Velvet Rewired – REVIEW
Image: Tom Sharah belting out disco hits in Velvet Rewired.
Burn, baby burn is right! This is Boogie Wonderland meets Fantasy erupting in a Disco Inferno and made extra special with You. Velvet Rewired is a power-packed uninterrupted 90 odd minutes of pure disco joy and awe-inspiring circus artistry.
Returning in a re-vamped version after its sell-out debut as Velvet in 2015, Velvet Rewired retains all the dazzle, sparkle, magic and Marcia of the original with a mix of new and tried-and-true performances. Marcia Hines is of course, the jewel in the crown, every bit a legend and the consummate songstress. Singing some of the biggest hits of the disco era including “Ain’t Nobody”, “Don’t Leave Me This Way”, “Disco Inferno”, “No More Tears” and her own evergreen hit, “You”, Hines regales the adoring crowd with her satin-smooth voice and super chic wardrobe.
Joe Accaria masters the turntables, a variety of drums, and a mean visor, standing above the stage in his DJ booth. As musical director, Accaria has curated a great selection of songs that render remaining seated a monumental challenge. In fact, one attendee clocked up over 14,000 steps on her pedometer during the show alone.
Tom Sharah is slick and sultry on vocals, a perfect male counterpart to Hines. Craig Reid aka Hula Boy is as cute and charismatic as he is utterly astounding. What he does with those hoops defies all reason and science.
Beau Sargent took his ballet training to the air and has produced an aerial act that is as graceful and beautiful as it is jaw-dropping. Sargent does double time alongside the dancers, floating his fluid be-sequinned body down the catwalk stage like a glam-spectre.
Pairing with Sargent as well as doing his own thing in the air and on the ground, Harley Timmermans brings his ex-surfer machismo to the party.
Despite the grooving beats it’s pretty hard to move a muscle or even breath when rollerskating acrobat, Sven is tethered by the neck to his partner, Jan and they are spinning maniacally on a round platform that seems much too small.
Finally but absolutely not least, the Sirens, Sasha Lee Saunders and Jacinta Gulisano are scintillating as vocalists and dancers and rain-girls.
This show is party/theatre that will have you energised, feeling happily nostalgic and incredulous that it is possible to have this much talent on one small stage.
