Cabaret All Stars – featuring Toyah Willcox
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Star rating: Five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Proud Cabaret is renowned for presenting flashy evenings of diverse entertainment. There are venues in the City, Brighton and in the West End at Embankment, where Cabaret All Stars features a headline name as host for the evening. Previous hosts have included Duncan James, Kerry Ellis, Denise Van Outen, Bill Bailey and Julian Clary but this autumn season kicks off with 1980s new-wave heroine Toyah Willcox.
Willcox originally came to fame in 1981, when she appeared on Top of the Pops sporting bright orange hair and singing ‘It’s a Mystery’. Erring towards the softer side of punk, she had further hits with ‘Thunder in the Mountains’ and ‘I Want to Be Free’. Alongside her music career, Willcox also had an acting career, working on screen in Derek Jarman’s Jubilee and The Tempest. Later in her career Willcox appeared in musicals playing the title role in Calamity Jane and Sally Bowles in Cabaret.
At Chichester and on tour, Willcox was also a notable Peter Pan opposite Frank Finlay’s Captain Hook. It now seems appropriate that in her sixties, nothing of Willcox’s energy or stage presence seems to have diminished. She is the original Peter Pan of Punk, embracing her new cabaret family with obvious affection. Understandable when she is surrounded by such a talented company of vocalists, aerialists, burlesque artists and dancers that make up the Proud Cabaret company.
As a warm-up act, Miss Ritzy Crackers handles the crowd with panache, delivering a few familiar tunes including the perennial ‘Willkommen’ from the musical Cabaret. For those unaware of the format of the cabaret, it gives you an idea that this is an evening devoted to decadence and acceptance. There follows an unstoppable avalanche of acts, such as the frenetic, fantastic Pi The Mime, who puts a new spin on the concept of 9 to 5, transforming from a bored, blue collar worker to showgirl in a comedy routine. There’s also the sublime Marie Devilreux, who fuses old-school burlesque with more than a hint of fetish.
J’Adore La Vie is a slick, comedy double-act lip-syncing through their hilarious dance routine while Isabella Bliss not only looks remarkably like Marilyn Monroe but also sounds like her, as she sashays through the one of the movie star’s routines. There’s also Shade Flamewater breathing fire and Katrina Louise and Lady Lydia performing some breathtaking aerialist routines.
Willcox slips remarkably easily into this eclectic group of cabaret and burlesque acts. There’s a fair bit of name-dropping in her patter, but what can you expect from the anarchist who has had tea with the Queen and Princess Margaret or worked with Hepburn and Olivier. Most refreshingly, Willcox’s musical numbers are live and she’s still got it. The finale of the evening, featuring the whole company, is the anthemic ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ with Willcox channelling her inner Slash.
Proud Cabaret has always been a celebratory event, providing first-class entertainment along with gourmet food and decadent cocktails. The headline name is always a draw – the new season also sees John Partridge and Denise Van Outen taking centre stage. But what this reviewer couldn’t miss was the efficiency and enthusiasm of both the backstage team and the waiting staff. Stage manager Tiff, stationed stage-left of the runway throughout, was undoubtedly loving every minute of her evening. When she wasn’t rescuing abandoned clothing from the acts, or cleaning the stage of water, she was sat glued to the show, singing along to the musical numbers with a smile on her face. If we all had a job that had that effect, then the world would undoubtedly be a much better place.
– Paul Vale