This Pride, Bette is back.
Well, not the Bette, not the real divine Miss M, but the closest and most authentic version we have, Julia Jenkins.
The transformation will be complete when Jenkins appears at The Court Hotel in Taking Liberties! A Divine Bette Midler Experience.
‘It’s a celebration of Bette Midler and her music,’ Jenkins recently told OUTinPerth.
‘It’s quite a production because you can’t really do justice to Bette Midler’s repertoire without a five piece band right from the rocky ’80s days right through to that brassy stuff that she does and her big ballads.’
Every time Bette does a concert, right back from the ’70s, she has always had her Harlettes, her three back up girls, and this appearance sees Perth’s own fabulous Ruby Roses take on this role.
Not that Jenkins really needs back up – she’s an incredibly capable performer, one whose love for Bette Midler is evident the moment she starts discussing the show.
‘I find she comes quite naturally to me,’ Jenkins confided.
‘I’d like to say it’s an homage. The term “tribute show†makes me feel icky so I won’t put it like that and it’s not an exact impersonation, it’s more about invoking her spirit and her energy.’
It’s a love affair that started very early for Jenkins.
‘I’ve loved her ever since I was a little kid. I have this very vivid memory of a real turning point in my life,’ she said.
‘I remember being like 12 years old and saving up enough money to buy my first CD and I was standing in the shop and I had Bette Midler in one hand and Snoop Dogg in the other, and I knew Snoop Dogg would make me really popular at school.
‘But I bought Bette Midler and I had to hide it and never told anyone I’d bought it. But since then she’s been with me all along and she’s been the greatest influence in my entire career.’
And to think, if that one simple purchase had gone the other way Jenkins might be doing Snoop Dogg tribute show this Pride.
But, thankfully, she isn’t. Instead it’s a fast-paced one hour production that is like a mini Midler supernova of energy ripping through your Thursday night with astonishing energy.
The show takes the vigour and verve of Midler’s recent productions, like Kiss My Brass, Diva Las Vegas and The Showgirl Must Go On, and distils that energy through such iconic songs as The Rose, Wind Beneath My Wings, Stuff Like That There, Do You Want To Dance, Stay With Me, Beast of Burden and Everything Is Coming Up Roses.
‘It’s a bit like being hit by a whirlwind really,’ Jenkins said of the shows ferocity.
‘The thing that I find most formidable about Bette Midler is that she can do and has done everything.
‘She’s sung every style of music from things that she was doing back when she was doing The Rose with that hard rock kind of sound right through to playing Momma Rose in Gypsy and singing show tunes and everything in between.
‘Also the great thing about this show is that you get to sing the great diversity of tunes.’
Taking Liberties! takes place at The Court Hotel on Thursday October 14 at 7.30pm. Tickets are available now through www.moshtix.com.au.
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
