Robert Hoffman received critical praise and awards for his 2014 Fringe World Show ‘Young at Heart’.

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Now the acclaimed cabaret performer, who has a professional opera background, returns with a new show for his crazy cast of characters.

Ahead of the show opening next week Robert answered some questions from OUTinPerth’s Sophie Joske.

As your follow up show to ‘Desperately Young at Heart’, what can we expect from returning characters Helmut Wunderlicher, Susan Higgins and Dr. Kay Overit?

Helmut Wunderlicher the singing teacher and psychologist attempts to take the audience on a guided tour of the psychotheraputic process via song.

Susan Higgins, the guitar-playing folk hymn singer has extended her repertoire to include Opera with text-based dance and has even started her own institute blending various body movement therapies.

Dr Kay Overit is eager to shed the shackles of academia to become a cabaret singer so she will be wearing a red sequin dress with four inch heels and sings an original pop song on a slightly unusual topic.

I don’t want to reveal too much more to spoil the surprise for the audience.

You’ve got quite an eclectic ensemble of comic alter-egos, what inspired these characters?

The German Helmut Wunderlicher was inspired by my family background as I am half German and I enjoy poking fun at the way Germans are often very enthusiastic and all-knowing about things generally.

Susan Higgins was inspired by an incident at a church service I attended several years ago where the music was so awful yet so self-righeously performed that I had to leave the church for fresh air as I almost had a panic attack.  She has grown and incorporated characteristics of other people I have met or have deep memories of from childhood growing up attending Catholic school and mass on most Sundays.

Dr Kay Overit was inspired by singing teachers I have seen over the years who have great performing talent but their career never really took off for a variety of reasons.  Her latest incarnation was inspired by the romantic glamorous heroines of movies of the 1940s to 1960s.  This was a great excuse to get some glam into the show!  

For those who didn’t see ‘Desperately Young at Heart’, what should they expect from ‘It Aint Vot You Do It’s Ze Vay Zat You Do It!’?

They can expect an enjoyable hour of comedy, great songs, often with new words and slick quick-change costumes.

The eclectic mix of vocal repertoire includes Opera and Art-Song parody and music theatre standards accompanied live on piano by the legendary Tommaso Pollio as well as two original pop songs sung to arrangements by the brilliant Los Angeles-based Anthony Cormican.  

After touring to Melbourne and Sydney, how does it feel to be premiering a brand new show in Perth?

It feels slightly crazy as the award-winning “Desperately Young at Heart” which I toured to Sydney and Melbourne became more fluid and slick the more I did it so I could have easily run it again for Perth Fringe World.

However it is also very exciting as the priceless cabaret performance experience that I gained from that tour is now being utilised on brand new material and songs which hopefully will produce an even better show.

As a performer, how do you continue to challenge yourself in your shows?

I give myself new songs to sing, write my own new songs and lyrics and give myself new costumes to quickly change in and out of!

Your characters cross through a number of different genres. How do you stay at the top of your game going from hymns to cabaret?

I find that singing in a variety of genres is very healthy for my singing voice as it keeps it fresh.  I love focussing on things like clear diction and meaning then the style and voice takes care of itself.  The joy of cabaret, especially Fringe cabaret is that any rules about genre-appropriate singing style are just asking to be broken.
‘It Aint Vot You Do It’s Ze Vay Zat You Do It!’ is playing at The Stables in the Perth Cultural Centre from Monday February 16th to Sunday February 22nd. Head to www.fringeworld.com.au for tickets.

Sophie Joske