Skank Sinatra – The Name on Everyone’s Lips

Hyper-glam, big hair blonde drag artist Jens Rada hails from Denmark via South Africa and WAAPA Music Theatre.  The show, Skank Sinatra has already garnered awards at Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Adelaide Fringe, and Melbourne Fringe.  It’s not hard to see why. 

In a range of simply divine costumes (five changes!), a fine dry ironic tone, an imperious command of her on-stage musician/assistant, Sarah Nandagopan, witty reworkings of familiar songs – very well delivered - and teasing crowd work, Skank gives her audience a show of high energy entertainment.

Our audience – a very varied full house crowd – loved her and engaged all the way through a hectic sixty-five minutes.  The show works all the better in the more intimate space of the Chapel off Chapel Loft.  Skank cruises the tables of the night club set-up at the front and looms large in the aisles.

The show kicks off ‘Luck Be a Lady’ from Guys and Dolls – as much a plea that the show will go well.  It does, of course.  But Skank follows up right away with ‘Life Is a Cabaret’.  There’s some patter about Skank’s/Jens’ origins illuminated with a reworked version of ‘Somewhere That’s Green’ (Little Shop of Horrors) as ‘Somewhere Not Here’ about the difficulties for the artist in South Africa… 

But the hit of the evening is maybe ‘Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina’ (Evita) sung in Danish.  I couldn’t really say why this is so funny, but it is. 

Temporarily dismissing the hapless Sandra to ‘get [me] a drink’, Skank takes over the keyboard for a selection from ‘Oklahoma’.   But this is cabaret so there are many spicy allusions to follow in ‘My Favourite Sins’.

And for the rousing finale, Skank answer the perennial question, why do you do it?’  Answer: ‘For the Gaze’ – double entendre fully intended. 

Much as I enjoyed the show, I might niggle about the choreography that is, yes, parody but a little clunky.  Those costume changes – albeit revealed to audience gasps and acclaim each time and quick as they are - do lessen momentum.  And, final niggle, the opening costume looked hard to work in for Skank’s movements and thus her glamour. 

Too bad the show was only for two nights this time round.  (But Producer Carly Fisher tells me Skank Sinatra is about to go on tour around Australia.)

Michael Brindley

Photographer: Kate Arnott