High-Stepping Back out on Stage
Having had very few performance opportunities since early 2020, it's thrilling to be getting ourselves back into rehearsals to prepare for An Evening in Moonlight - a gorgeous cabaret night at the Festival of Voices. Not only is it wonderful to be performing a show like this for the first time since theatres closed last year, this particular show contains a great deal of nostalgia for Moonlight Aviators, and for a variety of reasons...
Image Credit: Gray Designs
Way back in 2014, we presented a 10 minute set as part of the Petitaret section of The Tasmanian Cabaret Festival, a mini-Festival sitting under the umbrella of Festival of Voices. That experience was one of the chief inspirations for us to push toward producing our own full-length shows, which have now become our main style of performance. To add to the historical connection of the Petitaret experience, that particular year was the one in which our our signature 'dressing screen' set was created and was first seen at Festival of Voices. Just between us, this gorgeous piece might just be making a return this year!
Image Credit: Viridian Photos
With two more consecutive years performing in FoV cabarets, as well as for other events around the traps, we decided to take the plunge, and put on our first cabaret show in the Wrest Point Casino Showroom. Way back then, we were thrilled to work with our very first siren of song, the vivacious and incredibly talented, Blythe Tait. Blythe continued to share her spectacular talents with us and was involved with our second cabaret show, both in its format at the Sepulchre and its re-staging as our first show for the 2008 Spiegeltent Hobart season.
Image Credit: Peter Robey
The next of our divine songstresses was introduced to us simply as a dancer back in 2019. After losing two of our founding members to Federation Uni in Ballarat, we held an audition for replacement dancers and took on the secretly super-talented, Rebecca Oliver-Black. With her skills out in the open, Rebecca scored a leading lady part in our third consecutive Spiegeltent show, Diamonds. With all the dramas of 2020, Diamonds was cancelled and is yet to debut - but we do take great delight in being able to share some of Rebecca's beautiful numbers with you this July.
Image Credit: Gray Designs
Our suave gentlemanly crooner's connection to the team came through his musical arranging skills. As our shows became even more reliant on beautifully rendered tunes - and specific versions of those tunes - we had to spread the arranging load. Nic Courto's background in theatre, and his experience as an arranger for the Southern Lights Big Band made him an ideal candidate. With a flair for the dramatic, Nic is more than ready to put his two left feet to the dancing test and is showing how well he can keep up with the Aviators.
Image Credit: Gray Designs
A Moonlight Aviators cabaret wouldn't be an Aviator Cabaret without the wonderful musicians who have kept coming back to work with us. And, if that's not the sign of a good show, what is? Our incredible house band is a huge part of what makes us a beautifully unique experience and we're so grateful for the dedication of this incredibly talented group of musicians. In particular, Suze Quinn who twirls her baton and everyone falls straight into line - whether singer, dancer or musician; and Matthew Ives who has stood by us since our very first cabaret show and has been one of the wonderful arrangers who has made it possible for us to realise our dreams of sound and style.
Image Credit: Alastair Bett
And, with the re-staging of so many of our numbers from across different shows comes the reminder of the Aviators that have been a huge part of our history but who, for a variety of different reasons, have moved on. For example, in the beginning, all of our Aviatrixes were brunette and four of the five were sisters - nine years on, for An Evening in Moonlight, only one of those four sisters remains and just three of the original seven founding members will be performing. But, as proof that the fervour of those original Aviators lives on, the Flight Crew is a strong squadron of nine dedicated dancers and includes two rookies who will definitely be earning their wings with this performance.
An Evening in Moonlight is the perfect opportunity for us to share with you some of our favourite numbers - from golden oldies (yes, we've been at it for that long!) to all-new and never-before-seen performance pieces.
Come and join us for a flight down memory lane, and an evening to rival the offerings of the Cotton Club or the Savoy!
One show only: Wed 7 July | 8:30pm | C3 Auditorium | PG | $49
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