The Divine Miss Bette at Sydney Opera House.
Catherine Alcorn is a darling of the Australian cabaret scene. With her big voice, big personality, and even bigger eyelashes, Alcorn owns the stage from the moment she appears. The words, the songs, the mannerisms may be Bette’s but this is Catherine’s show. She can stop the laughter with a glance and elicit applause on command.
This show has seen some changes since it first opened at the Wagga Wagga Country Club in 2009. There have been changes in the line-up, with new musicians and backing singers, but the basic show and x-rated Christmas Cracker jokes are still the same. The sequinned ‘harlettes’ Paris and Brittany (not their real names!) are gems – talented singers, smooth movers, and happy to step into the shadows when required. They were a highlight of this two-hour ode to all things Bette.
Alcorn devotes much of the show to Midler’s ‘Sophie Tucker’ routines, delivering the lines verbatim in a screechy New York drawl. A tribute show is a great way to pull together some iconic songs, but to just reproduce a performance is rather less satisfying. Wasn’t it Oscar Wilde who said ‘Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.’?
The iconic Bette Midler songs are all there, and Alcorn sings them with feeling. She has a big, bluesy voice and the chutzpah to go with it. Delta Dawn, Wind Beneath My Wings, The Rose, Stay With Me Baby, and Miss Otis Regrets are all there and more. Some of the ballads would be benefit from a little more vulnerability and a little less sass. And you really can’t do justice to Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy without a brass section. (Curiously the flyer says “backed by a star-studded seven piece band” but there were only four musos and two singers on stage – did the bugle boy stay with Company B?)
Catherine Alcorn has the energy, charisma, and voice to make this a great show, but I didn’t really see that on opening night at the Opera House.
3 stars ★★★The Divine Miss Bette
Starring Catherine Alcorn
23-26 August 2018
Sydney Opera House, Sydney
