‘Love and Death and an American Guitar’ – Highway Run Productions

LOVE AND DEATH AND AN AMERICAN GUITAR – BY TOBY FRANCIS – MUSICAL DIRECTION BY ANDREW WORBOYS – HIGHWAY RUN PRODUCTIONS IN ASSOCIATION WITH HAYES THEATRE COMPANY – HAYES THEATRE – 4-6 JULY 2014

Sybil: …silence.
Lea: Are you going – “What’s the name of the show again?”
Sybil: I really am. Something, something and an American Guitar. Ah (picks up flier) Love and Death…
Lea: … and an American Guitar. The songs of Jim Steinman. What a fantastic story!
Sybil: Awesome story. Now here’s my question – and I might be a little naïve – was it true? I was like – half way through – is Toby making this up? ‘Cos it’s a great story.
Lea: I would assume it’s true. Here we are showing our naivety and our lack of knowledge!
Sybil: Whichever way, it was an awesome story. It was brilliantly told and poetically told.
Lea: I love it – beat poetry in the middle of some of the sections that I really dug.
Sybil: My one – and I know I haven’t said the good stuff yet but I’ll get to that –
Lea: Let me start with a negative – she says.
Sybil: Actually I have two points – one is, I wanted more pauses after songs to allow applause.
Lea: Yeah, that’s true. I understand it though, on the first show, I’ll just keep going in case nobody claps.
Sybil: But I really wanted to clap and I didn’t get a chance. And it may have been a choice but as an audience member, I found that slightly irritating! And the other thing was the girl – who is not in the program – she forgot a lot of lyrics. And I guess I noticed because those songs, I know the girl parts pretty well, because I love singing them! Because I love this music but I didn’t have a clue that it was all written by the same person! Did you?
Lea: No. But once you hear them all together you go – of course!
Sybil: Duh!
Lea: But she had a fantastic voice – the quality was perfect.
Sybil: I loved the quality of her low and mid voice but as she belted really high, I wasn’t as big a fan. But how do you top Bonnie Tyler! That’s the problem, right!
Lea: Look who you’re living up to.
Sybil: One of the great female rock voices.
Lea: Good luck ANYBODY!
Sybil: Having said that… Toby Francis…
Lea: Hell yeah!
Sybil: Meatloaf.
Lea: I know. Spectacular. Absolutely. And the only parts of the show that you could see he personally was worried about, it was all in his head. Because he’d hit all those notes previously.
Sybil: But what a big sing. That was a very big sing. And some high notes at the end of a long big singing show.
Lea: Really gorgeous structure and fabulous songs and a lovely narrative.
Sybil: Well written with the use of the other singer and the pianist.
Lea: It was so full. And do you know what was interesting was – you know I think his guitar was working but I think the effects pedal was distorting it so much that we didn’t realise it was him playing.
Sybil: I wasn’t sure – I wanted… so here’s the other thing – there was so much music on tick.
Lea: Yes.
Sybil: I wanted to see a band. When he does it again (leans into the mike) Toby – when you do it again – band.
Lea: Yeah, I’m sure that’s budget allowing.
Sybil: But I’d pay more money to see it with a band!
Lea: The scale of it and the musical depth and volume of it was fabulous.
Sybil: Incredible.
Lea: Really – the only thing I was aching for was more visual effects to aid the storytelling. It was done beautifully on a budget.
Sybil: I kinda quite liked the fact that it was so stark and minimal.
Lea: It was fine but for me just at the beginning I felt that it needed a – he needed that support to begin the story.
Sybil: A band! If he had a band that would be fine!
Lea: I guess then he wouldn’t have been so exposed at the very start. But that’s minimal.
Sybil: I really, really enjoyed it. And considering that I had a really shitty thing happen just before we went in and I was really distracted by that – I mean, I found it very hard to let that go and be in the moment.
Lea: He helped you?
Sybil: It was wonderful.
Lea: I just think his voice is even better than I realised.
Sybil: Yes, and great storytelling.
Lea: Absolutely. Great presence on stage.
Sybil: Great vocal command – not just in his singing voice but in his speaking voice. Really beautiful.
Lea: That’s what I was saying, that beat poetry/performance art – gorgeous. I think I need to write that. Maybe I need to spend some time writing crazy poetry.
Sybil: I think you should!
Lea: Yeah. You heard it here first.
Sybil: Lea Riley, this generation’s beat poet.
Lea: She speaks for Sydney women aged between 30 and 42.
Sybil: In the middle class. In the Inner West. Who see a lot of theatre… It’s a niche. But it’s cool.
Lea: But she works it! It’s a thing!
Sybil: Well it could be. I don’t think it is yet, but it’s there for you to develop! You can own that niche, baby!
Lea: Beat poet festival.
Sybil: Of one.
Lea: Back to Toby – perfectly timed length of the show. I was left wanting more which is a good thing.
Sybil: I was going to say, I could listen to Toby sing all day.
Lea: And speak all day.
Sybil: And speak all day, yes.
Lea: He has a really nice way of making everyone feel like they’re a little bit special in the audience, I thought.
Sybil: I agree.
Lea: Or maybe that was just you and me!
Sybil: No, I did see he does genuinely make eye contact with – or appears to make eye contact with everyone in the audience.
Lea: Very, very lovely.
Sybil: Out of 5?
Lea: Oh – wait. Must mention, pianist, awesome.
Sybil: I already mentioned him. He was awesome.
Lea: We didn’t say it enough. Awesome, awesome, awesome!
Sybil: Really good. Yes, We liked him.
Lea: Oh. Four.
Sybil: Me too.
Lea: Oh, stop it!
Sybil: First show we’ve seen in ages and we actually agree! Although I will revise that potentially when I do my comparison of them all together.
Lea: Sybil’s Hayes Cabaret Festival synopsis…
Sybil: Sybil’s Synopsis! Love it! So – right now it’s four but it might go to four and a half.
Lea: Oh. Great – can’t wait to see what happens. Cool.
Sybil: Mmmm. I’m already worrying about how I’m going to rate it against Hilary.
Lea: Let’s not even talk about the fact that I talked about Michael Griffiths’ cabaret show in front of him…
Sybil: Go Lea. Luckily you were saying nice things.
Lea: Over and…
Sybil: Out!

IN SUMMARY

Sybil: The more cabaret I see the more I love the art form. The more of Toby Francis I see, the more I want to see. It’s such a privilege to see young, talented, passionate performers taking their careers by the throat. And it’s so wonderful that there are now venues like the Hayes that support these types of shows. I hope we get this posted in time to influence people to go see this show. It is wonderful and the more I think about it, the richer it gets. Four and a half wine glasses.
Lea: I would never have expected to see a show about Jim Steinman, but there I was, sitting in the Hayes, utterly enjoying an original cabaret with his story at the centre. Toby Francis has crafted a fresh, beguiling and satisfying work. His command of the space, the songs and his audience was really impressive. I was in the hands of a professional, with compelling stories to tell. Can’t wait for more.
Question: Is there anyone you would love a cabaret written about?

PRE SHOW DRINKS: With curtains up at 8:30pm, we had time for a quick bite and BYO wine at the Opium Den. Sounds like trouble, but we were very civilised I swear.