Friends Of Barbra – The Way We Weren’t: Songs In The Key Of Streisand – Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2016 Review

Artspace Gallery, Sat 18 Jun. Making not only their South Australian debut, as they have never really travelled south of the border before, Michael Smallwood, Luke Gallagher and Nigel Ubrihien make up the Greenroom award winning trio, Friends Of Barbra, making their Adelaide Cabaret Festival debut also. Part cabaret boy band, part stand-up, but all class, this show is clearly well rehearsed as the show is musically tight with the voices and three-part harmonies blending beautifully in the intimate surrounds of the cabaret-style seating of the Artspace Gallery. The musical pedigree of this trio was evident early on from the first notes deftly delivered under Ubrihiens dazzling digits to the seamlessly soaring semibreves sailing from Smallwood and Gallagher’s voices. The mixture of music and comedy was a success in the hands of these seasoned performers and the Wheel Of Barbra! made an appearance too… Michael and Luke took it in turns to spin the wheel, with the lucky number the wheel lands on selecting a song from the fur-lined catalogue of Barbra’s ‘Top 100 Power Duets’ and then Michael or Luke proceeded to give the audience clues about the famous duet selected by the wheel! However, you shouldn’t go along only expecting to hear Streisand’s back catalogue and greatest hits, but do expect to be surprised and entertained with what these witty, musical chaps can do with a mashup. To hear Lakme’s Flower Duet blended perfectly with The Rainbow Connection was a musical master stroke and completely surprising. The boys sang and played for an hour but it just didn't seem long enough. The Way We Weren’t was a pastiche of musical genres and forms, from Rossini (The Barbra Of Seville) to Kander and Ebb (All That Babs), Bach to Brittney, and even Alison Moyet to Annie Lennox. With all of the different styles and composers being heard on stage, there is certainly something in this show for everyone. Charissa McCluskey-Garcia Friends Of Barbra perform The Way We Weren’t at Artspace Gallery, Adelaide Festival Centre, from 7.15pm until Sun19 Jun Book at BASS on 131 246 and bass.net.au. Click HERE to purchase your tickets. Image courtesy of James Penlidis Photography Social Media: Facebook: Adelaide Cabaret FestivalTwitter: @AdelaideCabaret  #AdCabFestInstagram: @AdelaideCabaret Facebook: The Clothesline – Digital Arts Magazine Twitter: @Clothesline_Mag