When you put 10 of the divas who’ve left a lasting impression on the world of music in one room, what do you see?
Spoiler alert. Brilliance and arrogance, uncertainty and fear, drug and alcohol abuse, fractured families and untimely deaths.
The 10 real-life stars recreated in this show have all the makings of a damn good drama – and here Bernadette Robinson has created one, weaving their life stories and music together over two hours of passion, heartbreak and joy.
Robinson’s one-woman show, Divas, launched on Wednesday at the ASB Waterfront Theatre in Auckland.
Robinson's voice has a wide vocal range, with power and intensity. (Image: Peter Simpson)
It’s a kind of marathon: Robinson impersonates 10 singers and pays tribute to each with three songs and a monologue, switching from rock to opera to rousing ballads and a good ole helping of country. She has a wide vocal range, a voice with power and intensity.
Karen Carpenter is vulnerable, hesitant. Amy Winehouse is confused, rebellious. Edith Piaf? Well, we know she indulged in affairs and loved life, but sung in French, the songs left us none the wiser. However, Robinson is most successful as Edith Piaf and Judy Garland.
Kate Bush a standout
A standout was an expressive Kate Bush agonising over the ghosts of Wuthering Heights. "So cold." Chilling.
However, it's a tough call for a singer to interpret so many styles of so many women and be a knockout in all of them.
There are no costume changes, no set changes, no supporting cast and only three musicians with the performer on a stripped-bare stage.
From Judy Garland to Miley Cyrus: Bernadette Robinson. (Image: Chris Pavlich)
Throughout the whole performance, Robinson wears the same jacket and pants, roaming the stage with a microphone and using chairs as her only props.
Despite this, she channels her subjects – at times powerful and at others fragile and broken, occasionally moving us near to tears.
Soon, we know the formula of the show so well we’re looking ahead at the poster showing the divas and longing for just a few bars of a song here and there rather than the whole nine yards. Case in point: Maria Callas: few knew who she was. Few cared.
Where was the intermission?
After the show, I heard some call to each other: “Brilliant! Amazing!”
Some said an intermission would have been good because the audience started to get restless about the four divas from the end. After the final curtain call, some limped off, stiff from two hours of sitting.
This show would have been even more amazing in a cabaret-style setting where the audience would be free to shuffle, murmur, take part, cheer, dance and sing along. In some ways, the characters would really have come to life.
Divas runs until Oct 22 at the ASB Waterfront Theatre in Auckland.
