REVIEW
The Joey Arias Experience
Theatre Royal
Brighton Festival
Wednesday May 20
How do you review a legend whose performing style is based on a legend and who performs legendary shows in a unique breath-taking and breathless style that veers between bawdy and agonisingly honest and tender exposure? To be honest I’ve no idea how to approach Joey, but I’d give my eye to spend an evening in his wonderfully inspiring and slightly unsettling company.
With an impressive range and emotionally rich phrasing, Joey Arias is a vocalist of the highest calibre. A fixture of New York’s vibrant performance scene for more than 30 years, his scandalous wit, sleek style and extraordinary voice – evocative of Billie Holiday yet uniquely his own is tranfixing and he ravaged the Theatre Royal both with his astonishingly tender touch perfect reproduction of Billie Holliday’s voice, style, presence and spirit. At one point i closed my eyes just to allow the music to wash over me and stop the juxtaposition of the six foot tall Joey wrapped in feather and fur. He dresses sharper than polished obsidian and is as imposing as the music, but it’s impossible to seperate; the music is Arias, and as with Holliday you can’t get the person out from behind the music, they cast themselves out upon us with their voices.
Stunning, weird, wonderful, transfixing, seductive, slightly threatening, warm and effusive, a tiny touch of pantomime and utterly convincing and compelling Arias held the Theatre Royal in thrall (and this was a seen-it-all Brighton audience), but not Arias, oh no, we don’t get this kind of treat too often in the UK and how I ache for more.
See Arias sing here
A consummate performer with years of experience which makes his stage presence a master-class in cabaret, veering from delicious vulgarity to breathless confidence, from crepuscular songs of sorrow and longing to sensual erotic teasing this is a roller coaster, but one run at Arias speed, one which allows you to savour the ride and see the knowing wink behind this spectacular artisans make up.
I’ve sat through Opera, theatre, mime, improv and comedy so far this festival but Arias is the one who brought out the tears by stepping in front of the mike and letting that astonishing voice wrap itself around the darkness and bring texture to the night. Being moved to tears for me is about an artist being so raw, honest and vulnerable that you are dragged into an empathic state where the songs play your emotions. Then with a sensual waft of his feather decorated arms he winks, shows us that nothing dries quicker than a tear and barrels on into some wonderfully silly, and naughty improvised remarks about Brighton and British culture. He made me laugh more than anything else I’ve seen this season and that is an amazing accomplishment to reach both ends of the spectrum in the same show on the same stage; he is impressive and I was impressed.
A great night out, with a stunning performer in the perfect venue, the band could have been a little tighter as they seemed as languid and laid back as Arias pretended to be, but somehow that’s a small criticism for what was one of the best Festival shows I’ve seen.
Full info on the performance here
You must be logged in to post a comment.