Review: Meow Meow in Beyond Glamour: The Absinthe Tour

Meow Meow has changed my life.

This didn’t happen last Thursday at the Soho Theatre, but about three years ago in Sydney when I last saw Beyond Glamour at the Sydney Opera House.

Meow Meow is the cabaret alter ego of Melissa Madden Gray, an Australian actress who occasionally pops up in Shakespeare and opera in Melbourne and around Australia. However, you would never know this, considering neither the actress nor the persona will talk of each other. Instead, Meow Meow tours the globe performing in some of the world’s most prestigious and well known cabaret venues, regularly appearing in La Clique and being courted by people like David Bowie and John Cameron Mitchell. She is a force to be reckoned with and I’ve been lucky enough to see her grace the Sydney Opera House stage no less than five times. She is not just a singer, or a performer, but an artist who can take songs and breathe new life and meaning into them, bending them to her will.

When I first saw Meow Meow in Beyond Glamour, she inspired me to perform. After seeing her show I was driven to find my own niche within the cabaret scene and perform the hell out of it. What eventually became of it was a 6 month weekly stint performing and producing cabaret in one of my favourite cabaret venues in Sydney. Such is the power of Meow Meow.

Beyond Glamour is a show that Meow Meow has been performing around the world for nigh on five years. However, upon witnessing it again in London, I wouldn’t have guessed it. Her chaotic style and pace keeps the material original, as she throws herself through a set list comprised of originals and classics in around half a dozen languages. Her manic delivery and banter makes the audience genuinely believe that everything is going wrong as she manages to use audience members in a way I have never seen a performer pull off. Constantly climbing through the crowd, abusing and controlling people and pulling off one of the finest crowd surfing moments in a sit-down theatre I think I will ever see, Meow Meow is possibly the most chaotic cabaret show you will see.

Musically, backed by the Emmy award winning composer/producer/pianist Lance Horne, Meow Meow’s velvetty vocals have never sounded better. As a chanteuse, she echoes the greats of a genre dominated by singers who are long dead, such as Marlene Deitrich, Lotte Lenye and Edith Piaf. Her rendition of songs such as Surabaya Johnny echo the greats, and yet are infused with so much character that she makes you believe they were written just for her. To boot, her songwriting abilities are quite impressive too. Although she only performs one or two in this show, her songs sound like cabaret standards that have stood the test of time. She slots so easily into the genre, and then dominates it with a personality that is bigger than any other performer out there.

I hope she brings her other shows, such as Vamp and Meow to the World: Crisis is Born, to the London stage soon. Whilst Beyond Glamour still holds a place in my heart, affectionately dubbed by a colleague in Sydney as ‘the show where she can’t finish one fucking song,’ when Meow Meow gets into full swing she can produce shows that can no longer be seen as cabaret, but full blown classic theatre. With Beyond Glamour, Meow Meow is merely establishing herself as the best cabaret artist the world has to offer. Not bad for something that isn’t even her best work.

In fact, she’s made me start planning my cabaret again…

Beyond Glamour: The Absinthe Tour is playing at Soho Theatre until April 10.