Good Girl Bad Girl: A Life Shared In Song ~ Adelaide Fringe 2021 Review

[CABARET/Music ~ WORLD PREMIERE ~ SA] Nexus Arts, Sat 14 Mar. Good Girl Bad Girl mixes original music, Souzi D. Wilson’s personal story of a child of Macedonian migrants, growing up, coming of age and married life – the whole shebang of her life. So you’d expect autobiographical with lots of cultural references, both to that of her parents and to that of the surrounding, mainly Anglo culture of the time (thankfully we’ve moved on at least a little in our acceptance of other cultures). Souzi is nothing if not an engaging story teller, whether that be spoken word or through her own songs – singing of different aspects of her life. And she uses simple but effective costume changes to great effect. She also has a knack of finding good chorus lines even in sometime difficult songs. The show is well crafted word and lyric wise and the backing band, a four piece jazz ensemble, do a great job of laying a suitable foundation for her songs. And the dynamics of the show as well – well thought through in terms of bringing an audience along with her to the crescendo! We hear the story of a young Macedonian ‘good girl’ growing up in Australian suburbia, where family and doing the right thing (which back then could include arranged marriages) was pressured out by the need to fit in and conform with the friends of her youth. Of course ‘good girls’ don’t sing or perform on the stage, nor hang out with musicians, or smoke, drink and all the rest. So then we get the bad girl – building up the courage to take singing lessons for the first time as a mature adult and eventually getting onto the stage as a backing singer and having her own band. Souzi has a powerful stage presence and clearly can belt it out, but it was in the lower registers that there seemed to be some pitching variance – which I suspect has more to do with her not being able to hear herself in the fold-back mix than anything else. None of that mattered to this audience who were simply delighted by Souzi and her performance and gave a deserved standing ovation as she left the stage. 4 stars Clayton Werner Good Girl Bad Girl continues at Nexus Arts, Lion Arts Centre, form 8pm on Sat 20 Mar. Book at FringeTIX on 1300 621 255 and adelaidefringe.com.au. Click HERE to purchase your tickets. #ADLfringe #ClotheslineMag