My Weekend in Review

This weekend I was in Adelaide for the Cabaret Festival. Of course, this time last year I was in the same place at around the same time seeing Idina Menzel, which is very hard to top!

We saw two shows of the festival, although there were more we would have liked to have seen if time had allowed.

High School Disco:

On Friday night, we went and saw High School Disco, Tim Campbell's show to celebrate his debut album of the same name. I was so excited for this show, because not only is the album great, but because I'd been waiting since 2010 for the chance to meet Tim Campbell. Tim was my 2nd Fiyero I ever saw in Wicked, and my favourite (well, one of them. I have 2).

Me with Tim Campbell :)

High School Disco is all about celebrating the music of the 70s and 80s. Of course, I wasn't born in either of those decades (I was born in 1990. But I was conceived in the 80s if that counts?), but I knew the majority of the songs anyway, because it's great music. Plus, my mum is a huge 80s music fan, and an even bigger fan of 80s movies- which feature so many of the most famous songs from the era.

The show was awesome, and it captured the feel of a disco in high school... ok, yes my high school discos were in the 2000s, but from what I can tell the only thing that's really changed is the music.

Tim posing with the gift bag we got him.

And yes, I met Tim :D And he was just as funny and lovely as I'd always imagined from seeing him on TV and Twitter. And now I can cross that off my bucket list (not even joking. It was on there). We got him a little gift, just some chocolate and wine and he liked it, so I'm stoked.








Picture Perfect:

On Saturday night, we went and saw Picture Perfect, a song cycle written by Scott Evan Davis and starring (amongst others) David Harris, Amity Dry and Johanna Allen.
This was my first song cycle, I'd never even heard of it until we booked tickets! It was a beautiful show, with some lovely music. And the whole cast were amazing, everyone is so talented! I don't even think I could pinpoint a favourite part of the show.

Me with Amity Dry

I was also very excited to get to meet Amity Dry, I played her first album The Lighthouse on repeat for several months when it first came out. And she was so lovely, and I got both her albums signed.

With David Harris

And as always, it was lovely to have a chat with David Harris. I think I was most excited to give him his present (he's moving to the US soon...ish), Kelly and I were so proud of it! Haha. I love giving people gifts, especially gifts we've put a lot of effort into making (also, the bag was quite heavy and I'd been lugging it around all night, haha).

This is what we had made for David. Cool, huh?  Sydney Harbour, Bondi Beach and the Maitland Town Hall- because that's where he's from. 

So that was my weekend. Finished off with heart palpitations and an inability to breathe last night which meant I had to call myself an ambulance. Scariest moment of my life, and a real bummer on which to finish the weekend. (I'm ok now. Mostly). 

Jemma Rix: The Random Variety

I have really missed hearing Jemma Rix sing.

I've known this, but I don't think I realised how much I missed it until Saturday night when we went to The Butterfly in Melbourne to see Jemma's cabaret show The Random Variety.

The best kind of random 

It was such a fantastic night, and so worth all the travelling (from Tamworth to Melbourne) and the lack of sleep.

Jemma's voice is so strong and beautiful, and made me even more excited (if possible) to see Wicked again. Seriously, Jemma can sing everything, as the show demonstrated over the course of an hour.

I could just say the whole night was awesome and amazing (and it was), but I had some definite highlights.

Also, she looked really pretty- as always :)

1. Jemma singing "With You" from Ghost, the musical. Such a gorgeous song and she was so in character... she looked like she was about to cry, which made me almost cry, and it's this whole thing. 
2. A mash-up of "Quiet" from Matilda the musical, and "Titanium". Wow. They actually combined so well, and it sounded fantastic. 
3. A Romeo and Juliet musical made with Rihanna songs, which I would totally pay to see. It was awesome. And also, Jemma could totally be Juliet. 
4. The song that started the show, an original song written by David Young (or DY), and ending with a medley of all sorts of songs of all genres. It was just fun, and such a high energy way to start the show.
5. Jemma also demonstrated her Japanese skills with a few Wicked lines, which always sounds funny. I've seen it on YouTube, but it was still great to hear. 
6. The random fact that Jemma did highland dancing for 8 years! Like competitions and everything! How cool is that?! 

I think they were all my most favourite bits... but every song was enjoyable and sung beautifully. She did some pop, and some show tunes... a little bit of everything, and really showed how versatile she is as an artist (wow, I've been watching The Voice too much, LOL).

And fully supported what so many Wicked fans have been saying for ages, that Jemma absolutely needs an album. Because I could listen to her voice all day. I actually told Jemma that after the show and she said she'd love to, and you never know! One day, it could happen! 

I always love seeing Jemma, because she's so sweet. We had decided that this, being her first cabaret type show, her first thing that's just her and not a character, deserved to be celebrated; so we'd gone shopping that day for the perfect gift for her. And man, did we find the perfect gift.

IT'S A WIZARD OF OZ MINIATURE TEA SET!!!! How perfect is that??

Oh, and also- the Butterfly Club itself- wow, I love that place. We will definitely going back. The atmosphere is awesome and it's so beautiful! I wish I'd taken more pictures of the interior, but I had to get a photo of this painting... just because it looks like there should be a secret door behind it.

Or maybe I just read Harry Potter too much...

Anyway, to sum up: the Butterfly Club is a very cool and beautiful place, and Jemma Rix is the greatest. The End.

Me and Jemma :)