Kiara With A K @ The Ellington Jazz Club
Saturday, July 13, 2019
Nothing beats Fringe World shows getting a reprisal in winter, right when we really need to get our fix before the summer festival returns to warm our art-loving hearts. Kiara with a K returned with a jazzy shimmy and a whole lot of the ole razzle dazzle for one night only to the note-perfect surrounds of The Ellington Jazz Club, and it was an unexpected treat like a shot of gin in your juice.
A variety show with a deliciously talented ensemble cast and a penchant for jazzy numbers paying homage to Liza Minnelli, Kiara with a K is a rollicking good time. All-singing, all-dancing, with plenty of laughs on offer throughout with a bent for burlesque, it’s a fabulous show which feels like it’s over too fast.
K is for Kiara Macri, a multifaceted artist, skillful songstress, and the show’s creator. She is one of three talented sisters, and each one has forged and furrowed her own path into West Australian hearts in her own way. Kiara was not to be outdone, developing her own Fringe show earlier this year after her sisters stomped their way in.
Her sister Nicola Macri brings the hilarity, fresh from her debut at the recent Perth Comedy Festival following her own successful Fringe comedy show. The burlesque Macri, Veruca Sour, was the queen of Miss Burlesque Western Australia 2017, and rightfully so. Combined, they’re a cartoon series in the making. Super Macri’s of Perth, unite!
The show is brilliantly conceived and delightfully executed. Burlesque royalty Veruca Sour and Lucy Lovegun are pure sex clown deluxe times two, delivered via sass shotgun in their unmistakable, inimitable style. Totally in sync with each other comically, choreographically and facially – if it wasn’t an acclaimable ability before, it is now. They’re undeniably Perth’s most iconic burlesque duo.
Nicola Macri’s beat poem about Uber Eats cements that this Macri has truly arrived on Perth’s comedy landscape. She has come a long way, baby, and has an undeniable voice. Her glee in the opportunity for slapstick as Chaplin is palpable and brings belly laughs so full that tears roll.
There is something really magical about a family coming together to share their talents on stage for their city, but what’s really needed is a fantastic producer to swoop in and fuse it into a seamless production because there is something truly special herein.
Look out, Perth, because this anti-Partridge family is coming for your art scene with all barrels loaded. Stay tuned for future shows and don’t miss them. You don’t want to be the one who wasn’t there before they were famous.
NATALIE GILES
