Big, bold and brassy
Dolly Diamond isn’t one to let a festival like Midsumma go past without bringing out the big guns. Suffice it to say a 15-piece big band to accompany the adopted jewel of Melbourne and her long-time collaborator Luke Gallagher should do the trick.
Getting Down and Brassy is the duo’s brand new cabaret production and one of the premiere events of the 2011 Midsumma Festival.
Presented by JOY94.9 FM and the Victorian AIDS Council/Gay Men’s Health Centre, the five shows will run in January at fortyfivedownstairs, the independent theatre and gallery space.
“It is a bit of a time wrap. We’re going back through the ‘30s, ‘40s and all the different eras, mainly because it’s just an excuse to wear all different costumes,” Diamond’s alter-ego Michael Dalton said.
“We kept looking through songs we wanted to do and just kept finding all these classics. We thought ‘how do we put this together?’ and it just seemed perfect to do it in that time-travelling way; a kind of cabaret, camp Doctor Who.”
The show will feature songs from Frank Sinatra through to the Eurythmics, Thelma Houston, Kylie Minogue, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, and Michael Bublé, all with the 15-piece Diamond & Gallagher Big Band.
“We’ve really got a lot of artists we admire and songs we’ve always wanted to do and now have the balls to do them,” Dalton said.
“I still get to go out into the audience to search and destroy though.”
The pair aren’t strangers to the occasional big band performance, but this is certainly the largest gathering they’ve assemble on-stage.Diamond will be a common fixture as part of this year’s Midsumma, as the drag icon kicks off what looks to be another busy year.
“Dolly’s always hungry, we’re part of the opening at Carnival and we’ve got the Cabaret Festival coming up in March — which Luke Gallagher will also have a show in — but I imagine this will be the last show where Dolly and Luke are together for at least the first half of the year,” he said.
info: Diamond & Gallagher – Getting Down and Brassy is at fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne from January 21-29. Bookings: 9662 9966/www.fortyfivedownstairs.com or for more information, visit www.midsumma.org.au
