Club Swizzle

 

From the creators of La Soiree comes Club Swizzle, yet another offspring from the popular union of circus and cabaret. 

 

Club Swizzle advertises itself as a unique club experience with ‘no stage’ and ‘no rules’, yet it is very much like every other production combining circus with cabaret. Despite claiming there is no stage the performers actually perform on two stages; one for the musicians and one for the main artists. While the long, wide wooden catwalk stage is temporarily used as a bar before the show the performers treat the ‘bar’ as a stage and do not incorporate the bar into their performances. The claim of ‘no rules’ is misleading; it suggests a freewheeling night of entertainment and the breaking down of the barriers between performer and audience. Considering almost all of the audience is seated traditionally in rows and tables, there is no more audience participation than is usual for this type of show, and that the majority of the performance is scripted and performed identically each night, the performance is arguably just as tightly bound by the traditional ‘rules’ of performance as any other production. 

 

Despite this, the show presented is entertaining and owes its success to Michael Lira’s toe-tapping, scene-setting soundtrack for the evening, the athleticism and swagger of the Swizzle Boys and the likeable brusqueness of emcee, Murray Hill.

 

The production relies heavily on the acrobatic Swizzle Boys. They occupy the stage for a substantial proportion of the show and their set-pieces, while very enjoyable, are over used.

 

Other performers in this uneven variety performance include burlesque performer Laurie Hagen who reverse-stripped cheekily, Harlem singer Dandy Wellington who sang a rather lifeless version of ‘Pennies From Heaven’ and the talented aerialist acrobat Valerie Muzak who exercises great skill, but little exhilaration, when sliding over an oversized mirror ball.

 

Adelaide singer Ali McGregor, a Co-Artistic Director of the 2016 Adelaide Cabaret Festival, joined Club Swizzle for the Adelaide season and while her trademark vocal skills were displayed on Radiohead’s ‘Creep’ and a Nina Simone/Gorillaz ‘Feeling Good/Feel Good Inc’ mash-up, the songs on this night were not compatible with the high-tempo, celebratory and spontaneous cabaret vibe created by the gypsy fusion of Mikey and the Nightcaps. Despite the quality of the voice, the addition of this type of act to the program was not a success.