The creative team behind last year’s Tomfoolery show has returned with a new cabaret extravaganza for Perth audiences with An Evening Wasted. With a local cast and lashings of wit and comedy, this show will invigorate the works of Tom Lehrer for devotees and newcomers. The West Australian said ‘their comic delivery and timing was wonderful. Comically gifted!’ Director Andrew Williams spoke to OUTinPerth about the show and its muse, Tom Lehrer.
Who is Tom Lehrer?
Well he went to Harvard, he is actually a mathematician by profession; a maths teacher who went to Harvard and spent a bit of time in the army. Just as a side project, because he was interested in music, he started writing these songs. His most famous song would have to be Poisoning Pigeons in the Park which, I think, actually made it into the top 10 in Australia for a little while in the ’60s. He satirises a whole range of subjects, a lot of them revolving around nuclear war which was the issue at the time as it always is nowadays and these little quirks of society which he wasn’t a fan of. He’s a very witty, urbane man and we tried to catch a little bit of that spirit in this show. He’s still alive, he’s in his ’90s and he’s still going along so hopefully this show does some sort of justice to his work.
What is An Evening Wasted about?
An Evening Wasted is a collection of songs written by Tom Lehrer who is a satirist in the 1950s and early ’60s. He used to play in nightclubs and little clubs and pubs. He is actually an off-beat, cold kind of artist whose songs are just as good today as they were then. So we’ve taken a whole bunch of them and put them into a one-hour show and presenting through the work of four singers and myself.
Some of Tom’s songs sound pretty cutting like ‘Poisoning Pigeons in the Park’. Is this show for the faint-hearted?
Yes actually it is for the faint-hearted. It’s a strange thing because there are a lot of themes tackled in the show which I guess you would consider adult themes; but they are tackled in such a way that you almost don’t notice. Something that’s the best type of satire is when you don’t actually realise something is satire until later almost and just how biting and cutting something actually is. And that is something that he achieves because the music so jaunty and so catchy and easy to hum along to that the things he is saying though the lyrics take a little while… all the jokes are there and they are great but it really does sink in later than you expect. Having said that, anyone can enjoy this show and there is absolutely no reason why young and old couldn’t come to this show. There is no swearing, nothing too risqué so it’s just good fun.
An Evening Wasted opens at 7pm on May 25-28 at Lazy Susan’s, upstairs at the Brisbane Hotel. Visit www.bocsticketing.com.au for more information.
Benn Dorrington
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