The Underground Hour | Claire Owen & performers.
The Underground Hour - a crowd-pleasing, glittery cabaret that harks back to times of feathers and Frank Sinatra. If you like your performers giving you all they’ve got and your showtunes to go up a key to hit a big finish, then this is the show for you. Big talent, big energy and a full house almost burst the seams of the small underground bar, Brooklyn Standard, in Brisbane’s CBD. Someone give these people a big band and a wall of lights. They deserve it.
A brief clarifier: this is a fun night out, but it’s certainly not a dark or risque style of cabaret. Based on the name and venue alone, I was expecting a bit more of this grunge than we got. No nipple tassels, satire or crude jokes. It’s just a fun show with massive entertainment value. Grab a bevvy and enjoy an hour with these sensational entertainers.
Image: Janna Imperial
It was clear that this show was made for four local performers: Hannah Rigby, Jared Mifsud, Emma Whitefield and Demi Jenkins. Each brought their own flair and energy to the stage - and out into the audience for that matter. One minute you could be watching the show-stopping vocals of Hannah Rigby up on the stage, the next minute she’s sitting on the bar next to you watching another act. They used the intimacy of the space to bring us into their show. There’s something magical about seeing dancers of this calibre in such an intimate venue. You get to appreciate the chemistry between performers and intricacies of their physicality. Did I mention they were singing too? Yeah, they can sing all right! I’ve been going to so many drag shows that I’ve forgotten people can actually sing at cabarets.
The acts were strung together by a fictional story of performers joining together and trying to ‘make it big’. These monologue interludes between acts were charming, but I’d say unnecessary. It transported me to a world of Broadway politics when I wanted to stay in the room with the performers. They have the charisma to hold their own without a narrative. There was a moment when Jarred Mifsud jumped up on the bar and had banter with the audience as he chose who would win a free cocktail in a competition they had running. It was a highly engaging moment of improvisation that brought me closer to the performers, rather than trying to connect through a half-baked story.
Claire Owen’s direction and choreography presents the show as effortless in what I’m sure is quite a challenging space to perform in. The tiny stage and low ceilings didn’t detract at all from the flair and finesse of her choreography. Owen’s use of the entire venue really made the show. The transitions between acts were flawless and the whole thing had a sense of momentum.
It was a great time to be underground for an hour with The Underground Hour. They are doing two more shows next Wednesday 9th and Saturday 10th December.
