Generation Why
\nHayden Tee
\nDunstan Playhouse
\nJune 10.
\nMagpie Blues
\nUrsula Yovich
\nThe Space
\nJune 17.
\nAdelaide Festival Centre.
\nBookings BASS 131 246. Cabaret Festival until June 20. <\/p>\n
It perhaps comes as no surprise that a show called Generation Why ? raises more questions than it answers. Now in his late 20s, talented singer Hayden Tee is contemplating his Saturn Return, that point in the astrological cycle when thresholds are crossed and life choices are consolidated. For Mr Tee everything is connected – his life history (and those of his antecedents in small town northern New Zealand) and a world century of war, pestilence, technological revolution, MTV and Pacman. <\/p>\n
At times earnest, often convoluted, Tee illustrates his place in the cycles of the cosmos with murky back-projections of family snapshots and NZ Tourism promos. In among this, ably accompanied by pianist and arranger, Nigel Ubrihien, he sings his heart out with such 80s anthems as In the Air Tonight, Spandau Ballet\u2019s Through the Barricades and a mawkish Christopher Cross\/Enya medley of Sailing and Orinoco Flow. Other items include 99 Red Luft Balloons, a hip-hop ode to booty in the style of Gilbert and Sullivan, and an African arrangement of Don\u2019t Dream its Over. <\/p>\n
There is something endearingly artless about Tee\u2019s provincial kiwi memoir but, when he goes into a stage persona, things get really interesting. Inhabiting John Hinckley from Sondheim\u2019s Assassins, he delivers a chilling performance of Unworthy of Your Love and demonstrates why Hayden Tee is such a hot property in music theatre. It\u2019s a world away from Maungaturoto. <\/p>\n
Ursula Yovich\u2019s Magpie Blues is also a personal work \u2013 of growing up in Darwin with an Aboriginal mother from Arnhem Land and a father born in Serbia. As she puts it \u2013 she\u2019s a Serborigine. It is a story infused with sadness, love, separation and dislocated cultural identity. Like the magpie, she is neither black nor white, disconnected from both her \u201cskin\u201d ties and a Europe she has never seen. <\/p>\n
A premiere production for the Cabaret Festival, it is undercooked. Yovich has an ambitious amount of script and she lost her thread a number of times. The presentation also seems emotionally raw. The material is close to her heart and tears are often near the surface. For the performer\u2019s sake, this show has some steadying to do. <\/p>\n
But, for Ursula Yovich, music is her great joy and she sings everything from Fields of Gold and Let it Be to Tina Turner and Aretha Franklin. Her range is impressive \u2013 Bocelli after Caruso, the Theme from Monkey, some haunting originals and (with excellent support from the band and MD Peter Casey) a telling rendition of Over the Rainbow. <\/p>\n
Murray Bramwell<\/p>\n
The Australian, 20 June, 2009.<\/p>\n
This review contains an error which was pointed out by Hayden Tee\u2019s agent. It was not Hinckley\u2019s song from Assassins which he sang \u2013 and I expected himn to sing from the build-up – but instead Creep by Radiohead. My mistake and my apology to Mr Tee. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Generation Why Hayden Tee Dunstan Playhouse June 10. Magpie Blues Ursula Yovich The Space June 17. Adelaide Festival Centre. Bookings BASS 131 246. Cabaret Festival until June 20. It perhaps comes as no surprise that a show called Generation Why ? raises more questions than it answers. Now in his late 20s, talented singer Hayden Tee is contemplating his Saturn Return, that point in the astrological cycle when thresholds are crossed and life choices are consolidated. For Mr Tee everything […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","category-cabaret"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=393"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":831,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393\/revisions\/831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}