Above: Naomi Price. Photo credit: Jade Ferguson. Featured image: Naomi Price and Tom Oliver. Photo credit: Dylan Evans
And so it is Christmas. It’s all around. Again. Through the typical hype this year we are sobered a bit by ongoing bushfires and a harsh climate or few. As usual also our personal weather can never truly be put on hold, or at least not without a brave end-of-year face.
Assorted challenges of this type are celebrated in Richard Curtis’ film Love Actually, the starting point for Christmas Actually, The Little Red Company’s cabaret taking festivity and humanity to a bright new level.
In The Studio space at standing room only capacity, and the production easily transportable to a larger venue, we were treated to a cosy but slick entertainment.
This absolute cracker of a show was full of great comic moments, with wild excursions into the audience and fab cabaret banter linking the music from the soundtrack of Love Actually.
Above: Stefanie Caccamo with Naomi Price.
Devoted fans of this film were always set to be thrilled by a smooth sleigh ride through its diverse songlist. Added to that is some effective set list or track ordering. This is gilded by a morphing of the films gently direct sentiments to give even more local or general reference.
In this way the music of Love Actually pops brightly as it decorates the plight of any punter on stage, screen or elsewhere craving comfort, joy and love on many levels this yuletide.
The group for this Christmas gathering onstage was one fine family. On top of the holiday pavlova was the powerhouse voice, presence and constant presents of expert comic timing from Naomi Price.
Starting the night strongly with the film’s classic chestnut, ‘Christmas is All Around’ and a stack of visual and verbal gags, Price’s vocal tone and charm grabbed us in a super-genuine satirical hug that did not loosen for the rest of the show.
Above: Luke Kennedy. Photo credit: Dylan Evans.
Naomi Price was supported by a trio of singers and triple-threat performers (Tom Oliver, Stefanie Caccomo and Luke Kennedy) and equally talented band (Mik Easterman, Scott French, Michael Manikus and OJ Newcomb).
As the soundtrack favourites decked out this venue for fans and even for their friends not yet as obsessed with the cult Christmas film, the four singers took turns presenting flashbacks to the predicaments and December courage of Love Actually characters.
Standout mellow moments were Naomi Price’s clear conversation with measured layering in the Eva Cassidy classic ‘Songbird’. Lovers of this soundtrack were also able to feast on the emotion and truth in her well-paced and subtly-coloured cover of Joni Mitchell’s ‘Both Sides Now’. The solo work from Stefanie Caccamo was also chilling emotional edge-of-seat stuff here.
Like any true Christmas, this nicely carefully structured event had loads of contrast, with portraits of frustration often followed by fun. Salutes to the dance sequence from Hugh Grant in the film and the flash card messages of Keira Knightley’s paramour were both given an amazing update for Sydney and Australia in the sequence of stage scenes.
Audience had a chance to swap hectic Christmas preparation stress for laughter, singalongs and had constant quality music to discover or rediscover. The final encore was hilarious local fare, a cinnamon-stick touch in an already perfectly wrapped gift for us.
This encore was a parody of local Christmas TV and pretty masterful collection of vocal mimicry. It turned festive candlelight into edgy newer year comedy fireworks.
If you can manage to grab a ticket to Christmas Actually in the current December sales you won’t regret it. And the many sides of your Christmas spirit will thank you.