The 27 Club

Is it just synchronicity that five musical legends all died (mostly by their own hand) at the age of 27? Is that the age at which we have to own who we are and quit hiding behind the mask of being a “kid”? For some that transition to adulthood, seriousness, responsibility, is just too hard to make. On the ‘plus’ side, an early death brings a kind of immortality to performers who might otherwise have been swept up in the juggernaut of fame and ultimately replaced and forgotten.

The 27 Club doesn’t offer answers, but it does provide insight into the lives of five icons; Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, Any Winehouse, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison of The Doors. There’s a wealth of eclectic musical styles to be tapped, and three exceptional voices to tap them.

Zack Anthony Curran, Andrew Kroenert and Keane Fletcher have all paid their dues in Musical Theatre (and Keane in The Ten Tenors) and they highlight once again just how much insane talent we have in Australia that you might only get to see in the ensemble of a Main Stage musical.

With dialogue taken from excerpts in newspaper reports; interviews, anecdotes and even Kurt Cobain’s poignant and tragic suicide notes, these amazing singers pay tribute to the artists and the songs they made famous, and the result is a rich collection of re-interpreted songs with finely honed harmonies and three very distinct personalities on stage.  But it’s not just the voices. Kroenert plays great guitar in a variety of styles, and also uses the guitar to add percussion when needed. He also doubles on keyboard, likewise Curran, while Fletcher adds his top register with head-notes that would make the angels weep.

Luckily the Arts Centre on the Gold Coast has exceptional sound systems in all its performance spaces and the Basement sound truly does justice to this simply staged but simply stunning show.

Highlights for me were the numbers that were purely acoustic and/or a capella, and the show opens with a brilliant a capella version of “Lord won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz”.

Nirvana’s “Smells like Teen Spirit” took on a whole new meaning for me, and Amy Winehouse’s haunting “Love Is A Losing Game” – which ends the show on a reflective moment - reduced me to tears it was so perfect vocally. I would have liked a slow chorus of “Light My Fire” before going up-tempo, but that’s just personal taste. The choice of material is terrific, and the crowd even sang along with “Me and Bobby McGee”.

There will be some who will say that Music Theatre performers lack the rawness, the edge, and even the anarchy needed for these songs, but I disagree. This isn’t just a tribute show, or an impersonation. It’s a re-interpretation of the music behind the names we all know (even if we weren’t fans of the music originally) and it has relevance for anyone over 50 as well as a young audience. To hear songs which may have been dismissed as just “Pop Songs” given a treatment which enhances their innate musicality is something special, and these three fine performers (who sing infinitely better than any of the five legends involved) deserve every success.

Coral Drouyn