Meow Wow – Brisbane
She opened the show in a borrowed dress, sporting borrowed cleavage and closed with her
trademark crowd surf to retrieve whiskey from the sound desk, and in between the Piaf-like
warbler, Meow Meow delighted the Powerhouse audience with her riotous mischief making
and remarkable vocal ability.
Times are hard and the global financial crisis has left no-one untouched, not even the
internationally acclaimed Diva – but let’s face it, she is touched where ever she goes, in fact
she demands to be fondled! Due to the GFC, the bottom has fallen out of her New York tour leaving her no other option than to perform in a disused power outlet (the Powerhouse) in Brisbane city. But being the trouper she is, she’s packed her pocket smoke machine and lazy-susan and the show will go on (with a little help from the audience of course). With the opening number done, the hired dress and bosoms are repossessed by the venue and the demanding Diva continues relatively nonplussed, in her slip.
Meow Meow has garnered some serious fans and has clawed and pawed her way to the top of the cabaret scene around the world with her Dietrich style sex appeal and, well, those cabaret charms. Meow consistently provides an evening full of titillation and mayhem as she pumps out raspy originals and delightful renditions of popular classics. Even as she makes fun of Brel’s ‘Ne Me Quitte Pas’, undoubtedly the most beautiful love song in history, she does it delicious justice, slipping between French and English and then suddenly a slip into German for an amusing political song and urgent demands on the audience – German works better to get people to do what you want!
Meow Meow is an absolutely gorgeous woman and stunning performer with a stage presence of a true (and rare) entertainer but she also reflects the ghost of the washed up, wreck of the Diva of old, adored and abused, drunk and suffering off stage but stoic and divine as the curtain is raised. The resounding success of Meow Meow attests to the many depths of her show, depths cleverly concealed beneath the blush of skilful comedy and muck-raking for successful comedy after all is born of an intelligence that is often unseen and under- appreciated.
If you’ve never seen Meow Meow, you’ve missed your chance as her sell-out show closed on Saturday night but keep your eye on the Powerhouse where she seems to visit at least once a year just to keep her fans in order.