Theatre Review: Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill

 The Play: Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill

The Company: Melbourne Theatre Company

The Theatre: The Arts Centre, Fairfax Studio

Stars: 5

Until December 9

I love it when an actor embodies a character. In living memory I've been in awe at Amanda Muggleton playing Maria Callas. There was Miriam Margolyes in I'll Eat You Last. Oh, and Bernadette Robinson in Songs for Nobodies. 

Zahra Newman joins this group with her encapsulation of Billie Holliday in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill. 

She is amazing.

Although this is a play, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill is more a performance. The Fairfax Studio has been turned into an iconic Philadelphia nightclub. There are audience members on the stage, their presence ripe for the picking. Behind the microphone is the band. Kim Purling, who plays Jimmy Powers on the piano. Dan Witton is on the bass and Edward York is on the drums. For all intents and purposes, it 1959 and Holiday is nearing the end of her life. If you went to see her, you wouldn't know what sort of performance you were going to see. Over the hour and a half of the play, you get to see into elements of her life, and her downfall. 

And Newman takes this all in her stride. Obviously, there's been a lot of vocal coaching done over a very long time, but Newman turns herself into Billie Holiday, from every smirk, eyebrow raise, sneer and stumble. She is absolutely phenomenal. Over the play she descends into the darkness of drink and drugs - and again, Newman is on point. Holiday's stories are tinged with sadness and horror, from the story of how her father died, to her experiencing extreme racial prejudice in the Deep South, to her battles with her family, this is more than a few songs being cobbled together on as a play. 

Billie and the band play many of her standards. ‘God Bless the Child’, ‘What a Little Moonlight Can Do’, ‘Somebody’s on My Mind’ all turn up, along with the haunting 'Strange Fruit' (which if you haven't heard of it, look it up - it's an incredible, haunting song.)

Lanie Robertson's play is tightly run but gives the cast some free reign. When somebody's phone alarm went off early in the play, the audience member was roasted (and rightly so). This happened where the cast didn't miss a beat. It was also a timely reminder to turn off your phone. 

I highly recommend this play, not only for Zahra Newman's amazing performance, or the thought-provoking script, or the wonderful set. I also came for the music. I like jazz. I love this era of music. A piano, a bass and some drums and I am happy. 

Beg, borrow, steal or buy a ticket. They're going to be talking about this show for a while to come. 

Today's song: 

Bubble Tea

 My weakness while I've been recuperating - okay, anytime really, is bubble tea. 

It's evil stuff, but there is something comforting about it. 

Like who had the bright idea to take tea, infuse it with milk, and ice, and all sorts of other things, then add pearls, or other bits of fruit to the bottom of the cup, then give you a big thick straw to drink it down with? I mean, it's probably not good for you. I stay away from the milky ones. My go to is Oolong Tea infused with Lychee cordial, with aloe pearls. This has a lot of ice added to it. Once the tea has gone, I tend to top up the cup with cold dry ginger ale to get the last of the aloe pearls up. 

Okay, looking at the interwebs, it seems bubble tea, or boba, was invented in Taiwan in the mid-Eighties, when somebody had the forethought to put tapioca pearls in cold, milky tea. It went gangbusters from there. 

I know that bubble tea is bad for the environment. The plastic cups. The plastic lids that are soldered onto the plastic cups. The local Gong Cha, who in the past have been horrible to their staff, have just swapped out plastic straws for cardboard ones. It's good for the environment, but the paper straws get manky, really quickly. I've also noticed that the cups can be recycled. 

And I always go for the straight tea ones - none of the milky ones when seem to slosh around your stomach - not for me. The ones without milk are superlative. 

And yes, I know it's full of sugar. 

I remember getting a bubble tea for a friend's child - he was about 16 at the time. I got a World's Greatest Aunty badge for that effort. (Strangely, said child is now in his early twenties - we have a very similar sense of humour - must have rubbed off on him over the years.)

But bubble tea is good stuff. 

I've just slurped the last of the aloe pearls from the cup of ginger ale. 

It's a little luxury. 

Today's song: 

Wednesday Night French

 I got home on time, fed the cat, fed myself and made my way out to Wednesday night French. In my desire to keep my French skills up, and learn more and become more proficient, I went onto MeetUp.com and found this group, which meets up once a month on a Wednesday night where people of all experience and ability can meet up and speak French. The cafe is five minutes' drive away. What would I have to lose?

Turns out, nothing. 

On turning up to this very cute bar on Bridge Road at the allotted time, I found some people speaking French. And it was on for the next two hours. 

I've not used MeetUp before but have heard good things about it. The platform allows you to meet up with people who have similar interests, be it movies, bushwalking, swimming... you name it. In my case, it was French Conversation. After the trip in October, I want to keep up my language skills as well as meet a few new people with whom I can speak French with. 

And they were really nice people. I sat with the bulk of people who have reasonable skills, a couple of native speakers and a couple of newbies. 

And everybody was lovely. 

It was a good two hours. The bar got a bit noisy at times, but nothing too bad. 

But it was so nice to speak French again for a bit.

I'm doing my daily minutes on the Duolingo app still. I'm on a 425-day streak at the moment. 

I don't know when I'll be going back to France of when I might use these skills again, but it feels right to turn up for a few hours to flex my French knowledge.

It's once a month. It costs nothing. I'm meeting different people?

There is nothing to lose. 

Today's song:

Movie Review: Killers of the Flower Moon

 Movie Number 36 of 2023

The Movie: Killers of the Flower Moon

The Cinema: Hoyts Victoria Gardens

Stars: 4

Martin Scorsese is a genius. There, I've said it. And sure, the 81-year-old director, writer and producer has had a lifetime to perfect his craft, but Killers of the Flower Moon shows Scorsese at his best. The acting, the direction, the screenplay, the cinematography are all top-notch. It also tells a very important story, one which not many people will have heard of, and to great effect. 

Before I give this film the once over, I have to warn anybody looking at going to see this of two things. Firstly, it is a bit grizzly in places. Thankfully these scenes are short, sharp and used in a non-gratuitous way. The second is that this film is over three and a half hours long. The time goes quickly, but this isn't a film you go to for a quick pick me up. It's long, involved, confronting and a bit of a slog in places - but it's very worthwhile. It was unfortunately made to feel a bit longer by the people next to me talking in loud voices intermittently. I moved seats about halfway through, giving up in disgust. 

Killers of the Flower Moon tells the story of the Osage people. Rotten Tomatoes.com describes this as, "Based on David Grann's broadly lauded best-selling book, "Killers of the Flower Moon" is set in 1920s Oklahoma and depicts the serial murder of members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation, a string of brutal crimes that came to be known as the Reign of Terror."

And brutal it is. We watch as Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) comes back from World War One to work for his uncle, William Hale (Robert De Niro), who is the overseer and local businessman who has his fingers in many pies. In the background, over time, many of the Osage tribe, who have negotiated oil rights and gained much wealth from this. However, with the money, the Osage have no power. The whites are taking huge advantage of the tribe, not allowing them to spend their money, marrying to take their rights away, performing large scale insurance fraud. It's the wild west at its worst. 

Ernest, after starting up as a chauffeur in the town, meets and marries Mollie (Lily Gladstone), a daughter of one of the prominent first nations families, and with her mother and sisters, has access to a lot of money - even if she has to ask her protector to use the funds. Mollie is not in the best of health. Of her sisters, they have all made questionable marriages to white men, and all are dead by the halfway mark in the film. 

Of the obvious murders, none are investigated until Mollie begs some outside assistance from the President to send the F.B.I. This story takes up the last hour of the film.  

This has everything you expect from a Scorsese film. DiCaprio, De Nero and Gladstone put in Oscar-worthy performances. What's surprising is seeing DiCaprio play a man who is almost simple. Ernest Burkhart is not so much simple, but gullible, doing the bidding of his uncle, Bill 'King' Hale. Lily Gladtone's understated performance as Mollie, a woman of few words is incredible. She holds the film brilliantly as her family are busy dying around her. 

There are some fantastic cameos near the end. Jesse Plemons, Brendan Fraser and John Lithgow turn up in the courtroom scenes near the end. The First Nations cast are also inspiring. 

This is also a treat for the eyes. The Rodrigo Prieto's cinematography and Thelma Schoonmacher's editing make this a visual feast, showing the rolling hills and barren nature of Osage County to great effect. The last few minutes, shown as a radio play, with a cameo by Scorsese is also effective. 

It has also been noted in reviews that Scorsese ensured the involvement of the Osage people throughout production. This film is telling an important story. It does not feel in any way exploitative. 

This won't be for everybody. The film's length seems oppressive. But Killers of the Flower Moon is really worth watching - it's too important to miss, even if it is to see how White Man's greed, corruption and cruelty can decimate a nation. 

Today's song:

Nup

 "What are your doing tomorrow?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing at all?"

"I might sleep in, go to the gym, do some writing, torment the cat, go for a walk, maybe see a movie."

"You're not watching the race?"

"Nup."

"Or going to a barbeque."

"Nup. There are better reasons to eat charred meat and drink beer."

"You don't commemorate this all-hallowed day?"

"Nup. It's a gazetted day off, I can't do anything about it. I live in Melbourne, I'm not allowed to work. We never had the day off when I was a kid, but I'm from Adelaide. I think we had another horse race day when I was a child."

"Have you ever watched the Cup?"

"Not since I was a child. I have no interest. It's a horse race. I'm not into horse racing. I don't like the gambling. For all the good owners and trainers, there are a lot of bad ones too. It's a rich people's sport idolised by the poor. Why would I want anything to do with horse racing?"

"Okay."

"I'm not stopping anybody else doing something for it, I just don't see the point of it. Like the day off before the AFL grand final."

"You're not into sport then?"

"Not really."

"That's a bit un-Australian."

"If that's so, strip me of my Australian passport and send me to England or France. I don't care."

I had a version of this conversation three times today. 

I have no interest in horse racing.

I'm not fond of the reports of animal cruelty you hear from race tracks (and I know it's not all trainers and stables - just like not all men beat their partners.)

I don't like how the day glorifies gambling and drinking. 

I think that as a community we can move past what might have been worth celebrating 100 years ago and find new things to commemorate, in keeping with the times. 

I say Nup to the Cup. 

Not stopping anybody else doing anything. 

It's just not for me. 

Today's song

NaNoWriMo Guilt

 Writing is a horrid vocation. Absolutely horrid. No matter what you do, you never seem to do enough, or do it well enough, and it leaves you wracked with guilt. 

Even worse, when you set yourself a goal. 

And you watch those goals go through the rearview mirror and never see them again. 

And you're once again wracked by guilt. 

So I set myself a NaNoWriMo goal. 

NaNoWriMo is an annual, international event. It asks you to write 50,000 in the month of November on your given project. 

I set myself this target, and promptly fell ill. Today's been the first day I've felt normal enough to write anything more than a blog post complaining about feeling ill. 

So as of now, five days in, I have 1264 words written. By rights, by the end of this day, to keep on track, I'd be wanting to have around 8500 words on the page. It hasn't happened. 

Today got derailed by friends dropping over, breakfast out, lots of washing and a few episodes of Friends. 

I reckon I might plant myself in the State Library on Melbourne Cup Day and see if I can catch up a bit. 

The struggle is real. Hoping some inspiration comes with the decrease in snot. 

I hate missing deadlines. 

Today's song: 

Sunday Stealing: ABC

 I'm just happy to be upright and able to write. After four days in bed with something that probably was COVID, not that the tests were saying this. It's just nice not coughing or falling down in a big heap. And to be able to concentrate for more than a few minutes. I'm even doing the ironing, which has been sitting there all week. I must be better. 

 So, here's this week's questions, brought to us by Bev at Sunday Stealing.                                                                                                                                                                                 

A - Ambition: 

To be happy. Is that such a bad ambition?

B - Birthday: 

It's in mid-August. It's normally a cold and wet day, being winter in Australia. I enjoyed my birthdays more when I was living in England. 

C - Computer: 

I have three computers at home. All run Windows - I've never been able to convert to a Mac. Other than the work laptop, there's my normal laptop and a smaller one which I take travelling. Sometimes you need a screen and an iPad won't cut it. 

D - Dream: 

I rarely dream. I used to be in a dream group, but I felt like I was letting down the team for not dreaming regularly. 

E - Exercise:

I am looking forward to exercising again after being sick for a week. I love walking and doing weights. Best feeling in the world - which some could say is a strange thing. I'm hoping to go to the gym tomorrow morning for some gentle weights and stretching to get myself back into the game. While I was on holidays I was averaging 20,000 steps a day. I loved that. 

F - Favorite Food:

Ice cream. It's good for you. 

For something a bit more sensible, I'll go with Mum's roast lamb. It's the best. 

G - Garden: 

I like visiting gardens, but I don't have one of my own. The nearest thing I have to a garden is the pots of cat grass that sit in the windowsill growing so that Lucifer and munch on them. The pots are in strict rotation. I'm also trying to revive the spider plant he chewed down to the nub while I was away. He's a but funny like that. 

H - Hobby:

I love to knit. Which reminds me, I do need to finish off a hat before I go on retreat in early March next year. I haven't been doing much knitting of late. 

I - Idol:

Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She was an amazing woman. A real trailblazer. As an Australian Idol, Julia Gillard, our one and only female Prime Minister gets a nod. She got a lot done under some terrible conditions (horrid working environment and press coverage). 

J - Job:

I have a day job as a technical writer. It's okay. A good use of my skills. 

K - Kids:

I don't have any. Smelly and expensive things. Don't know if I'm missing much. 

L - Location:

I am currently residing in Naarm, on Wurundjeri Land, which is part of the Kulin Nation. 

It's also known as Melbourne. 

Australia is starting to take up the traditional names of the lands on which with live and work. I'm on board with this. 

M - Military:..

Something to be quietly supported, but that is about it. I'm not fond of guns or war. I can see why it's there but I don't have to like it. But I'll never diss anybody for their military service. They give their lives for the country, and for that, I'm proud of them. 

N - Name or Nickname:

My nickname, which is in common use, is Panda. I always give the name Panda to baristas, and they always raise an eyebrow. It often needs to be followed with the comment, "Like the bear. " In French, that translats to , "Je m'appelle Panda. Comme d'ours." 

O - Optimist or Pessimist:

I'm definitely an optimist. 

P - Pets:

I have the world's most charming black cat called Lucifer, Many say he is not charming, but I think he's wonderful. He's just a bit misunderstood. 

Q - Quote:

"I'd like to live like a poor man - just with lots of money." Pablo Picasso. 

R - Reads:

I am currently reading Yellowface by Rebecca F. Kuang. It's okay - very understandable from a writer's perspective. 

My current audiobook is Unruly: The Ridiculous History of England's Kings and Queens by David Mitchell. It was advertised on the tube while I was in London. I'm loving every minute of this. it's hilarious. 

S - School:

There is a part of me that ponders doing a PhD, then I get real, and work out that I like having money and sanity and continue on the path of trying to write a book. 

T - Travel:

Is a necessity of life and should be done as often as possible. Short trips, long trips - both need to be done. 

U - Unfulfilled ambition:

To be a doctor. I'm glad I never became one, but I still wonder what that alternative universe would be like. 

V - Vacation spot:

I would say anywhere with a pool, but the South of France stole my heart away a few weeks ago. I'm not sure if I will ever get it back. 

W - Wardrobe:

If you mean what do I wear - probably best called Melbourne Utilitarian. Lots of black, cotton, wide legged trousers and loose tops. I go for comfort over fashion. Too old for real fashion, but I have my own style. 

X - X-tra facts about me:

I've learned to walk a couple of times thanks to operations on my legs when I was a kid. 

Y - Years online:

Far too many. I've been using the internet since the mid 90s. 

Z - Zodiac sign:

I'm a Leo. If you want to get more in depth, I'm a Leo/Virgo cuspy, with a Capricorn ascendant and a Cancer moon, with a five planet stellium in Virgo (Jupiter, Venus, Mercury, Uranus and Pluto). I hang out with astrologers. I know these things. 

Today's song: