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| Paul Capsis |
"Hi. I'm a channeller. Ever since I was a little boy, I've had the ability to accept the minds of other people - living or dead - into my own. Unfortunately I have no control over it. People just barge in whenever...Oooh...who's this...Oooh...Ahhh...'Hello. My name's Judy Garland'".......
So begins the first of Paul Capsis' extraordinary characterisations of some of the world's great female performers. From start to finish, this highly talented artist had the audience enthralled as he moved from one character to another, each time leaving us even more astonished than before. I've never seen or heard anything quite like it.
Dressed in black for the whole performance, and with only a general purpose and unchanging makeup for all characters, Capsis convinced us with sheer vocal magic, uncanny facial expressions and perfect body language, that he was Judy Garland, Maria Callas, Bette Midler, Dianna Ross, and Billy Holiday.
Then came Iris, an ex Tivoli girl, now well into her eighties, who just sat quietly and espoused her views on the shape of Australian showbusiness today and the world in general. This frail and wispy old dame then gently tottered off, and we all had a break and marvelled.
Act II revealed Madonna, Barbara Streisand and Janis Joplin - "take it, take another little piece of my heart", she raunched, with hair flying madly everywhere and beads swaying and clicking.
Then came the encores. We wouldn't let him go and he just kept delivering more - Tina Turner, more Judy Garland and then a finale that had so many stings in it's tale, it's a wonder we weren't all poisoned in the room - I will not comment further on that!
Originally published in Muse Magazine (Canberra), November 1996
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