Songs For Nobodies to tour Australia
Following her acclaimed sold-out season in London’s West End, Bernadette Robinson returns to Australia for a limited engagement in the hit play Songs For Nobodies.
First performed 10 years ago, Songs For Nobodies will tour to Geelong Performing Arts Centre from Friday 13 December, Arts Centre Melbourne from Wednesday 18 December and Sydney Opera House from 23 January. This spellbinding one woman play, is a tour de force of imagined encounters between five mid 20th-century divas, Judy Garland, Patsy Cline, Billie Holiday, Edith Piaf and Maria Callas, and five ordinary women.
Renowned Australian playwright Joanna Murray-Smith has mined a rich seam of longing, humour and quiet frustration to conjure the alchemic effect these women’s encounters with their musical idols have on their lives – from right there in the moment to their future choices. Under the direction of Simon Phillips, Robinson switches characters and vocals without a breath, each song choice a glorious homage and celebration, delivered with passion and emotion that few ever come close to. Every audience member intimately feels that her performance is just for them.
Songs For Nobodies showcases Robinson’s astonishing talent for recreating the great singers of the past. On stage for 90 minutes accompanied by live musicians, her miraculous voice shifts from the smoky blues to a thrilling soprano. With consummate ease, she breathes new life into the five legendary performers and the five ordinary women whose lives were changed by their brush with fame. The show was originally written for Bernadette Robinson by Joanna Murray-Smith on a commission from Simon Phillips as Artistic Director of the Melbourne Theatre Company.
Simon Phillips said “Ever since I sat stunned at a Bernadette Robinson concert not believing my ears, I wanted to create a show for her, something that put her miraculous ability to reincarnate the great singing voices of the past into a rich theatrical context. So I knocked on the obvious door. Joanna Murray-Smith’s brilliant talent for channelling not only characters but somehow the spirit of the performer.”
Songs For Nobodies proves Robinson to be a virtuoso singer, a virtuoso impressionist and a virtuoso actor.
Songs For Nobodies
Geelong Performing Arts Centre (GPAC) from Friday 13 December | Click here for tickets
Arts Centre Melbourne, Fairfax Studio from Wednesday 18 December | Click here for tickets
Sydney Opera House, Playhouse from Thursday 23 January | Click here for tickets
