Australian Cabaret Summer School: Day 3 - A Breakthrough

 
Michael Morley coaching Carla Conlin 

By Jenny Wynter

Joining me on day three of the Australian Cabaret Summer School were one cabaret Godfather, one maestro, one dodgy German accent and a bucket-load of tears.

First up, we are introduced to the incredible Frank Ford, whose claim to fame includes starting the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, the biggest cabaret festival in the world, taking the reigns in the early days of the Adelaide Fringe Festival and without whom, Matt Carey was quick to mention, the Australian Cabaret Summer School or the cabaret scene as we know it wouldn’t even exist. Frank speaks to us at length about his experiences in cabaret. However, the biggest thing that stands out to me was his emphasis on “engagement being the key to cabaret.” That engaging the audience right then and there in the live format, and developing a relationship with them, is paramount.

Michael Morley accompanying Shelley Dunstone

Also joining us is the marvellous maestro and mentor Michael Morley (can you tell I’ve been exposed to lyrical alliteration for much of this week?) with whom we have the option to work on our choice of either a European or a Sondheim song, to benefit from his expertise in both realms. Now, upon hearing that Michael is the perfect person to try out any foreign language songs we might have, I decide that given a) I do not have such a song in my repertoire, nor am I likely to acquire one in the near future and b) my new focus for 2012 is to say “yes” to things that terrify me, I would take the obvious step of writing a song in German. I get as far as “Mein Deutsch ist nicht so gut,” and adding a few umlauts and then give up. I get struck by a bit of a left-of-field idea: to do a German version of one of my favourite ever 80’s songs “Land Down Under.”

 With Michael’s guidance and questioning over my Google translator’s interpretation of the original lyrics, which included “Travelling in a roasted Kombi”, we come up with a piece. A piece that I am so utterly in love with that I am trying to work out ways to incorporate it into my showcase piece on Saturday! In a very serendipitous turn of events, my fellow classmate Carla Conlin approaches me and invites me to perform the piece as a German contestant in her upcoming “Eurovision” parody show at the Adelaide Fringe! My response? A resounding “JA!” 

Michael coaches us throughout the morning and afternoon with more European tunes.  In one of the pieces, he directs the performer to break up the lyrics with short bursts of breath intake. The result is an emotional delivery that invoked serious goosebumps! Then onto Sondheim songs, upon which, Michael mentions two books about Sondheim’s work Finishing the Hat and Look, I Made a Hat! then urges us, “If you read no other books about musical theatre in your whole life, then read these two!”

Sign I spotted on the wall at the school where the Summer School is being held.

It is while watching him coach Carla through “Ah, But Underneath” that I have a bit of a breakthrough moment. After she sings the song beautifully, he asks her why she chose it.  She explains that she is a teacher as well as a burlesque dancer, thus feels the connection to the song’s themes about “judging a book by its cover.” She sings the song again. This time, however, with her sharing her story and having that little bit of information, I feel instantly more connected to her and the song. I am reading between the lines now; I am invested. It is just a small piece of information, yet in her sharing it she has fully engaged me.

We spend the afternoon working on ballads. After a brief chat about what technically constitutes a ballad (i.e. typically story-based songs) I am not convinced my chosen piece, a cover of Turin Brakes’ “The State of Things” even qualifies. My mentor Catherine says, “Just sing it anyway!” I do and she asks me to speak the lyrics. I have sung this song a million times in the shower, over the top of the band’s CD and to myself on the piano. Yet, somehow, this simple act of just putting all the musicality to the side and speaking the lyrics brings out a whole new level of connection to their meaning. My voice cracks. And the tears come. I power on and finish delivering it. The song is a break-up song. I hurriedly finish with “I just want to reassure you guys I’m not leaving my husband!” and explain the context of this song in an earlier chapter of my life. Then more tears flow, and this time, it’s not just from me. Again, it hits home that sharing the authentic parts of ourselves is what really connects us to each other, both onstage and off. 

It’s not the first time people have cried in this Summer School. Sometimes it’s out of the blue and a song somebody is singing just hits a nerve and the tissues come out.

Somebody said early on that the school reminded them of Australian Idol and I agree - albeit without the karaoke-ness or dream-crushing judgement. Although, if we’re not giving that show some healthy competition when it comes to the emotional intensity front, I’ll eat my fascinator.

P.S. Our showcase is this Saturday night at the Promethean and we would love you to be there! There are two shows, one at 5pm and the other at 8pm, you can buy tickets to one (I am in the latter show) or to both shows for a lovely package price, all are available over here: http://www.stubmatic.com/cabaretconfessional.

 Jenny Wynter is a comedian and cabaret performer, whose award winning one-woman show An Unexpected Variety Show is appearing as part of the 2012 Adelaide Fringe Festival and the 2012 Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

She is one of the 15 participants in the 2012 Australian Cabaret Summer School, which is currently being held at Walford. Jenny is blogging her experience on Cabaret Confessional throughout the week.

Jenny Wynter’s Australian Cabaret Summer School blog series:

Australian Cabaret Summer School: Meet and Greet & Day 1

Australian Cabaret Summer School: Day 2 and All That Jazz

Australian Cabaret Summer School: Day 3 - A Breakthrough  

Australian Cabaret Summer School: Day 4 - Insecurities

Australian Cabaret Summer School: Day 5 - An Epiphany

Australian Cabaret Summer School: The Final Frontier

For more information on Australian Cabaret Summer School click here.  

For Cabaret Summer School Showcase tickets, click here.

Jenny Wynter’s official website: www.comicmummy.com

Jenny is touring her award-winning An Unexpected Variety Show to the 2012 Adelaide Fringe and the 2012 Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Click here to book tickets to the 2012 Adelaide Fringe.

Click here to book tickets to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

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