Review by: Tatum Stafford
As frequent festival goers will know, there’s no greater place to wrap up a night of Fringe bingeing than the Ellington with a glass of wine in hand. Acclaimed cabaret performer Joe Louis Robinson affirms this with his fun and frivolous show, ‘Joe Louis & Friends: Late Night Cabaret Variety’, which I was lucky to catch during the first week of its run.
The premise is simple: Joe is at the keys to celebrate the best of jazz, cabaret, and comedy from across the festival and the city. And boy did he deliver.
After an upbeat opening from Joe, cabaret performer Sarah Bowers enchanted the audience with a jazzy rendition of “My Favourite Things” from The Sound of Music, followed by a hilarious number with a simple question: “what do I do with my arms?”
She was followed by Skank Sinatra (AKA Jens Radda), a drag performer with a phenomenal voice and a penchant for intriguing storytelling, which was a joy to watch in such an intimate venue. They offered up a scintillating tale about a night at Berghain in Berlin (if you know you know), and then a charming duet with Joe; “Class” from Chicago.
The final performer of the night, and certainly worth the wait, was international cabaret icon Mama Alto, who rendered the room speechless with a stirring performance of “Losing My Mind” from Follies. This was followed up by a stunning rendition of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now”, before Joe wrapped the show with a super fun (and admittedly, a shameless plug) Eurovision tribute that had the room dancing along and the venue’s disco ball spinning.
As a musical theatre tragic, the line-up I was treated to was pitch perfect and honoured the greats, including Stephen Sondheim, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Kander and Ebb. I’d encourage you to grab a ticket to his next show - who knows what you’ll be treated to? What I do know if you won’t be disappointed!
