Sing out, Louise

An annual showtunes sing-along event is to return to Sydney for its third year. Sing out, Louise is based on an iconic piano bar in New York’s West Village called Marie’s Crisis. It’s free and takes place at The Polo Lounge on the top floor of the Oxford Hotel this weekend.

Two pianists from New York’s Marie’s Crisis piano bar, Kenney Green and Adam Tilford, are flying over especially to play at the event.

Pianist Kenney Green gave some advice on making the most of the communal sing-along: “My top tip is to simply RELAX! We try our best to get to every request and bounce between every genre. If the crowd is currently in the middle of a musical you don’t know, give it a minute or two. We’ll eventually swing back around to something you know. We have 74 years of Tony nominated/winning musicals. The old and the new. There’s something for everyone.”

He said that the night is an open door: “For one (or two) glorious nights, everyone gets to be a cast member in any and all musicals.  No spotlight, no microphone…YOU are the star for the evening. Our goal is always to find a happy medium to get the ENTIRE room singing along. If one or two people in a crowd request an obscure Sondheim reference, or what have you, we try to hold off on those until the tail end of the night. I like to call that ‘family time!’”

Adam Tilford loves playing for Australian crowds, “Perhaps because the opportunity isn’t as prevalent as New York (we have multiple piano bars every day of the year) but the people in Australia are ravenous for this kind of entertainment. They’re in it 100% from the first notes played. No matter the song, style or lyrics they’re participating, watching and enjoying every moment.”

Sep 7-8. The Polo Lounge – The Oxford Hotel, 134 Oxford St, Darlinghurst. FREE – just tip the pianists.

By Gary Nunn.