The Underground Hour | Claire Owen & performers
Now that’s entertainment!
Directed by Claire Owen and produced by Meg Cooper of Mad Dance House, The Underground Hour is an hour of classic cabaret escapism and live performance to celebrate the end of lockdown. Featuring four of Brisbane’s most versatile song and dance performers, it was a night of sass, sequins, feathers and a whole lot of fun.
Image: Janna Imperial
The premise of The Underground Hour is a simple one. Four strangers, all talented performers in their own right, are drawn together to make the show-stopping spectacular that they couldn’t make on their own. As they share their story of coming together, they dance and sing their way through a great range of classic show tunes and contemporary commercial hits. The fourth wall be damned, they performed directly to us, sharing their story and all of themselves. They love the audience as much as we love them, and crave our adulation. And we were more than happy to give it to them. They gave their all to a soundtrack that includes contemporary hits from Madonna and Taylor Swift, old school classics from Frank Sinatra and musical theatre standards from Moulin Rouge, Dream Girls and Smash.
In The Underground Hour, the four performers are all given a chance to shine and showcase their versatility as performers, both together and individally. Hannah Rigby leads the troupe, with confidence and charm, telling the story of the group came together, while showcasing her talent as an all-rounder, being able to command the stage in stillness while belting out “And I’m Telling You”, and then jumping straight into a high energy dance routine. Jared Misfud is all flirt and sass, showing us how it’s done in heels, before effortlessly leading a tango with strength and power it needs. Demi Jenkins, holds her own against her company, but truly owns the stage when she brings the circuss, singing WILL skating and hooping down the house. And last, but by no means least, is Emma Whitefield. Fresh from dazzling on the Royal Caribbean for the last two years, Emma high kicks and spins with precision and her rendition of “They Just Keep Moving the Line” from Smash absolutely brought the house down. What a range!
Image: Janna Imperial
Director Claire Owen utilises all parts of the Brooklyn Standard to great effect throughout the show. The performers not only own the stage, they weave through the crowd, take over the bar and even skate rings around the audience. It really brings us into the bar-alley, dive-bar aesthetic they were going for. As well as this, Claire’s choreography brings out the performers’ individual talents in their solos and in group routines and their unison and group work is tight, sharp and on the money.
If I could change anything it would be the overall narrative of show. The story threading The Underground Hour together was a little threadbare and somewhat unnecessary thoughout. All four performers charmed our pants off and the group’s joy of being on back stage was infectious, so the only banter and crowd talk The Underground Hour probably needed was for the performers to share what it was like to survive through COVID and how it feels to be back to the stage in front of an audience again. This was perfectly exemplified by one of the highlights of the show being Jared on top of the bar responding to the text messages he’s received as a part of the show’s nightly competition.
Image: Janna Imperial
The Underground Hour is pure cabaret entertainment for those who love song and dance brought to you by some of Brisbane best and most versatile performers. Claire Owen and the performers have created a fun-filled, high energy hour of show-stopping hits that had the audience clapping and stomping along the whole time. The Underground Hour is theperfect piece of escapism to celebrate the resurgence of live performance in Brisbane and is not to be missed the next time it comes to town.
