Sylvia Brécko Is … Doing It HER Way. An Australian Premiere At La Bohème – Adelaide Fringe Review

La Bohème, Sat Mar 14 Sylvia Brécko straddles the worlds of cabaret and comedy. She is equally at ease telling amusing stories about relationships, dumb phones or Botox as she is belting out a Marlene Dietrich classic. Throw in some cleverly written ditties to the tune of popular songs and an endearing delightful manner with audiences and you a have a recipe guaranteed to keep you entertained. And given that Brécko is working in a language that is not her native tongue this is no mean achievement. She has clearly put a lot of time into making this show relevant to the local Australian context, and I’d challenge a native speaker to come up with rhymes as effective as those in her original songs. She accompanies herself on piano and ukulele for her own English material. As good as these original songs are, when she sings in her native German the impact moves up several notches to another level of presence and oomph and you see the experienced cabaret performer from Cologne. An appalling technical hitch nearly brought her show to a sudden premature conclusion, but she rode out the gap in proceedings with remarkable good grace and professionalism that was very impressive. Sylvia Brécko is quite lovely. She simply has a manner that makes you feel good to be in her company. She’s funny - she has a different comedic take on many of the same old topics, a fine singer, and her obvious love of this country is always going to win Australian audiences over. Her farewell song to the audience, sung in French, as we all departed the theatre was just icing on a delicious cake. Michael Coghlan 4.2 stars Sylvia Brécko Is …Doing It HER Way. An Australian Premiere continues at La Bohème until Sun Mar 15. Book at FringeTIX on 1300 621 255 or adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix. Click HERE to purchase your tickets.