Catherine Alcorn is a sure Bette
Image: Catherine Alcorn in THE DIVINE MISS BETTE. Image: Phil Erbacher
For those lucky enough to have seen Catherine Alcorn perform, words like “powerhouse” and “amazing” tend to be the currency.
Now, with her show, The Divine Miss Bette, coming to the Darlinghurst Theatre, Alcorn promises to turn it up a few notches more.
“I’ve got the next two weeks to focus on bringing it home,” Alcorn said.
By “bringing it home” she is talking about where her show began life a block south of The Eternity Playhouse; 12 years ago she began channeling Midler at Oxford Street’s legendary Slide Lounge.
“It started as a small four piece cabaret show at Slide that became an international touring show, where in 2018 we did the US three times, and it seems that I have been in every theatre across Australia,” Alcorn said. “[Bette] is such an icon and so loved that audiences just want to keep coming back.”
The Divine Miss Bette went on to win the Best Cabaret Production in the 2018 Broadway World Awards.
“I call it my marijuana show as it is my gateway show to audiences, as they come to see Bette and they leave knowing me,” Alcorn said.
For this upcoming season of five shows over four nights, Alcorn is co-producing with Neil Gooding Productions and the Harbour Agency. The Divine Miss Bette will bring the Eternity Playhouse stage to life with four musicians, three Harlettes and of course Alcorn.
Tomáš Kantor, who identifies as non-binary and was recently seen in the Hayes Theatre production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, will be one of the Harlettes. The divinely talented, Kitty Burgess and Kat Hoyas will make up the trio.
As to what you will hear in The Divine Miss Bette Alcorn promises to include all of the audience favourites, especially for those who remember Midler’s live performances in the seventies.
“A lot of the songs are from the period when she was playing bars and bathhouses, so songs like ‘Friends’, ‘In the Mood’, ‘Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy’, and then we move onto later in her career with songs such as ‘Stay With Me’ from The Rose and of course, ‘The Wind Beneath My Wings’,” Alcorn said.
All up Alcorn will pack 15 songs into the 85 minute show. They will be interspersed with her own unique brand of audience-confronting, ad-libbed comedy drawn from current events and what is happening in Sydney on the day.
This is a show with broad appeal and one that will showcase the amazing Catherine Alcorn to a new inner city audience.
