For some, it wouldn’t have been the Adelaide Cabaret Festival without Rhonda Burchmore making an appearance throughout its run at some point. This year, audience members got more for their money, with the leggy Aussie icon returning to the stage alongside her ‘twin’, the irrepressible Trevor Ashley.
Wrapping up their season in Adelaide at the Dunstan Playhouse overnight, the duo took the crowd through 80 minutes of high camp theatrics, duets and comedy that struck a chord with some audience members, while losing the affections of the others along the way.
On paper, this team up works perfectly: Burchmore’s reputation as a beloved entertainer more than precedes her, while Ashley’s presence more than holds its own against Rhonda as they high kick and shimmy their way through their Vegas showgirl routine. However there were moments within the show that fell flat and it was a struggle to regain its sequin-flung posture.
While the duo’s pisstake of the Kardashians and general celebrity obsession via an Entertainment Tonight satire worked well and got to the point, Burchmore and Ashley’s send up of Ellen Degeneres and Portia De Rossi in ‘channelling your inner lesbian’ earned more forced applause than at other points during the show. Similarly, their Real Housewives of ISIS pre-recorded visuals were out of place and unfunny. I’m certainly not prudish when it comes to enjoying comedy, but moments like the above were noticeably going right over the head of some audience members seated around me.
In saying this, Twins really hit the mark at other points – Burchmore’s impersonation of Sia singing “Chandelier” being a clear highlight, especially with Ashley’s interpretation of Maddie Ziegler‘s choreography having the performer flinging himself across the stage in a nude leotard.
The band, affectionately named Jimmy and the Twinks carry the live music well under the musical direction of James Simpson. They became as much of the show as opposed to being relegated to faceless musicians shrouded in darkness; donned in white shorts and sparkly T-shirts, the young band weren’t safe from the affections of Burchmore and Ashley as the show continued, to the delight of the audience.
The banter between Burchmore and Ashley, coupled with their clear adoration for each other made up for some of the show’s low points, not to mention the sheer glitz of their costuming.
While I have enjoyed both Burchmore and Ashley’s performances in the past, I do feel like I left the Playhouse feeling like there was more lacking to this show than I’d expected. The humour was as you’d expect from this type of late-night show but even then, some jokes were crass to the point of losing their original edge. A little more trash than treasure, unfortunately.
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Header Image: John McRae
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