Tapestry: The Songs Of Carole King

After seeing Dahlesque, Courtney Act, Dianne Reeves, Michael Feinstein and Matilda: The Musical – all a part of this year’s wonderful Adelaide Cabaret Festival – my final show was Tapestry – and it was the best!

Not that the others were anything less than wonderful in their own way, but this one had a particular magic and standard of excellence, as well as last minute back-stage drama, that made it special.

This beautiful tribute to Carole King and her music was initially to be performed by Vika Bull and Debra Byrne, one of Australia’s best contemporary musical theatre artists. Unfortunately, due to illness, Ms Byrne was unable to perform. Prior knowledge of this, however, seemed tonight to have made no difference to this packed house at the Dunstan playhouse.

With only two days’ rehearsal Debra Byrne’s place was taken by Vika Bull’s sister, Linda. She was terrific, as was Vika Bull and the band.

This was a fantastic show – great songs, great band, great singing, great musicianship and artistry. The show focused on Carole King’s songs, articulating and poignantly expressing a ‘female’ experience. As Vika Bull states, it’s as if Carole King’s songs are there for all (‘female’) experiences. This piece of discrimination is, however, a very minor point in light of the extraordinary brilliance of the performance by the entire ensemble.

Standouts included a magnificent rendition by Vika of ‘You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman’, written by King and first performed by Aretha Franklin. The backbone to this show, however, is Carole King’s ‘classic’ album Tapestry (1971), which still enjoys considerable success and influence in the modern world of popular music. Subsequently, most of the songs from this album were performed, including a rollicking ‘I Feel the Earth Move’, a magical duet version (via Donny Hathaway) of ‘You’ve Got a Friend’, and finishing with a divine version of ‘Will You Love Me Tomorrow?’.

That the evening’s performance was a complete triumph was measurable by the instantaneous and vocally loud standing ovation at the end of the show, only to be increased at the conclusion of the thrilling encore. Highly Recommended.

Tony Knight

Photo (of Vika and Debra) by Mark Gambino.