'm interested, and suggesting that we might find a third person.  We could then each do a twenty minute segment, following a format that La Boheme introduced a few years ago.  Between three of us we can make a one-hour show.

In fact, two other people come forward, and we decide to do two shows.  James and I will do both, and Julie and Heidi will do one each.

We can all invite our family and friends.

I contact the owner of La Boheme, and he says he'd be happy for us to reprise the format, called Kabarett.

This feels like a great solution.  I can be in the Cabaret Fringe without the pressure of having to carry a whole show, and without the frenetic marketing effort that is needed to fill the room single-handed.

We organise for a pianist to accompany us.  I register the show, and we're in business.

I request dates for the second half of June, because I'm going on holidays to Portugal, returning at the end of May.  I don't want to perform with jet lag, or with the cold that I will inevitably catch on the plane on the way home.

I decide to sing a set of French songs.  It is very romantic music, and I'm a bit concerned that the segment will be too "sweet" or "bland".  So I decide to balance it with a story about some of the less-than-romantic things that have happened to me while travelling in France.

Before heading off to Portugal, I manage to fit in a couple of rehearsals, and the show is nearly ready to roll.

If you're in Adelaide and would like to see the show, here's the link to buy tickets:

http://www.cabaretfringefestival.com/kabarett/