Deluxe Deluxe and Infamous

Deluxe Deluxe

There’s always a sense of anticipation with a new show from Strut and Fret, and once again Director Scott Maidment has assembled an astonishing collection of talent for the world premiere of his new show. After the triumph of Blanc de Blanc last year, Maidment has been working on the new production, this time a tribute to the versatile performers of the Golden era of Las Vegas and Vaudeville.  Certainly compere and comic Scott Nery (direct from the USA) has all the right moves, and one liners to set up a flavour of Vegas in the Rat Pack days. But he, and the whole production, are fighting against the venue - The Paradise Showroom at Gold Coast’s Home Of The Arts.

The room isn’t suited to a show which, as with all Strut and Fret’s productions, needs a strong connection with the audience. It’s cold and lifeless. The thrust Catwalk is where most of the show takes place, leaving as a backdrop a cavernous black box of a stage dressed with only an underutilised Grand Piano. There is no set, and the blackness just draws focus - close the tabs, put the neon Deluxe Deluxe sign on them - anything to narrow the stage and restore focus on the acts. It’s like the venue (unlike the Spiegeltent) is actively fighting against the entertainment.

The individual acts are all terrific. Antonio Vargas Montiel is a fabulous hand balancer and the little moments of Flamenco dancing he throws in delighted the audience.  Austrian Penelope Elena is an extraordinary contortionist and her acrobatic balancing double with Vargas was mind-blowingly good. Hilton Denis is a great dancer and charismatic personality on stage. He deserves a medal for his Beyonce number balancing on 8 inch platform glass stilettos. Denis would be great value in any entertainment situation.  Olivia Porter is quirky but adds little to the production. Mimed actions to Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody are neither original nor funny.  Laura Michelle Hughes is a great looking girl with a good voice, but there are too many musical numbers for no apparent reason, and her WTF number was funny for about 30 seconds, but went on for much longer.

I can’t figure out why the cast assembled for the second half in animal cartoon costumes, but my biggest concern is that the show isn’t integrated in style, theme or music, like Strut and Fret’s usual productions. Musically it’s all over the shop and we never have a sense of place or era. Like Nery’s pancake routine, the show feels undercooked. It will settle in and find its rhythm in days to come, but let’s be honest, Blanc de Blanc is a hard act to follow.

Deluxe Deluxe plays at HOTA until July 29^{th, 2018}.

Infamous – a Cabaret-Cirque Sensation.

Once you know that this fabulous presentation is the child of the Ashton Circus family, it isn’t the least bit surprising that it is phenomenal entertainment. What Aussie kid wasn’t taken to Ashton’s Circus as a special birthday or Christmas treat. Of course the days of performing lions and elephants are long gone, but this circus, with a splash of cabaret, proves they are not needed to inspire us with awe and wonder.

Joe Ashton, and his ridiculously handsome sons Jordan and Merrick, bring us all the daring and derring-do we expect from a major circus. He left the family business 20 years ago now, realising that circus had to change if it was to survive, and change it has. Set inside a Spiegel Big Top, the atmosphere is ambient and intimate, and there’s the added bonus of full bar service throughout.  The show itself deserves to be seen with a glass of good champagne. The dancers and singer are suitably gorgeous and talented, the comedy is raunchy but never offensive – and ‘clown’ Jessie Grant is hilariously funny as a drunken janitor and in white tails chasing a runaway follow spot. Even his nudity at the end of the Balloon act is too funny to upset anyone. It’s masterfully handled all the way. But circus is about spectacle more than anything else, and there is plenty to thrill us and leave us gobsmacked. The Wheel of Death opens the show with Jordan and Merrick defying gravity as they run around inside and outside the double spinning wheels, performing handstands, juggling, riding a unicycle, even balancing Joe’s sister Bekki on their shoulders as the wheels spin; as my dumb-founded partner said. “Follow that.”

There are too  many great moments to detail here, but the glorious aerial work of young Dante Ashton, the slack wire act (it must be 50 fifty years since I’ve seen anyone on a slack wire) which included juggling, the sheer strength in the balancing act of the Ashton “boys”. The fabulous glass ball juggling of “Max Balls”, AKA German artist Jan Albertson, was only surpassed by his act with his contortionist partner Kim Upton. I’ve seen the “Rag Doll” routine done before, but never better. And then, just when you thought the delights couldn’t get any better, we are treated to the sixth generation of The Flying Ashtons. Though the Flying Colleanos are now part of Circus mythology, so great was their flying skill, the Ashtons have always run a close second, and this new generation is the stuff that legends are made - four flyers and two catchers execute superb passes – and if there isn’t a triple somersault, there’s a guest appearance from the next generation still, a young boy with all the chutzpah of a skilled performer with sawdust in his veins.

The sawdust is long gone, but Circus is alive and well. Some might say that the dance numbers are irrelevant, but they’re beautifully performed and they do cover what are often long waits to set up equipment.  This is billed as “18+ only” and that may be because of the liquor laws, but whatever age you are, if you don’t love, Love, LOVE Infamous, then the chances are you’re already dead. It is sensational.

Infamous plays in the Spiegel Big Top at Broadwater Parklands Southport

July 13^th – August 12^{th, 2018}