Genre
Cabaret, Comedy
Location
Drama Theatre
Address
Sydney Opera House, Sydney
Date
18 December 2007 to 23 December 2007
Tickets
$49.90/$44.90
Phone Bookings
(02) 9250 7777
Online Bookings
http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/
Preview

Mark Trevorrow got a small shock when he first saw the advertisements for Ding Dong Downe, a variety show featuring his alter ego Bob Downe and all-round trouper Denise Drysdale.

"I realised in the ads and the posters it never says 'Bob Downe' or 'Denise Drysdale'," says Trevorrow, who designed the artwork himself. "What I thought is, you don't actually need to put our full names!"

So these two are now like Kylie or Madonna, Kath and Kim? "Isn't that absolutely amazing?" says Trevorrow, who's speaking from behind mirrored sunglasses the day after entertaining journalists at the Walkley awards.

Trevorrow started his working life as a newspaper copy boy so he bumped into many familiar faces the night before. He says office life wasn't his cup of tea, though it was for his brother John, who is the deputy editor of Melbourne's Herald Sun.

Mark Trevorrow grew up not only making his own little newspapers and magazines at school and dreaming up radio shows with his siblings and kids from the neighbourhood but also admiring a certain comedienne who kept popping up on Melbourne television.

As he tells it, teaming up with Drysdale is a dream come true. "I've been working on Denise for 20 years," Trevorrow says. Their first collaboration came about last year when they starred on the Foxtel show Karaoke Dokey.

"We were hoping for a second series but, as Denise said, we won't get a second series - it's too much fun and we all get on too well and we're all liking each other too much. So I said we should think about working together and she was up for it because that's how she makes her living now, like me, with live gigs."

Ding Dong Downe is 90 minutes of sketches and songs (think classic pop and rock numbers such as Cinderella Rockefeller, I Got You Babe, Can't Take My Eyes Off You and Hey Paula, a smash hit for Drysdale and Ernie Sigley in 1975).

The show opened at the classic club venue Twin Towns, on the Queensland-NSW border, and earlier this month Trevorrow and Drysdale played their home town of Melbourne.

"It's still evolving but we've really hit our straps," Trevorrow says. "It also took a while for us to tune into each other. It was an interesting thing that happened with Denise. She kept saying to me, 'You just tell me what you want', and I didn't really hear what she was saying to me.

"I've worked with a generation of women performers like ... Gina Riley and Gaby Millgate and all of these women are my generation, who just naturally expect to have an equal say and an equal dynamic.

"Denise comes from a generation above me where girls have always been expected to play second fiddle to the guys. Of course, her success is built on her genius of always getting the last word or the last laugh with those guys, so, of course, she completely wins over the audience.

"She understands deeply and brilliantly the second-banana thing. So once I understood she really wanted me to lead, once the penny dropped - and it only took a couple of shows - then it's really taken off."

Trevorrow says people continue to be drawn to Bob, a polyester-wearing amalgamation of cheesy lounge singer and game-show host because "there's a childlike thing in him - he's like a naughty little show-off boy".

"Everybody remembers somebody in the family or a friend or being like that themselves," he says. "He stays very childlike - that's where Denise and I connect so powerfully. She's such a child spirit. Her comedy comes from telling the truth about a situation or a true story."

He says the pairing of Bob and Ding Dong - Drysdale was given the nickname by Sigley when she was his sidekick - attracts "three generations of a family, from six to 60".

"We've got a very complementary audience," he says. "She plays to a lot of older people - she does that circuit of morning melodies and she plays a lot of cabaret kind of gigs in regional arts centres. Her people feel that they know her and they do because what you see is what you get with Denise, while I've got the luxury of hiding behind a character."
Katrina Lobley

I have always had a soft spot for Bob Downe (aka Mark Trevorrow) and his kitschy gay schtick – his daggy dancing, safari suits (in this case, a denim patchwork number) and his incredible agility with eyeball acrobatics. In the past I have found his blend of musical, spoken and physical comedy quite funny. Having not seen him for some time, I was curious what he had in store in this two-hander with TV legend Denise Drysdale.

The 100 minute show passed quickly enough, and the enthusiastic audience was into it before the duo even hit the stage, but the material was, to say the least, a bit tired and there was potential for far greater from the talented performers and their supportive band (led by musical director John Thorn).

Starting with some corny dancing, a lot of filler banter, Christmas chatter and a musical duet, the pair opened the show together. There was plenty of back-patting and talking each other up, with Downe's rubber-man physicality in tandem with Drysdale's upbeat, giggly persona. The show then moved into individual segments – the first from Drysdale.

Drysdale, as we learn, is 59 (and three days – it was her birthday on Wednesday) and she is still out there, ever the show woman. She has lasted decades in an industry where it is nearly impossible for a female to find longevity and I do respect her for that. Most of the audience loved her and the man who got to sit on her lap and snuggle into her (newly-reduced) breasts said it was his dream come true.

For me, though, her musical numbers were entertaining enough, but the humour was just bland. She told us too much information about the aforementioned breast reduction, did imitations of horses, chooks and even bacon being fried (this involved her lying supine and shaking furiously), donned oversized nanna underwear and huge F-size bra to sing in a range of impressions from Marilyn Monroe to John Wayne. It was hardly cutting-edge stuff.

Downe's segment mixed jokes about politicians, Melbourne, fashion and his family with some great songs. I loved his Land Down Under (which he playfully attributed to Peter Garrett and Midnight Oil) and would have liked more music and less talk. His banter was well-timed and there was some good material, but I swear I have heard all those jokes before… and I haven't seen the guy in at least five years! At segment's end, Drysdale came out as an unwilling harem girl (with pasties on her breasts – thankfully, she was wearing a modest black top underneath) to join him for a rendition of Elvis Presley's Little Egypt. Two willing audience members helped her achieve Little Egypt's required triple somersault before she hobbled back off stage.

She returned for some final dueting – the classic AC/DC ballad It's A Long Way To the Top to finish the show and Downe introduced us to the band members. It turns out the young drummer (Downe told him "Any younger and you'd be eight cells) could really sing and I started thinking I would have enjoyed a solo show from him considerably more than the recycled material I had just sat through.

Ding Dong Downe reminded me of that single Christmas fruitcake that keeps traveling from giver to receiver in an ongoing chain of second-hand gift-giving.

Watching the show was like getting that fruitcake… again.

Luckily, most of the audience seemed to enjoy fruitcake. Unless, unlike me, they were well-skilled in faking joy over a less-than-thrilling Christmas gift.

Bob Downe & Denise Drysdale in
Ding Dong Downe

Venue: Athenaeum Theatre
Dates/Times: Fri 7th & Sat 8th December
Bookings: Athenaeum Booking Office (03) 9650 1500
Stephanie Glickman

What brought you together?

It was Mum's idea. She thinks it's high time I found a nice girl and she'd long given up on Jacki MacDonald or Jacki Weaver. She's got a thing about a daughter-in-law named Jacki. I said, "Well, what about Jacko? I could marry Michael or Mark Jackson …" Aunty Bev roared but Mum didn't think it was funny at all.

Seriously, though, Denise and I have done many a TV spot together over the years and we adore each other. Then last year we did Karaoke Dokey for Foxtel/TV1 – that's when I suggested we should go out on the road together. Little did I know what a terrifying driver she is.

What songs do you do?

Cinderella Rockefella, I Got You Babe and Hey Paula. Don't tell Ernie. There's lots of other great rock'n'pop classics in our solo sections of the show – all backed up by our sensational four-piece live band, the Ding Dong Downers, led by John Thorn.

How would you describe the dynamic on stage?

Hilarious. Chaotic. Emotional. Childish antics. Yelling, running, screaming. And that's just the dressing room.

You're two very formidable personalities – how do you get on?

Well, thank God we don't have the same shoe size is all I can say. But seriously, I think the Ath (Athenaeum Theatre) stage is more than big enough to accommodate the two of us. If there's ever any tension, it's a case of, "We said you do this and I'll do that – what the hell happened?" We can both be a little, shall we say, unpredictable – but always with the audience or a laugh in sight. Because let's face it, darling, Denise has worked with enough tired old arsehole male partners – I'm trying to vary the diet for her.

Are you and Denise linked romantically?

Can't say too much but we have been seen loitering outside the Prouds window during late-night shopping. Stand by for an exciting announcement.

You've toured in the country – have you managed to iron out the wrinkles?

The wrinkles we've got need more than ironing out, darling.

Ding Dong Downe will play at the Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House, 18-23 December. Tickets start at $45. Bookings: www.sydneyoperahouse.com or 9250 7250

When I finally stop laughing I tell her no, but that I'll keep that in mind for the future.

"Just pretend I'm not here!"shouts Bob Downe from across the room.

It's not everyday that Bob Downe blends into the background, but then again, that's Denise Drysdale for you. The Clown Prince of Polyester has joined forces with the woman affectionately known as Ding Dong for their show Ding Dong Downe, and if the first ten seconds of my interview is any indication, it's going to be a riot.

Denise tells me that Bob's busy preparing food for them both. "He's actually doing us a sumptuous lunch – so far we've got lamingtons and sausages in pineapple rings. Yeah, he knows how to cook, that bloke."

Ah, the glamour of show business.

Denise has packed a lot into her career since her days as a Melbourne go go dancer at the tender age of seventeen. She went from TV barrel girl to entertaining the troops in Vietnam and by the mid seventies she'd won her first Gold Logie – she now has two of them. In 2000 she celebrated forty years in television – that's no easy feat.

"I'm not in TV now though, I do about ninety shows a year onstage all around Australia – I do all kinds of different stuff. I'm an MC, I do talks – you know funny talks, not motivational speaking,"she adds, "I do all sorts of stuff, I'm very lucky."When asked if she misses television she laughs, "Well, TV pays better! I wish I could not be on TV and still get that cheque! I really do like a live performance though, because the audiences are always so fabulous."

When it comes to her audiences, Denise says that she's always noticed a gay following, even as far back as the sixties. "I'm very grateful for them to be in the audience. They're lovely people who are very appreciative of my sense of humour, that's what I like. They enjoy the silliness."She's right – Denise is very much a total breath of fresh air, a woman who obviously doesn't take life too seriously and her laughter is infectious.

Ding Dong Downe promises to be a random night of clowning, song and good old fashioned entertainment. And the combination of Denise and Bob will surely turn the camp dial up to twelve. "It's just silly and fun. After the show people have come up to us and told us that they haven't laughed that much in a long time, so that's our reward,"says Denise before adding, "That and the money!"

I commend her for her honesty.

"Well, look I'm too old to perform for fun darl! We like it when they pay for their tickets. I've got to make a living, I've got two dogs and four alpacas to feed. Do you think they can go downtown and buy their own food if I'm not working? That's what I tell the dogs, Buddy and Olly, I say Mummy's gotta go make money for Pal darling."

Luckily for her pets, Denise is a woman who has stood the test of time, and she's got plenty of razzle dazzle in her yet.

Ding Dong Downe plays Melbourne's Athenaeum Theatre, Sat 8 Dec 2007, 8pm and Sydney Opera House, Drama Theatre from 18 – 23 December.
Christian Taylor

I'm in Edinburgh but – get this – I'm here as part of the book festival. No raucous, drunken punters baying at me for the usual filth, just an audience of fragrant, white-haired literary types, keen to hear me read from my novel, Murder Most Fab. It's a sad fact, however, that the novel is full of the aforementioned filth.

They listen politely as JD, the hero of my novel, explains why he was born to be a male prostitute: "My enormous, proud and ever-ready member could twitch and throb." You can take the dingy man out of the comedy club, but you can't take the dingy comedy out of the man.

After my reading I was interviewed by the crime writer Peter Guttridge. "Is writing fiction very different to writing comedy material?" he asked. "Different from would be correct English," I said. Dear, oh dear. I've only been published five minutes and I think I'm Lynne Truss.

Happy to see punters strolling about Charlotte Square clutching copies of my book, I indulged in a glass of cheap white wine, which proved rather moreish. Luckily the teetotal boyfriend was on hand to watch over me. It's alleged I climbed the stairs to our hotel room on my hands and knees, but we only have his word for that. Quite frankly I could have spent the night getting down and dirty with Greyfriars Bobby, for all I remember.

Next day, delicate but determined, I dived into the festival to see some shows. I was in no mood for heavy drama, and decided some gentle singing would be the order of the day. First I went to see the fabulous Bob Downe (son of Ida Downe) in Live and Swingin'. Then it was off to see the amazing Barb Jungr sing Dylan like the enigmatic diva she is.

Ploughing through the Fringe programme isn't easy, but I squealed with excitement when I saw that Dana Gillespie was here. I first saw her when I was 14, and it was watching her sing the innuendo-laden blues that sparked my interest in such matters.

Thirty-four years later, here she was, standing before me in a cloud of jasmine perfume singing: "Give me power steering/Feel the thrust, lubrication and anti-rust/Push your pedal to the floor,/Come on baby, I'll open the door." Heaven.

By then my hangover was getting the better of me and we took a taxi home. The driver said: "You're the second-most famous person I've had in the back of my taxi." "Who's number one, then?" I asked. "Nicholas Parsons." I'm more than happy to find myself under Nicholas Parsons. In fact, it's a dream come true.

My mother isn't pleased. I told the Daily Express that I would pose naked for Peta for its campaign to persuade the Queen's Guards to make their hats out of synthetic fur, thus saving grizzly bears the inconvenience of being killed.

"You don't have my permission to take your clothes off," she said. "Anyway, I expect the Queen will cave in, just to save the nation from having to look at you in the buff."

I like the idea of blackmail being cross-pollinated with aesthetic displeasure. There's mileage in this. It has legs, as they say in television. Gay folk have always thought along these lines. If only there were more homosexuals in the world there would be no need to kidnap, behead, bomb or invade. Less drastic measures would pay dividends.

I'm firmly convinced that if a gay George Bush had told a gay Saddam Hussein that unless he relinquished power he'd have the floor of the Oval Office laminated, there'd have been no need for all that unpleasantness with a rope. "We can't have that," Saddam would have said, possibly with an attractive lisp. "When would you like me to leave, girlfriend?"

Still, it's too late now. Heterosexuals predominate, and I guess that's something to do with the survival of the species, even if it does mean badly co-ordinated soft furnishings. Whether that is a price worth paying is a matter for debate.
Julian Clary

BOB Downe (aka Mark Trevorrow) is back for this, his 13th Edinburgh Fringe Festival after a five-year hiatus. He's surprised, he tells his enraptured opening-night crowd, by the obscene amount of shows in this year's Fringe Festival. "And," he adds incredulously, "they're all Aussies!"

He's not far wrong. With the delightful Spiegel Gardens a veritable embassy of Australian acts (a giveaway sign is the Fosters on tap), the Gilded Balloon hosting its usual array of smaller Australian comedy, and Australian accents echoing up and down the Royal Mile, it's hard to believe you're in a country where Neighbours screens months behind.

Edinburghers are used to a strong Australian contingent come August. Winners of the Perrier Award — the Fringe's top prize — have included Los Trios Ringbarkus in 1983 and Lano and Woodley in 1994, and Tim Minchin won the best newcomer award in 2005, while other Aussie comics including Adam Hills, Sarah Kendall and Sue Ingleton have been shortlisted.

Lawrence Leung, this year's recipient of The Age Critics' Choice award at April's Melbourne International Comedy Festival, is playing his fourth Edinburgh Fringe this month with Lawrence Leung learns to Break-dance. Now playing to good crowds at one of the city's top venues, Leung is relishing what he describes as "a pleasant surprise — people are coming, and enjoying the show".

This is despite the fact that Leung was forced to abandon a joke, after it became apparent that the phrase "to cut someone's lunch" does not mean the same thing in the UK as it does in Australia. Leung's Scottish crowds just didn't see the problem in helping your friend make a sandwich.

Many performers arriving in Edinburgh quickly realise that the jokes that worked so well for audiences at home might need some reworking for a UK crowd. Most cultural misunderstandings seem to involve food; the Scots don't get jokes about Golden Gaytimes, and they're not at all repulsed by the idea of eating pickled onions, as Melbourne trio, The Suitcase Royale, found out the hard way.

Musical comedian Sammy J, not getting laughs for a clever rhyme involving a Cheezel, was forced to make a last-minute substitute — a weasel — which is all the more impressive in the context of the rather lewd song. Sammy J won the best newcomer award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival this year and his Edinburgh debut, 58 kilograms of Pure Entertainment attracted a four-star review in The Scotsman.

"It is a bold move, pitting yourself against the world's best performers, and claiming to have something to offer," says the 58-kilogram performer, who is also appearing in The Comedians' Theatre Company's production of Breaker Morant.

Given there are 2000 shows on offer this year, the hardest task performers face is attracting audiences — and critics who spread the word. The Suitcase Royale have been performing impromptu gigs up trees and inside a public phone booth to promote their show. Tripod, Australia's much-loved musical comedy trio, are back for their third Edinburgh Fringe.

Now playing to sold-out crowds at the Spiegel Gardens, Tripod's Yon says, "I really hated Edinburgh the first two times." In 1998, after a day of stuffing their flyers into hands already covered in papercuts, he threw a bunch of them in the bin. This year, not even halfway into the festival, they've run out of flyers.

The city is riddled with Australian performers who flock to the Fringe where success could lead to more international touring, more opportunities. For some, such as Kate McLennan who has brought her latest show Debutante Diaries here, it is about cutting your teeth on the world stage in a gutsy bid to attain the Edinburgh Fringe "badge of honour".

Then there's the opportunity to see other shows, such as the marionette version of the battle of Stalingrad. But Melbourne comic Andrew McClelland says his reason for performing in Edinburgh is "to legitimise what I do to my parents".

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival runs until August 27.
Margaret Paul

You can't keep a good man Down(e); and after a five year absence from the Edinburgh Fringe, cabaret's most glorious toupeed lounge singer is back, spreading an infectious grin over a captivated audience that is as wide as the act is broad.

Yet, inbetween the knowing winks to audience that suggest he's in on the joke as much as we are, there's also real character subtlety and individuality here, and terrific musicianship, too - not to mention, of course, the silliest dancing this side of Pan's People and Hot Gossip.

He's also come home to possibly the best place in the world to see him, namely the intimate confines of the splendid Spiegeltent, the most gorgeous of any travelling fringe venue that in its mirrored, wooden circular embrace feels like a throwback to another age.

So, too, naturally is Bob - in his two-piece "safari" suit and gleaming teeth (people, he says, think "the hair is real and the teeth fake"), he's a dazzling emblem of 70s wholesomeness; and his pop repertoire reflects it, too, with songs like 'King of the Road', 'Music to Watch the Girls Go By' and 'You are the sunshine of my life'.

He's joined on this outing, so to speak, by sometime girlfriend Pastel Vespa and family member Glen Twenty.
Mark Shenton

Meanwhile ABC are lamenting the loss of the foxymorons, and by all accounts they didn't just leave because Channel Seven offered a more lucrative deal. Apparently ABC wouldn't let the first episode of the new series be filmed at a luxury resort in Queensland, because they didn't want to be involved with a commercial enterprise, as that would go against their editorial charter.

"We wanted to leave the shopping mall and muck about in golf carts at the Hyatt Coolum to kickstart the new series, but that wasn't possible because of ABC commercial restrictions," said the show's producer Rick McKenna.

"Seven just got Kath & Kim better than anyone else… They completely understood our brand, as opposed to just lusting after us for their own needs."

Next week Mark Trevorrow and Eric Bana will guest star in the popular series, which is now shown in ten countries. Given their ever increasing ratings and their DVD and video sales which have grossed in excess of $20 million, this seems to be one Aussie success story that only continues to snowball. Pretty impressive stuff.
Christian Taylor

I also ended my evening somewhere different, too, paying my second-ever visit to McEwan Hall in Bristo Square – an area that has become the epicentre of the Fringe now, with venues all the way around it from the Gilded Balloon (installed in what those of us who have been coming to the fringe for a while remember as the Fringe Club) and Pleasance Dome to the giant purple tent of the Udderbelly in the middle of it, and George Square just around the corner with the glorious Spiegeltent once again housed in its gardens. A couple of years ago there was a show at McEwan's Hall that took us on a guided tour of it, which was one way of seeing inside this imposing building; but this year it is the home of the Silent Disco – an amazing interactive nightclub experience which in a stroke solves my main problem with clubs (now that my other main problem with them, smoking, has been banned), namely the noise. Here each visitor is equipped with their own set of headphones, and clubgoers can listen to their own choice of one of two DJ sets that are being spun live. The room, meanwhile, is entirely silent, except for the occasional cheer or whoop.

But if the silent joys of Silent Disco are one sign of me showing my age, another is the sense of déjà vu that inevitably hits you as shows you saw when they were new receive revivals. In the last few years, this has happened to me regularly on Broadway with shows like 42nd Street, Nine, Into the Woods and even Big River coming back there in new productions from the originals that I first saw them in, but now its started happening on the fringe, too. One of the biggest hits of this year's festival is Tracy Letts' Killer Joe (at the Pleasance), with Phil Nichol in yet another of his (dis)guises, but I remember seeing the original, and far more galvanising and dangerous, original production at Traverse 2 in 1994, before it transferred to the West End's Vaudeville Theatre the following year.

I also feel like I've been seeing Bob Downe, the brilliantly cheesy Australian lounge act creation of Mark Trevorrow, forever, too, ever since I first saw him at Edinburgh in the 1990s. This year he's back yet again, and since he was appearing at the Spiegeltent, I couldn't miss him. I seriously think that this wooden, mirrored circular auditorium could well be the world's most beautiful theatrical container – as opposed to fixed building – and have loved visiting this travelling space ever since I first encountered it perched on top of the shopping centre over Waverley Station on the Edinburgh Fringe more than a decade ago. It's a near-perfect space for cabaret performance, too, creating an atmosphere and rapport with the audience that a performer like Downe then feeds on effortlessly.
Mark Shenton

Bob Downe Live & Swingin' (2007)
Butterfly Club - On The Wing Touring
The Spiegel Garden. 7-25 August. 18:00 (1hr10).

The Australian cheesmaster is back! Bob returns to Edinburgh after five years to the wonderful and intimate Speigeltent with an action packed, high energy toe tapping show. He is accompanied by an excellent jazz trio led by John Thorn. The music is tight and very well rehearsed. The Hallmark wide-eyed cheesy grin is as hilarious as ever and his dancing is uniquely infectious. I had never seen him perform live and was overwhelmed with his talent and charisma. Bob sings us through the night with a choice of up beat and high camp Jazz, pop and show songs. He also brings on his Brazillian 'girlfriend', Pastel Vespa and they together form a top class music and comedy duo.

The packed Speigeltent was brimming with grinning faces - but unfortunately some squinting faces too. Do try and sit as near to the front as possible as the sun shines directly through the high windows onto the audience's faces. Bob helps them out by giving them sunglasses but they did look rather uncomfortable. Get in line early because honestly, this is unmissable.
Kevin Stevens

AFTER a five-year hiatus, Australian cabaret sensation Bob Downe (the creation of Mark Trevorrow) is back in Edinburgh. In a costume that crosses KD Lang with Kel Knight (from TV's Kath and Kim), Downe shimmies his way through 70 minutes of funny, classy entertainment.

Musically, the show is top notch and Downe's patter is fresh, funny and personal.

Until August 25.
Margaret Paul

Bob Downe walks out on stage and, so convincing is the aura, you forget there's a man - Mark Trevorrow - behind the mask. For Judi, it's Connelli as herself on stage: but such is the evolution of her artistic persona, even that self appears larger than life.

There comes a time in the life of many a gifted artist when work and personality merge. Pedro Almodovar, Marlene Dietrich, Oscar Wilde, Marilyn Monroe and John Galliano come to mind. While neither Trevorrow nor Connelli, are yet in that league – fame-wise; as with all the above, pushing the boundaries of conventional sexual identity is a core theme. What's fascinating is how differently Trevorrow and Connelli approach the task. Trevorrow - as Bob Downe - is in your face; his material comes at the subject from myriad angles. A Ken doll whose libido trying to get out.

Connelli's sexual politics are no less strident: yet not a word is mentioned. Quietly playing the role of lesbian patron saint, Connelli, the ultimate cabaret diva, need do no more than share the stage and sings love duets with opera-trained Suzanne Johnston, her partner in life.

The cabaret world has quite a few out gay folks, and more in the closet. But few put 'who they really are' up for such intense scrutiny. In a typical Aussie way, it's 'like it or lump it', which delights local fans, but could well scare the pants off audiences in other parts of the world.

Bob Downe's Live & Swingin' debuted in Melbourne's Butterfly Club, via the Adelaide Cabaret Festival to a short season at the Studio, Sydney Opera House. It soon leaves these hallowed shores for three-weeks at the Spiegeltent, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, with appearances to follow in London. He shares the stage with a lively three-piece band and a most delightful songstress, Pastel Vespa (aka Fiona Thorn).

This new show is a red-hot winner: superbly conceived, live as a bee in your bum, funny, smart, political, and oh so Bob Downe. If earlier shows were sometimes dizzying collections of musical and comic highlights, the good news here is that Live & Swingin' works as a piece. Trevorrow is no longer Bob Downe's master: they have become one. The man behind Bob Downe is so quick there is no way of telling where prepared material stops and impro on the night starts. One thing for sure: the show does not stop for a second until the show stops.

I was among a couple of dozen who witnessed the birth of Bob in a tiny café called Pastels behind Sydney's Martin Place more than twenty years ago. On that occasion - fresh faced from a career in journalism and a whirligig stage romance with the highly successful Globos - Trevorrow arrived in a taxi as Batman (with then co-performer Cathy Armstrong as Robin). The lane was so tiny they blocked the street. It was a deliberately unconventional start.

After 'entering the building', the duo performed a variety of amusing skits. Most memorably, Trevorrow emerged at one point in a safari suit with a sad little ditty at the piano. The song, called 'Being Beige', was a take on the Muppet's "It's Not Easy Being Green". The character not only wore beige, but in safari suit style! That original Bob Downe was more subdued than he is today, but all the hallmarks were in place: the daggy retro-entertainer, a take on a take: a stereotype we knew too well from television and clubs from the late 1960s and through the 1970s. Some are still standing – just; or with the help of Zimmer frames.

Bob Downe, the character, serves as an homage to the myriad celebrities who toured the Australian club circuit through those decades when you got dressed to go out to 'classy' venues, which in Sydney would have included The Silver Spade Room at the Chevron Hotel and Chequers Nite Club.

Visiting stars included Debbie Reynolds, Shirley Bassey and Sammy Davis Jnr. Those closest to the Downe persona would likely include Wayne Newton and Australia's own Sandy Scott, who chewed on lyrics like a cow its cud - and only wore beige.

On that fateful first appearance of Bob Downe, as we now can appreciate, Trevorrow stumbled upon his inner clown: a character that would give him full access to his encyclopedic knowledge of show-business history, with easy access to satire, tribute, and caustic one-liners targeting contemporary celebrity culture and the latest in politics.

In this new show, the presence of Pastel Vespa is a plus, adding a layer of sweet singing, bemused smiles and some hypnotically fluoro pantsuits. One also has to pay tribute to Downe's long-time musical director, John Thorn at the piano, and his players: David Abusio and Jeremy Hopkins. The youthful Hopkins serve as the butt (I think that's the right word) of a few of Bob's more provocative jokes.

In Take Two! Connelli and Johnston pursue a more conventional approach. The pre-patter is unfortunately rather stiff, and sometimes you wonder if – as singers – the two have very much in common. But that's not the point. As an out-there lesbian couple, their presence on stage, in itself, fills many in the audience with profound delight. Given that Take Two! is touring a range of smaller towns, the shared presence on stage of Connelli and Johnston is just as bold as anything Trevorrow might do. In another era, all three would likely have been strung up from lamp-posts!

This is the partnership's second show and much of it is truly beautiful. It's a very personal selection of songs - all are about love or the ups-and-downs of personal relationships. Genres range from Noel Coward ditties, through Sondheim to renowned opera duets. Vocally, both singers are in top form and the show should not be missed if fine singing is what you love.

From a showbiz point of view, there is no getting round the fact that the voices of Connelli and Johnston do not always exactly match. But given the show's strong points, this is more a point of interest than a fault.

As that crusty founder of British post war realist drama, John Osborne, noted of Australia: "the love that dares not speak its name is being shouted from the rooftops". If it makes good art, well why the heck not?

Sydney Opera House presents
LIVE & SWINGIN' & TAKE TWO!

Live & Swingin'
Bob Downe

Venue: The Studio, Sydney Opera House
Dates: Friday 13 July - Sunday 15 July
Tickets: $38 / $30
Duration: 75 minutes
Bookings: (02) 9250 7777 or sydneyoperahouse.com
James Waites

Direct from Edinburgh and the Sydney Opera House!

"Three encores were barely enough for a near-insatiable crowd"
The Adelaide Advertiser
"Bob lapped up his wild welcome and proceeded to taunt and tantalises his adoring audience" The Sunday Mail, Adelaide

Starring Mark Trevorrow
Musical Director John Thorn & band

After five long years away from London, Bob Downe is back where he belongs: at the Bloomsbury Theatre, singin' and swingin' his way through a silky swathe and jazz, pop and show standards! In Live & Swingin', Bob is joined by a fabulous group of Aussie musicians led by long time Musical Director John Thorn.

Direct from sell-out successes at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, the Sydney Opera House and Edinburgh Spiegeltent, Live & Swingin' is a tribute to the Fifties and Sixties era of smooth, elegant, exciting nightclub entertainment when artists such as Liza Minnelli, Peter Allen and the incomparable Frances Faye thrilled audiences in legendary supper clubs such as the Talk Of the Town.

Bob Downe, born 1984 and still going strong, is the comic creation of broadcaster and entertainer Mark Trevorrow. Catch cheeky, irreverent, outrageous Bob at his best - book fast to avoid disappointment!

The one-time Sydney entertainment institution has been trendily refurbished for tonight's reopening party, which should attract many comedians who performed there in the pub's heyday.

The Glebe hotel opposite the paceway hosted some of the world's top comedy acts and writers in the '80s and '90s and many of Sydney's up-and-coming bands.

English comic Ben Elton performed there and Hollywood star Robin Williams dropped in for one or two impromptu slots. Australian authors Peter Carey and Thomas Keneally spoke there.

Comedian Akmal once described the Harold Park as "the best venue ever".

"Not only did the Harold Park have a great atmosphere but it also attracted a very intelligent, respectful audience. It gave the opportunity to performers whose style did not suit the aggressive vibe of a typical Sydney pub, such as Andrew Denton, Stephen Abbott [The Sandman], Paul Livingstone [Flacco], Bob Downe and Mikey Robins."

Former licensee Simon Morgan said he sold and closed the pub in 1999 because Leichhardt Council refused to extend his licence to midnight. The pub will now stay open until midnight on Friday and Saturday nights.

The hotel was sold with an approved development application for serviced apartments behind the hotel, and it was presumed the pub would stay closed. It was a sad time in Sydney's entertainment scene, with many pubs closing their doors to live entertainment and embracing poker machines.

The site went through a number of hands before ending up with developers Barton Corporation - Bob Barton and his sons John and Jeff - in 2004.

"We're gonna turn [the Harold Park Hotel] back into the way it was," John Barton, 36, said.

Comedians Chris Franklin, Pizza star Tahir and Footy Show regular Mick Meredith have already performed at the pub's free Tuesday night comedy, and Barton said there were plans to also bring back the pub's other nights, including Writers in the Park, Politics in the Pub and Poetry in the Park.

But his motives for trying to restore the pub to its glory days aren't altruistic.

"We like cash flow," he said. "The pub's got a lot of potential. There's not many hotels you can buy that come with that sort of name. The majority people know the Comedy Club. Last Tuesday we packed it out."

The pub also hosts covers bands and plan to increase the number of poker machines from eight to 18.

That probably won't please Whitlams frontman Tim Freedman, who played a residency there in 1986 with his band Penguins on Safari and later had a hit with Blow Up the Pokies.

"I remember being down there one night when [left-wing author] Frank Hardie was speaking and the cops came for his parking fines," Freedman said. "Everyone surrounded the paddy wagon not knowing that Frank should have paid his fines. It wasn't two fines; it was $3000 worth."
Alex Tibbitts

Until July 15. Bookings: (02) 9250 7777.

Bob Downe (Mark Trevorrow) is back in town and he's shaking up the stage. His new show Live & Swingin' is playing in Sydney before embarking on a 'world tour', to Edinburgh and London.

With a musical lineup featuring songs from some of the biggest stars of cabaret, from Liza Minnelli and Shirley Bassey to Frances Faye, Downe takes the audience on a journey back in time to his childhood days in Murwillumbah, and relates amusing anecdotes about everything from his mother's experiences in the CWA to the upcoming federal election.

Downe cleverly segues between cabaret classics with humorous patter, rewording songs to make them topical and relevant, much to the delight of the audience. 'Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe' becomes a tribute to CityRail, and he somehow manages to work Stonewall Hotel's resident drag queen Polly into 'Frankie and Johnny'.

Downe is joined on stage by the adorably energetic Pastel Vespa (Fiona Thorn), a Brazilian beauty with a killer fashion sense. While Downe's high-camp hijinks are clearly the highlight of the show, Vespa's outfits certainly come a close second.

While much of Downe's material mischievously mocks others, he escapes appearing nasty and arrogant due to his flair for facetious self-deprecation. His outlandish costumes (a la Supre), and not-quite-masculine coiffure certainly come into the firing line, to great comic effect.

As he has long been a fixture on the musical theatre scene, we've probably already seen most of what Downe has to offer. Consequently, there are few surprises left in Live & Swingin'. This isn't necessarily a problem though – Downe is the consummate performer with perfect comic timing, and his skilful spontaneity and audience interaction ensure the show remains fresh and vibrant. Indeed, had most of the jokes been told by anyone other than Downe, they would probably have fallen flat.

Backed up by 2004 Green Room Award winner John Thorn on keys and as musical director, David Abusio on bass and Jeremy Hopkins on drums, Downe shimmies his way through medleys in a way that only he can. Be prepared for lots of hip thrusting, tambourine tapping and, of course, jazz hands.

While Downe may be an acquired taste, he always seems to leave the audience cheering for more. This show is no exception.
Kieran Colreavy

Direct from his sell-out success at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Bob's new show is a tribute to the Fifties and Sixties era of smooth, elegant, exciting nightclub entertainment… when artists such as Liza Minnelli, Peter Allen, Wayne Newton and the incomparable Frances Faye thrilled audiences in legendary supper clubs like Chequers and the Silver Spade. In 2007, the plush Sydney Opera House Studio is the perfect place to recreate such a relaxed and sophisticated atmosphere.

Bob Downe, born 1984 and still going strong, is the comic creation of broadcaster and entertainer MARK TREVORROW. Catch cheeky, irreverent, outrageous Bob at his best before he heads off to Edinburgh for his 13th Festival appearance.

Five shows only, so book fast to avoid disappointment!

"Brilliantly funny" - Matt Lucas, Little Britain

Sydney Opera House presents
BOB DOWNE!

Starring Mark Trevorrow
With special guest Pastel Vespa

Musical Director John Thorn & band

Venue: The Studio, Sydney Opera House
Dates: Friday 13 July - Sunday 15 July
Times: Friday - Saturday at 7.30pm and 9.30pm, Sunday 7pm
Tickets: $38 / $30
Duration: 75 minutes
Bookings: (02) 9250 7777 or sydneyoperahouse.com

****

In short: Smarm offensive

Bob Downe is back in town, smarming songs that were around when we were all a little closer to the ground.

Dressed like Lana Cantrell in sectioned denim from an old Adelaide Tonight appearance, Bob lapped up his wild welcome and proceeded to taunt and tantalise his adoring audience.

With the wind permanently locked in his hair, and his suit constantly on safari, Bob's perennial patter shows us the mindset designed to entertain the twin set. The Boy From Ipanema, whoc looks like Sonia MacMahon amd Jeremy Cordeaux's love chiold, songs songs long forgotten but still much loved.

Enjoying the switch to a larger stage but a little lost between the stools, Downe uses plenty of Adelaide references to localise his well-honed act. And he receives some quirky international support from the well-trimmed Brazilian Pastel Vespa. Their duets are a riot, from Donny and Marie, and it's a shame we don't get to hear more of Downe's superbly twisted voice in a few straighter songs.

John Thorn and his very entertainingband are a perfect fit for Downe's confessional excesses.
Matt Byrne

Great timing for Bob Downe on Friday night as he got stuck into Anne Willis and discovered she was in the audience. From then on, it was a double act from the back of the Dunstan Playhouse stalls with Willsy interjecting on perfect cue.
Matt Byrne

His cossie and wig were straight from the seventies (who said flares would never come back?!) and he has an appealing ability to send himself up, as he sends up others. His patter between songs is clever, and well wrought, with his fine ability to seem (and often to be) spontaneous, at the same time as leading seamlessly to the next segment and song.

The songs were familiar and frequently cleverly parodied, with appropriate local references in both songs and patter ("I just love coming to Adelaide – you're getting TRAMS - bringing you into the 21st century!! Maybe you'll get PHONES next!"), and even managed to get big Amanda and little Tasmania into the same song.

It is in his songs that he shows his greatest asset: his voice. His mellow baritone can be gymnastically woven around strange and suggestive sounds, but was at his best when he was actually singing. He was expertly backed by John Thorn at the Steinway, who also served as the occasional straight man, and who directed the small ensemble of Shaun Duncan (Bass), Jeremy Hopkins (Drums) and Sam Lemann (Guitar). Very special guest, Fiona Thorn (his "Brazilian Goddess" Pastel Vespa, wife of John Thorn at the ivories) provided the opportunity for some nicely matched duets, including the final medley.

We didn't actually need the encore forced on us, but that was all part of the camped up act. The whole was a good laugh, but the length – about an hour – was enough.

BOB DOWNE: Live and Swingin'

Part of the 2007 Adelaide Cabaret Festival

VENUE:
Dunstan Playhouse
DATES:
20 - 23 June
TIME:
9:15pm
TICKETS:
$36 Conc $32
DURATION:
1 hr 15 mins
BOOKINGS:
BASS or 131 246
Peter Bleby

Loving it at the top

Murwillumbah's favourite son is back with a show that's as "straight" as anyone who looks quite so much like Ellen DeGeneres can possibly manage.

Super-synthetic safari suit flaring, Bob covers a fine cross-section of light standards, from The Lady Is A Tramp through The Late Late Show via Frankie and Johnny, Lydia teh Tattooed Lady, On the Atchinson, Topeka and the Santa Fe and all other stations enroute. With scabrous Australiana aplenty - a chorus of Free Allison Durban (with apologies to the Specials) is probably the only publishable reference - Downe is his usual acerbic self.

A 1970s medley with Brazilian bombshell Pastel Vespa adds cheese to the abundant corn, while three encores were scarcely enough for a near-insatiable crowd.
Peter Burdon

"… A packed Festival Theatre responded with waves of laughter and applause… may he never change." Blaze

www.youtube.com/bobdowne4real

Tue 7 - Sat 25 Aug, 6pm
Tue - Thu £12, Fri & Sat £15
(No shows Sun or Mon)
(70 mins)

Bookings:
FRINGE BOOKING OFFICE
0131 226 0000 or http://www.edfringe.com/
VENUE BOOKING OFFICE (from 27th July)
0131 667 8940

Bob will be joined on stage by a sensational group of musicians led by musical director John Thorn, and featuring lovely Brazilian Goddess Pastel Vespa (Fiona Thorn).

We spoke over the phone with Bob's creator and inner-ego Mark Trevorrow who was working at home in Melbourne at the time.

"iBob was a send-up of anniversary concerts," he happily began. "I got people such as Rove, Kerry-Anne Kennerley and Bert Newton to do video messages that all went slightly wrong, so it was a real parody of birthday celebration shows."

Now you have created Live & Swingin'.

"Over the last couple of years I've been wanting to a Bob show that is like a late '50s or early '60s nightclub cabaret tribute of show, pop and cabaret tunes," Mark explained. "I'm now finally able to do that and with a fantastic jazz band behind me.

"John and I have worked closely together over the past ten years and it's been a great partnership," he added. "We have a young and incredible percussionist working with us called Jeremy Hopkins – who is also a singer, and the gorgeous sixties chanteuse Pastel Vespa who is just amazing to work with. We'll be doing a few love duets together so I'm going to have a great time with this show."

Is your character of Bob Downe based upon anyone in particular?

"He's my childhood clown," Mark revealed. "Bob is based on all the TV entertainers that I used to watch as a kid in Melbourne in the '60s and '70s. Everyone from Jimmy Hannon through to Don Lane, Graham Kennedy, Bert Newton and Ernie Sigley."

Mark mentioned how happy he is to be returning to Adelaide once again.

"I've done every Adelaide Fringe Festival since 1986," he recalled, "whereas this is only my second cabaret festival, but the Adelaide Cabaret Festival is absolutely brilliant and I seem to relate to these audiences even better than I do at the Fringe."

Who are some of the artists you will be paying homage to?

"We'll be singing tributes from great artists like Liza Minnelli, Peter Allen, Wayne Newton," Mark replied, "plus the incomparable Frances Faye who used to thrill audiences in legendary supper clubs such as Chequers and Silver Spade.

"This is the most cabaret-type show I've done in a long time and I'm very proud of it," he concluded.

Bob Downe performs Live & Swingin' at Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre, from 9.15pm on Wed Jun 20 until Sat Jun 23. Book at BASS on 131 246.
Catherine Blanch

The 7th Annual Adelaide Cabaret Festival presents...

Presented in association with The Butterfly Club On the Wing Touring.

Bob Downe's first job was working in the window at Grace Bros, Murwillumbah, and for the last 23 years, he's been making a proper exhibition of himself as one of Australia's most loved and enduring comedy characters.

With an embarrassment of accolades under his beige belt, including twice winning the Green Room Award for Cabaret Artiste of the Year, he'll be singin' 'n' swingin' his way through a silky swathe of jazz, show and pop standards.

Bob will be backed by musical director, John Thorn, and a cookin' little band. His very special guest is a festival favourite, the 'Brazilian Goddess' Pastel Vespa (Fiona Thorn), whose unique pop renditions are heard on catwalks in Japan, discos in Greece and Germany, and radio stations from Madrid to Oslo.

Presented in association with The Butterfly Club On the Wing Touring.

"... A PACKED FESTIVAL THEATRE RESPONDED WITH WAVES OF LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE... MAY HE NEVER CHANGE." BLAZE

Sparkle with Bob Downe at the "Academy Awards" of the book design world!

Bob Downe, one of Australia's most loved and enduring comedy characters, will be presenting the prizes and entertaining the gathering at the APA's 55th Annual Book Design Awards at the Powerhouse Museum on Monday 28th May 2007. Make sure you write the date in your diary so you don't miss one of the highlights in the publishing calendar.

From copy-boy with the Sun News-Pictorial in 1959 to Cabaret Artiste of the Year in 1999; from comedy duo with Cathy Armstrong, when Bob Downe was born in 1984, to the ABC's The Way We Were: Sinatra in Australia doco in 2006, and a spot of Kath & Kim in between - it is hard to encapsulate the career of this very funny and very talented comedian and singer.

For a fuller biography of Mark Trevorrow, click here.

Date: Monday 28th May
Time: 6 pm - 9.30 pm
Venue: Powerhouse Museum, Ultimo, Sydney
Master of Ceremonies: Mark Trevorrow in role of Bob Downe!
Tickets: $60 per person, to include a fabulous bag of goodies to take away, and a top class entertainer to make you laugh.

The convention centre will be packed for this much anticipated event which sold out six weeks ago - even before tickets were issued.

The night will be hosted by Karl Stefanovic from Channel 9's Today Show and Heather Foord from Channel 9 Brisbane News.

Special guests on the night include Lachlan Murdoch, popular boy band Human Nature and comedian Bob Downe.

Auctions will be held on the night to raise money for vital rescue equipment and lifesaver training throughout Queensland.

http://www.lifesaving.com.au

When: 7pm-1am
Where: Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, Southbank.
Tickets: Sold out!

The writer Larry Buttrose is running a marathon reading at Ariel Bookshop in Oxford Street, Paddington, during the Sydney Writers' Festival. With sangria, tapas and flamenco from 6pm on Friday, June 1, Buttrose will begin the reading, followed by Frank Moorhouse, Julianne Schultz, Robert Drewe, Mark Trevorrow and a relay of readers through the night.

Tea and coffee will be served by the time I read at 8.30 on the Saturday morning. You can drop in or bring a sleeping bag and stay until the last page, some time on Sunday. For details or to volunteer as a reader, email thedonsparty@hotmail.com.
Susan Wyndham

Trevorrow slipped onto the airwaves a year ago, presenting the 2-5am graveyard shift before graduating to regular fill-in host on the evening program. In two weeks he takes the next step in his budding radio career by filling in for Richard Fidler on (weekdays at 11am).

For Trevorrow the challenge has been more than coming to grips with a new medium. It involved stepping out of the shadow cast by his more famous alter ego - the toothy, madcap, polyester-clad Bob Downe.

"After all those years of hiding behind a character, it has been a very interesting experience to find my own persona," he says. "Radio only really works when you are authentic but you have to believe your actual self is of interest. The hardest thing is to overcome the fear they won't like who you are, but once you get passed that it becomes this incredible, delightful two-way process."

For Trevorrow, authenticity means not hiding the fact that he is gay. It shouldn't be a big deal. After all, Ellen DeGeneres is big on daytime television in America and Julian Clary had a night-time variety show on British television for years. Shows such as Little Britain and Will and Grace are mainstream viewing. Yet, in Australia, it's hard to name a presenter on radio or television who openly identifies himself as gay.

"It's not that I reveal it so much as that I just don't hide it," he says. "Richard Glover talks about his kids, so I talk about my life, which indicates to anyone who has half a brain that this is a fortysomething gay man who has not been sitting at home. I'm not preaching about being gay in the same way that Richard is not preaching about being straight when he mentions his kids."

Trevorrow says there has been little to no reaction from the ABC audience, though he has noticed more gay men have been calling the program in recent months.

"When you hide something as fundamental as your sexuality it makes you bland," he says. "If you are avoiding a particular topic, the listeners can smell a rat and they may not be able to articulate what it is but there is definitely something missing for them. Sexiness is a big part of who we are and anyone who thinks those things can be quarantined off is kidding themselves."
Sue Javes

Dates: 20 June 2007 - 23 June 2007

Duration: 1 Hour 15 Mins

Presented in association with The Butterfly Club On the Wing Touring.

Bob Downe's first job was working in the window at Grace Bros, Murwillumbah, and for the last 23 years, he's been making a proper exhibition of himself as one of Australia's most loved and enduring comedy characters.

With an embarrassment of accolades under his beige belt, including twice winning the Green Room Award for Cabaret Artiste of the Year, he'll be singin' ‘n' swingin' his way through a silky swathe of jazz, show and pop standards.

Bob will be backed by musical director, John Thorn, and a cookin' little band. His very special guest is a festival favourite, the ‘Brazilian Goddess' Pastel Vespa (Fiona Thorn), whose unique pop renditions are heard on catwalks in Japan, discos in Greece and Germany, and radio stations from Madrid to Oslo.

Presented in association with The Butterfly Club On the Wing Touring.

"... A PACKED FESTIVAL THEATRE RESPONDED WITH WAVES OF LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE... MAY HE NEVER CHANGE." BLAZE

And she wasn't holding back on the hyperbole. "It's the best night of your lives." Mind you, she also had an interesting yardstick for success: "Nothing says a successful awards night like waking up with chocolate stains on your frock."

One no-show was Karen Eck, boss of Eck Factor, who ran PR for the event. The small matter of giving birth that morning kept her away from the event.

But highlight of the evening had to be camp singer Bob Downe's musical numbers.

To the tune of Come Fly With me, he offered Come Sky With Me, which drew big applause from the Sky News table, including the somewhat dubious line: "In Lebanon, there's a cluster bomb, they're aiming at the Jews".

He told the audience: "It's a whole different world in subscription TV. Backstage someone said interstitial and I said gesundheit."

Speaking of Sky News, Australia's only pay TV news channel, perhaps the least shocking moment of the night was when they won the most outstanding news program category, beating off heavy competition from themselves and Fox Sports News.

Still, it was also a night where the marketing and promotions people were definitely bottom of the list, what with their awards being handed out while everyone was eating and talking.

One highlight though was the award for most outstanding marketing campaign which went to the Foxtel "freeze' campaign. Sadly its creators, ad agency Three Drunk Monkeys, didn't get a mention.

Other than that, here's a few of the winners:

Channel of the year: Nickelodeon

Favourite program: Australia's Next Top Model

Favourite male: Steve Irwin

Favourite female – Antonia Kidman

Most outstanding drama – Shared by Love My Way and Stupid Stupid man

Most outstanding News program: Sky News, a week that changed Australia.
Tim Burrowes

From shoplifting and drug running to evading Interpol, Coming Clean exposes the sordid underbelly of Australia's comedy subculture. Aided and abetted by special guest judge, Tom Molomby SC, you'll be the judge and jury in a gala evening of crime where no-one is innocent but almost everyone gets out alive!

Created by Fiona Scott-Norman and Rod Quantock

Lennox Theatre at Riverside Theatres
Sunday April 1 at 3pm

From March 21 to April 1, 2007, comedy fans are in for a treat at all our venues - Riverside Theatres, the Laugh Garage Comedy Club Parramatta, The State Theatre and the Seymour Centre in central Sydney.

The legendary Jim Henson Company's Puppet Up! - Uncensored is without doubt the big ticket for 2007. A company of 16 brilliant performers and technicians and close to 100 puppets will fly direct to Sydney from Los Angeles for the Australian premiere of the most talked about festival comedy attraction in the world right now. Direct from sold out performances in Edinburgh, Las Vegas and Aspen, the Henson Company's show combines remarkable comic improvisation and superbly irreverent puppetry in an un-missable evening of hilarity.

"The Jim Henson Company show is brilliant," says Festival Director John Pinder. "I have seen it four times and getting it to Sydney is a coup for the Big Laugh. We are very proud to again be presenting one of the great comedy entertainment names in the world as our big attraction this year.

This is the best collection of Big Laugh shows we have ever assembled. There really is a show for every comedy fan in the program - old favourites, big stars and new shows that we promise will have you laughing out loud."

From Ireland, Sean Hughes (Sean's Show) and Ardal O'Hanlon (Father Ted) along with the return of Dylan Moran (Black Books) head a brilliant line-up of stand up comics including Australia's own Judith Lucy making her Big Laugh debut, Scotland's Danny Bhoy, Akmal, Corinne Grant who is threatening to give away all her possessions to the audience, and the outrageous Chopper from Network Ten's The Ronnie Johns Half Hour in his first one man show whimsically titled Harden The F**k Up Australia. Sean and Ardal will appear at both Riverside Theatres and the Seymour Centre.

From London comes The Pool Guy. Steve Daking is the ‘8 Ball' Trick Shot Champion of the World...and he's funny. In the intimate Lennox Theatre at Riverside with slo-mo replays on screen, celebrity guest players and tricks that will make you gasp and laugh, this is a show for pool players and people who really don't know what to do with that stick thingy.

Special events include an all star, NOT for broadcast, concert version of 702 ABC Sydney's Thank God It's Friday, Sydney's favourite radio comedy spot on Richard Glover's Drive, with Richard, Mikey Robins, Jean Kitson, Phil Scott, Tommy Dean, Anthony Ackroyd, Mike 'Mr Weather' Bailey and musical guest, showbiz legend Toni Lamond.

Rod Quantock has also created a new Special Event for the Festival. Coming Clean is a criminally funny orgy of confessions, where top comics admit to stuff they could go to jail for! A must see for legal eagles, comedy fans and possibly the police department. Confessing to their crimes will be Mark "Bob Downe' Trevorrow, Jackie Loeb, Dave Grant, Tom Molomby and additional performers. Rod is the only performer to have taken part in all seven Big Laugh festivals. This year he is also returning with one cruise only on his Laugh Boat... an unpredictable and hilarious journey on a Parramatta Rivercat where anything can happen...and this time it's in daylight!

Samoa's most famous exports are back with a brand new show called The Laughing Samoans - Off Work! One of the Big Laugh's bestselling shows ever, Eteuati Ete and Tofiga Fepulea'i will sell out for sure with the Sydney Samoan community coming from all over town for a special night of Pacific hilarity. And you don't have to be Samoan to be in on the fun!

And we have let Puppetry of the Penis back in to the Big Laugh, but it's coming a week early and for only a one night stand.

http://www.biglaughcomedyfestival.com.au/

The Choir of Hard Knocks -- a singing group of 50 homeless and disadvantaged Melburnians, under the tutelage of former Opera Australia tenor Jonathon Welch -- will perform at its official launch at the Melbourne Town Hall tonight at 7.30pm.

Tickets are $10 at the door.

The concert, hosted by comedian Mark Trevorrow, will be filmed as the finale of a five-part doco series on the choir, which will air in May on ABC-TV.

The parade was a diverse snapshot of the various LGBT communities in Sydney and arund Australia. Amongst the paraders were gay sportspeople, leather bears, youth, lesbians on bikes, Kylie fans, gay musicians, gym bunnies, human rights campaigners, hundreds of marching boys and many of the best-dressed drag queens from around the world, all enjoying cheers from the vast crowd of onlookers.

Gay UK actor Rupert Everett was chief of the parade, so was leading the march, joined by camp Australian celebrity Bob Downe and Sydney drag icon Mitzi Macintosh.

New South Wales police praised the behaviour of the most of the crowd, with officers making just eleven arrests despite the high turnout.

The largest float was dedicated to diva Kylie Minogue, with 250 'Impossible Princesses' dancing along to her greatest hits.

Dozens of members of the Surf Life Saving Association took part for the first time, a nod to 2007 being the Year of the Lifesaver in Australia.

'Objects of Love' was the theme of this year's event, although the parade also sent messages about climate change and the introduction of same-sex marriage.

As Sunday's clean-up began, revellers were spotted making their way home well after dawn, dressed in what remained of their costumes from the night before.

Mardi Gras chair, Marcus Bourget, said this year's parade was one of the biggest in terms of participants and was a success "beyond our wildest expectations".

The official Sydney Mardi Gras party, held later yesterday evening at Fox Studios, also attracted a huge crowd. The party featured international and local DJ's and elaborate shows. After the 'Azure' party last weekend was shut down by police over drug use, there was fears police would get tough on last night's party - sniffer dogs were present and some arrests were made, but the party proceeded as planned.

"Look, Bob's is a pain in the arse," he says, "there's no question about that. And I do sometimes feel like putting him out to pasture, as does anyone who plays a character for as long as I've played him. But, you know...my ideal scenario for Bob is that he just fade away very gracefully, and to one day have people look back and say: "Wasn't he great?"

It's a tantalising idea - the character who lives and breathes nostalgia vanishing into the very same past he evokes. But it's not likely to happen too soon.

As we sit among the lunchtime crowd at Fratelli Paradiso in Potts Point, Mark takes a call from Gina Riley, who informs him that she'll be there in the crowd when Bob performs at Melbourne's Butterfly Club a few nights later, her party consisting of Jane Turner, Magda Szubanski and Little Britain's Matt Lucas. The pressure of such a high-calibre audience causes Mark to fleetingly consider appearing on stage not as Bob, but himself.

"But it's not really my decision as to whether Bob exists anymore or not," he says. "It would actually be quite vain and self-defeating for me to come out and declare: 'I'm not doing Bob anymore!' That wouldn't benefit anybody. I'll do Bob as long as people want me to."

Born in suburban Melbourne in 1959 (he moved to Sydney in '82), Mark can't recall, as his elder siblings do, the arrival of the family television set. He thus represents the first generation for whom "the TV had always just been there, glowing".

And it was from that very glow that Bob Downe first crawled into life.

"Bob first appeared on stage in 1984, he says, "but I'd really been doing him since I was five. That's why Bob has a sort of childish quality to him, I suppose, because he was born in my own childhood. People often think that he's based on someone quite specific, but when I grew up in Melbourne there was this very vibrant local television industry, with variety shows featuring all these incredibly camp local TV hosts and performers. Bob was really my reaction to all of that." In person, Trevorrow has none of Downe's flap and dither. He's sharp with a low-watt eloquence and a brisk, no-nonsense air, as if Bob's blown the budget on the end-of-year party and left his teacher to clean up before school starts again.

Unlike Bob, who is gleefully oblivious to the extinction of variety entertainment, Mark Trevorrow openly frets for it. Over lasagne and sparkling water (he's on radio - one of his Summer Evenings programs for ABC Radio 704 - in just a few hours), the former journalist for the Melbourne Sun News-Pictorial (now the Herald Sun) laments the media that accompanied his youth - the playful tabloids and fly-by-wire television of the days when the characters one saw on the box were actually more insane than the people who played them.

Not that Trevorrow, who 'came out' when he was just 13, would prefer the clock wound back too far, to the black-and-white days when homophobia was yet to be outed as a psychological aberration.

"I haven't been hassled for being 'a fag'," he says, "since I was in school -- unless I've mentally blocked it out. And I think Sydney is definitely much better than it once was, when it comes to, you know, roaming gangs going out 'poofter bashing'. But I think the emotional and verbal abuse is still there, and can be just as damaging."

I tell him a tale of my own historical homophobia, a youthful prejudice that was literally beaten out of me by two so-called "poofs" in the toilets of Jameson Street nightclub back in 1984. Mark barely reacts, though I suspect Bob might be cheering in there somewhere, and not for the losing team either.

"Well, you never can tell," says Mark, as teacher to the hungover pupil already having learned his lesson. "It's like Quentin Crisp said: 'Some queers are really rough and some roughs are really queer.'"
Jack Marx

New Mardi Gras' bid to avoid a repeat of last year's widely panned Launch paid off last Saturday when about 1,000 people enthusiastically welcomed the 2007 season at a back-to-basics flash mob event at Circular Quay.

After receiving several clues sent by mobile phone text message, about 1,000 people gathered for the Flash Mob Launch at the Sydney Opera House forecourt last Saturday.

The same venue hosted the widely criticised 2006 season Launch, prompting New Mardi Gras to opt for a shorter, free event this year.

Organisers distributed maracas and New Mardi Gras banners, props for a huge conga line headed by exuberant host Bob Downe.

With City of Sydney rainbow flags in place along East Circular Quay, Downe led the conga line past bemused observers to Customs House. There, speakers including lord mayor Clover Moore and New Mardi Gras chair Marcus Bourget officially opened the season.

"We've all come a long way since 1978 when Mardi Gras played a major role in addressing the whole issue of prejudice and homophobia," Moore said.

"Mardi Gras must continue to play this role … with wit, satire and glamour."

Then came what the crowd had been expecting after weeks of rumours. Little Britain stars Matt Lucas and David Walliams – playing Daffyd, the only gay in the village, and towering transvestite Emily Howard – appeared briefly to cut a rainbow ribbon and launch the 2007 season.

And then they were gone, barely an hour after revellers had arrived at the Opera House. It had been short and sharp, with none of the gripes from last year's Launch in evidence.

Marcus Bourget told Sydney Star Observer the season opener last weekend "couldn't have gone better".

"We took Launch back to basics, we kept it simple, we kept it short, we kept it to the point. I think people appreciated that.

"[There is] a message to be learned about what Launch is in terms of keeping it simple and making it a very visible thing."

On Friday night cabaret stars including Caroline O'Connor and Paul Capsis helped usher in the Mardi Gras season at a Red Carpet Opening party at the Museum of Contemporary Art. The Mardi Gras season ends on 3 March with the Oxford Street parade and party.
Ian Gould

Flash mob or red carpet? There are two new ways to ring in the Mardi Gras season, which has a stronger line-up of shows and a thoroughly British kick-off in Sydney's gay village.

This year, texting your name to 0429 920 370 will get you the details of Mardi Gras's premiere flash mob launch somewhere around the city on Saturday at an as-yet unspecified time. It will ring in the 29th anniversary of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender festival.

A text message sent out last week read: "Sorry 4 the kafuffle Bubbles but due to unforseen circs we must move Flash Mob Launch to AFTERNOON of SAT 3RD FEB. If UR a gay U want to be there!"

Mardi Gras has all but confirmed that Matt Lucas and David Walliams, who are performing their first Sydney Little Britain show on Saturday, will be flashmobbing with Sydneysiders. But the pair and their alter egos will miss the March 3 parade as they are playing Perth that night.

Tonight there's the Red Carpet Mardi Gras Festival 2007 opening at the Museum of Contemporary Art, with performances by Bob Downe, Paul Capsis, Katie Noonan and more.

The double launch is Mardi Gras's radical answer to last year's Opera House forecourt season launch, which was hotly criticised for uninspiring speeches and entertainment.

"I think the flash mob is a great idea," says Larry Singer, aka Panther, who runs internet posting site Pinkboard. "It's great to see New Mardi Gras trying new things."

Singer says there's a "definite excitement" online about the party in Moore Park on March 3, given Boy George will be DJing in the Hordern.

What about the rest of the festival, though? Aren't people talking about that? "Not very much. They rarely do unless they are bitching."

Silence does not mean approval of the festival as a whole; Pinkboard users usually focus on the party each year. Similarly, the parade, also on closing night, always attracts Sydney buzz and interstate and international visitors. Mardi Gras' challenge has always been to get people as excited about the events between now and then.

Festival-goers will have some good theatre choices in the first two weeks: return seasons of Australian play Holding the Man and international hit Hedwig and the Angry Inch, David Mamet's lesbian-themed Boston Marriage, the original New York production of Al Takes a Bride and a Sydney production of Kiss of the Spider Woman.
Steve Dow

Have we taken our love affair with the net too far?

Is the chat room revolution a hindrance or a help for lesbian and gay love?

Is the sex better if you've shopped out or ordered in?

Do your looks improve more after Photoshop or a vodka shot?

And what does online loving mean for the scene?

Join host Bob Downe and six celebrity debaters for the annual Mardi Gras comedy debate.
The Factory Theatre, 105 Victoria Road, Enmore
21 Feb 2007 7.30pm for an 8pm start
Full $30+$3.80bf; Health Card $20+$3.80bf
02 9550 3666 or www.moshtix.com.au

Sydney's Mardi Gras Festival has grown steadily ever since those auspicious beginning, and now boasts a business-minded organisation that holds more than 100 arts events, a daytime picnic called Fair Day (attended by more than 70,000) and a huge wrap party following the world-famous parade. In addition, there's the Sleaze Ball over the October weekend, which helps fund the festival and New Mardi Gras, the organisation that runs it.

This year's month-long event promises to be bigger and bolder than ever before. Now financially sound after the 2002 blow-out that sent the old Mardi Gras down the tubes, New Mardi Gras is building on a bumper year that saw it return into the black.

In addition to the infamous big events, the highlights of the festival, which runs from Friday 2 February to Saturday 3 March, include the Flash Mob Launch (where the stars of Little Britain are rumoured to be attending), Queerscreen film festival (15 to 25 February), a return season of the outrageous Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Wednesdays to Sundays throughout February), and Bob Downe and Mitzi Macintosh giving English actor Rupert Everett all manner of grief. Oh, and did we mention that Boy George will be out to headline the post-parade party in Moore Park? The Entertainment Quarter will once again be awash in pink as up to 16,000 party heads fill seven venues with 'objects of love' (the theme of this year's season) on the closing night's grand dame of all finales.

Before all that, though, there's four weeks of entertainment guaranteed to satisfy the queerest of folk. And making it all possible is an ace team of super-talented faces, from behind the scenes to the front of house. Over the next five pages, we meet, greet and grill them to find out why New Mardi Gras matters and how the biggest gay show on earth runs like a camp Swiss watch. These are the heroes of your Mardi Gras.

THE MAIN ATTRACTION

Playing a troubled transsexual rock chick from Berlin is hardly your average type of gig, but celebrated musician cum actor Iota loves a challenge, even if it is a draining one.

"We've all fallen in love, been betrayed by someone," he reasons.

"There's similarities for all of us. I lose a lot of weight doing it, though. You know, you eat once a day, do the show, get up late, then do it all again. Plus there's the emotion. It's an emotional role - it's something that's still there with you when you go home. So I'm not sure how long I can keep doing it!"

Hedwig and the Angry Inch began life as arthouse flick from Europe, which tells the tale of a boy in the former East Berlin called Hansel who falls in love with an American GI. He undergoes a sex change to marry him and plans to flee to the West. Nothing goes right for the poor bugger, though, and years later Hedwig's slugging it out on the road in the US. Playing her heart out - by telling her life story - in dives, she finds her tour coincides with a certain rock star who once loved her - then nicked her material.

Iota, more used to the world of rock, had always had an urge to act and found his calling through Hedwig.

"I knew the movie really well," he says, "so when I heard about the production I just had to go for it. I'd never acted before, so I went away and learned the lines very thoroughly, then rocked up and just did it. The casting guys were like, 'So what you got then?' It was pretty daunting.

"I guess I'd always had a desire to act - but no, I didn't do any formal training or anything like that. I just played Hedwig like I thought it should be done. And yeah, I guess I was influenced by the movie. Although I think was a bit angrier than John Cameron Mitchell!"

But while being a major drawcard in the Mardi Gras Festival calendar is a thrill, the star admits he's not exactly the target market. "I'm not a scene queen, really. I'd rather go to the pub! But yeah, it's a great thing, a time to celebrate who we are. It's one big party, really!"

Times have changed for the better, though. "Oh yeah. It's got to be a good thing for, say, guys to date at school."

And why, does he think, people should see the show?

"It's got good music. It's funny, dangerous, intriguing. And Hewig's such a bitch!"

THE SNAPPER

Being the official photographer for Mardi Gras is all in a day's work for Ann-Marie Calihanna, who's captured a wealth of colour since coming on board four years ago.

"I've always been a Mardi Gras member and wanted to expand my creative visions of the community, and document our history," she says.

"I work for the Sydney Star Observer, who is the official media partner with New Mardi Gras, and other publications, so I take lots of social photographs, dance parties, events, news - basically, anything for the gay and lesbian media."

When she's shooting, Ann-Marie has a very clear feel for what she's wants to document. "I like capturing the true freedom of spirit and the human emotion. I try to make my photos interesting, confronting, entertaining, fun, serious, evocative. The image that most people have of Mardi Gras is feathers and showgirls, but there's so much more to our community and Mardi Gras gives me an opportunity to show that diversity."

Punters have the chance to see a snatch of her work. Throughout the festival, Mardi Gras: the Slide Show will feature the "more creative and exciting participants from recent years", culminating in a record of the parade as captured by her and a team of final-year students. Shop-front slide shows along the parade route - at 72 Oxford Street and 7 to 9 Flinders Street Darlinghurst - will be in place throughout February.

Beyond that, Ann-Marie enjoys the festival's ever-changing landscape. "Different people bring their own visions. It's a different festival every year because of that. But the main thing I've seen is greater community strength and support for organisations and individuals. The parade remains a strong political statement and I'd love to see that grow."

THE MASTER MC

He's better known as the host with the most, but Mark Trevorrow (aka Bob Downe) is keen to point out the difference between the two.

"One's a fictional character and the other's a real person!" he quips as he readies himself for a schedule that stretches across the festival.

"People think Bob is real. He's not!"

Mark/Bob has been Mardi Gras-ing since 1986 - with a 1960s revival comedy cabaret group called the Globos - and has seen up-close the roller-coaster ride of highs and lows that the festival has endured. "It evolved into something so big that it collapsed under its own weight. Now, it's a lean, realistic event that's incredibly vital to the community.

"It basically all happens thanks to the volunteers. And I'm glad to say they are valued more than ever.

"The guys who run it now are fantastic. They're very into new ideas - especially mine!"

So what will he be doing throughout the month?

"Basically everything! People will be sick of me by the end. I'll have to leave town.

"I'll be with Mitzi Macintosh in Taylor Square, doing the Q&A with Rupert Everett [at the York Theatre, Seymour Centre on 26 February], DJing at the post-parade party and hosting the 'gaydar versus gaybar' debate, which I'm really looking forward to.

"I always hated debating at school - I thought it was a wanky, artificial thing - and I didn't go to university. So it'll be fun to order people round and tell them all to shut the f*** up!"

THE BOSS

He's the man who makes it all happen, but Marcus Bourget, chair of New Mardi Gras, is quick to point out that it takes dozens of volunteers and an unstoppable belief.

"There's a lot of hard work involved. It's a huge task. And they do it all for love. For my job, you need a passion and willingness to make it happen - and to never take no for an answer."

Before he joined in 2003 as a volunteer, the festival's future was bleak, to say the least. Ballooning into a mammoth party by 2002, the old Mardi Gras was a victim of its own success. Last year, though, was a very different story.

"We ended last year on a high," he says.

"Sleaze Ball went really well, and our 'new', calmer set-up has been great for building relationships with everyone from venues to A-list talent. This year, for instance, we've got the likes of Rupert Everett and Boy George coming over, the return of Hedwig and loads more. We're seeing the last year's success paying us in dividends. Everyone's recognising that."

Marcus, who "really likes being involved in community work - giving a bit back", intends to stay on as chair for at least "until 2008".

After that, he'll "probably find another good cause" to feed his passion for giving. In the meantime, though, there's a month of stress and finger-crossing to ensure all goes according to plan.
Ed Gibbs

Hosted by Bob Downe, get a sneak peek at the outstanding musical talent lined up for you in this year's Mardi Gras.

It's a night for dressing up - think sexy, think glamorous. Canapés and drinks are included in your ticket.

Part of the night's proceeds will benefit the Luncheon Club and PLWHA.

When is it?
Friday 2 February.

What time is it?
The show starts at 8.00pm.

How much is it?
AUD89.50pp

Where is it?
Museum of Contemporary Art
Sydney

How do I confirm my booking?
Please bring a copy of your confirmation email along on the night to collect your tickets from the venue box office.

Are there any age restrictions?
No.

Please note:
As part of the terms of sale the only person authorised to purchase tickets is the credit card holder. The same condition applies to ticket collection. Only the credit card holder can collect tickets.

Credit cards accepted:
Visa, MasterCard, American Express.

Menu
(a mix of hot and cold items)
Minced Chicken, Coconut & Kaffir Lime San Choy Bau in Chinese spoons
Mushroom & Parmesan Risotto Balls (V)
Warm Goats Cheese & Caramelised Onion Tarts (V)
Salt & Pepper Calamari, Wasabi Aoili
Ginger Chicken & Kaffir Lime Wontons, Sweet Chilli Sauce
Mini Steak & Mushroom Pies, Tomato Sauce
Peking Duck Pancakes, Plum Sauce
Inside Out Sushi, Pickled Ginger & Soy (V)
Shredded Thai Style Beef Salad In Rice Paper Roll

We can reveal the funnyman shot scenes for his guest spot on Kath & Kim at the Westfield Southland food court on Wednesday.

Lucas could be playing an English cousin of the family, joining Kylie Minogue, Michael Buble, Barry Humphries and Geoffrey Rush who have had cameos.

No word on when the episode will screen. K&K is hot property with the commercial networks.

K&K creators Gina Riley and Jane Turner and star Magda Szubanski got to know Lucas and his partner, Kevin McGee, better at polyester prince Bob Downe's weekend show at South Melbourne's Butterfly Club.

Lucas and his Little Britain cohort, David Walliams, hit the Vodafone Arena from Tuesday for the stage version of their hit sketch series.

Mardi Gras Fair Day 2007 is to be a "family-friendly" event, attuned to the sensitivities of young children, council licenses and sponsorship obligations, it was revealed this week.

Peter Wilford from online gay business SexPigs, which operates an online sex toy store and internet ‘hook-up' site, told SX on Tuesday that his business had been refused permission to have a stall at Fair Day on the grounds that it was to be a "family-friendly" event, devoid of references to sex.

"We were told that sex products or sexual imagery of any sort would not be allowed at Fair Day this year, and that because of that we could not have a stall," he said.

Wilford added that a Mardi Gras representative had allegedly told him that SexPigs "could not advertise the ‘hook-ups' side of the business anyway" because that would clash with Gaydar's sponsorship of the event.

"I think this family-friendly thing is ridiculous. It's like a throwback to the '70s," said Wilford this week, who also lambasted Mardi Gras for "kow-towing" to corporate sponsors.

In response to Wilford's claims, Mardi Gras Chair Marcus Bourget confirmed that the organisation was seeking to implement a ‘family-friendly' atmosphere for Fair Day, telling SX: "Our aim is to create a pleasant environment for everyone, while respecting our responsibilities towards the many young children who are on-site, as well as all formal license conditions of the event, and our obligations towards our sponsors."

"Many children attend Kid Zone and are present on site throughout the day," he added.

Addressing Wilford's complaints on the sponsorship issue, Bourget noted that Gaydar was a corporate sponsor of Mardi Gras, unlike SexPigs, and that Mardi Gras had an obligation to "provide some sort of value to its sponsors."

Bourget also asserted that Mardi Gras had not received an official application from a company called SexPigs, although he conceded that the company may have applied for a stall under a different name.

"Mardi Gras receives telephone enquiries from many people and organisations regarding Fair Day," he continued, "not all of whom identify themselves during the conversation. All applications for Fair Day must be in writing and no applications are rejected on the basis of verbal conversations."

Meanwhile, a media statement sent to SX on Tuesday outlined the entertainment programme for Fair Day 2007. The statement, which said that Mardi Gras headquarters was "buzzing with excitement over Fair Day 2007" promoted an eclectic entertainment roster including singer Jade McCrae, Big Brother contestant David Graham, Hedwig star iOTA, comedy icon Bob Downe, the Gay and Lesbian Police Band, newsreader Tracey Spicer and contestants from reality TV shows Dancing with the Stars and Australian Princess.
Peter Hackney

Old, New, Borrowed & Blues!

What a Midsumma cabaret treat! BOB DOWNE is getting all jazzy for his debut Butterfly Club season. Joined by Music Director JOHN THORN and a cookin' little band, Bob will be singin' and swingin' jazz, show and pop standards – old faves like 'Yeh Yeh', 'Wives & Lovers', through to 'Thoroughly Modern Millie' and 'The Beat Goes On', with wild new arrangements of classics like 'Frankie & Johnny' and 'Summertime'.

Promises Bob: "The feel will be Olde Worlde Nightclub ... the last time you saw me up this close was in the loo at a dance party!"

8 SHOWS ONLY – BOOK NOW!

Tickets: $28; $25 concession-holders and for group bookings of eight or more.