Cabaret at the Melbourne Recital Centre this winter

By Mindy Gill

A trio of Australia’s best cabaret talent will be performing at Melbourne Recital Centre’s intimate Salon space this month.

Acclaimed cabaret performer Michael Griffiths, who kick started the series on July 4, explored the life and music of Cole Porter in his show Cole, including renditions of classics such as You’re the Top, I’ve Got You Under My Skin and Night and Day.

Griffiths has received five-star reviews and standing ovations for his performances in shows right across Australia and beyond, to New York, Auckland, Hong Kong, London and Edinburgh.

A review from Glam Adelaide included the following praise: “His elegantly charming wit shone through as brightly as Porter’s timeless songs … there have been many tributes to Cole Porter’s life, but Cole must rank as one of the best.”

An Evening with Fem Belling will celebrate the exceptional jazz talent of South African-born Fem Belling in a night of reimagined classics of the Great American Songbook, which will feature on July 16.

An ARIA nominated artist, Fem has an energetic appetite for braiding musical styles and reteaches her audience the almost bygone art of taking it easy.

“I will be taking songs that would never usually see the light in a jazz environment and making them swing,” Ms Belling said.

“A lot of the time people associate jazz with yesteryear, a different kind of generation, a different kind of music. But there’s an amazing new generation of us that are making jazz for now, a new generation of listeners.”

The Salon cabaret club will conclude on July 22 and 23 with national treasure and multi-award winner Robyn Archer, whose show will feature iconic American songs in The (Other) American Songbook.

Featuring songs by Bob Dylan, Woodie Guthrie and the odd Broadway hit, her performance will explore themes of drought, booze, gambling and the Great Depression, presenting a revealing, joyous and moving portrait of America.

Robyn Archer is adored for her distinctive take on repertoire and intriguing musical journeys that tell of juxtaposition and surprise, the old with the new, the tough with the sweet, and the familiar with the unfamiliar.

One review by the Adelaide Advertiser observed: “Archer … sang unaccompanied a US civil war song called Hard Times with such pure power, tenderness and beauty that people wept.”

For more information and to book tickets, visit www.melbournerecital.com.au