C'est si bon (It's a Wonderful Life)

Songstress Rebecca Morton glows in this infectious cabaret which combines sublime songs with a personable tale of a single mum searching for lasting love. Morton grounds her performance in genuinely touching details about a mum raising kids alone, fearful of getting more than her own heart broken if she gets involved with a new man. While Morton has a washing line and washing basket as her few props on the Butterfly Club's very small stage, this is no kitchen sink drama. Morton, accompanied by pianist Trevor Jones, presents a diverse range of traditional and contemporary songs, including Joni Mitchell's Both Sides, Now and TheTrolley Song, made famous by Judy Garland in the film Meet Me in St Louis. Morton makes the Garland number sexy and fun, and draws out the ache and longing that lies just below the surface of Mitchell's song. Every number makes a strong impact, including the rousing Que Sera Sera, which had the audience smiling and swaying along towards the end of the show. It's a song that is so famous, it can seem trite when you overhear it. But Morton makes it celebratory and life-affirming. There is even a bit of sadness in the song. It's about smiling after the tears have fallen.

Another highlight was her revenge song, Kurt Weill's Pirate Jenny. Morton has fun with the swashbuckling tale and the dark, sardonic tone. Who can blame her for injecting darkness into the story? Her (or her character's) losses and disappointments in love would make anyone start searching the horizon for the skull and crossbones flag on the 'black freighter'.

C'est si bon is a show to warm hearts, and open your eyes and ears to the diverse ways songs can be interpreted in cabaret.

Sara Bannister