Big Girls
DIRECTOR: Ash Searle
CAST: Lucy Tops, Vanessa Harris and Cassandra Money
VENUE: Kalk Bay Theatre
UNTIL: May 31
RATING: ***
Billed as a cabaret comedy, Followspot’s latest production guarantees an evening of mildly risqué fun, excellent singing and chuckles a-plenty as these two genres fuse in undemanding entertainment.
Opening night called forth all the resourcefulness of cast and director, as Eskom obligingly load-shed Kalk Bay Theatre’s precinct minutes before the show began, with power restored as patrons exited the theatre.
Unabashed, the three executants delivered their agenda of humour, song and dance with aplomb, even if at times the nicer points of their choreography were only dimly visible in muted light.
There was nothing to reproach in the level of energy and commitment in their performance.
Big Girls is prefaced by a recording of the punchy 1950s hit Big Girls don’t Cry, and tears are conspicuous by their absence, even when the free-spending lifestyle of the characters is threatened by unemployment.
After some lamentation, they apply themselves to the matter of generating alternative income, some of their suggestions bordering on the ludicrous – from offering “services” at a car-wash that go way beyond the call of waxing Duco, to baking and selling cup-cakes at the Biscuit Mill… until their talent as singers leads to the formation of the La-Las.
That’s when the real fun kicks in.
The dialogue is gravid with double entendre (these girls are not shrinking violets), but the suggestiveness is kept subtle so that the innocence of younger members of the audience is not compromised, and Big Girls retains the air of a family show.
Best of all are the vocals, exhibited in a variety of crowd-pleasing songs.
First of these is Proud Mary, sung initially with smooth harmonies before erupting into raucous rendition of its foot-stomping, infectious rhythm.
Costumes are frequently and efficiently changed: glossy leopard-print kimonos make way for office dress, then several other less conventional outfits with a low point coming in the cake-vending sequence as the trio appear grotesquely arrayed as… cup-cakes.
Their personalities are neatly differentiated: the dipso Lucy, naïve Cassandra, and sexy Vanessa complement one another, differences sunk in ensemble cabaret when the need arises.
All three are more or less predatory, grasping at opportunities for fame and money as they share their history with a potentially influential “journalist” identified in the audience.
Unison singing and solos are equally impressive, the voices resonating powerfully and sweetly in Kalk Bay Theatre’s petite space.
An evening of manifold delights purveyed by mesdames Tops, Money and Harris.
• Big Girls will be performated at the National Arts Festival on July 2 to 5 and 7 to 12 at noon at the Kingswood Theatre.