Lady Sings it Better reviews, interviews and radio play:
Audience reviews from Adelaide Fringe 2013
****1/2 Lady Sings it Better, reviewed on AdelaideNow, March 15 2013
A night of wicked fun that may leave you listening to the radio a little differently on the drive home.
**** Lady Sings it Better Review on Adelaide Theatre Guide
“They can sing. Their voices are strong, subtle, nuanced and perfectly suited to the arrangements. Their band is disciplined and tight. But good tonsils don’t make a great show. There is much more. There is a sense of playful silliness and simple fun, which captivates the audience. The dance moves are clever and stupidly daggy. The banter is funny – yes, actually funny! While this show is seriously good, the performers don’t take themselves too seriously. This lightness is the key to the success of this show. They are relaxed, confident and engage with the crowd. This is quality cabaret: quirky, naughty and a bit sexy.”
Lady Sings it Better, reviewed on ripitup.com, March 8 2013
“These ladies not only sing it better but best pre-book a massage to alleviate the inevitable smile-aching jaw!”
****1/2 review of Lady Sings it Better on Kryzstoff, March 7 2013
**** Review of Lady Sings it Better on ArtsHub, February 20 2013
Maeve Marsden, profiled on ArtsHub, February 14 2013
Why they won, article about 2012 ArtsHub award winners
“Teaming misogynist pop music with cabaret is an interesting and cheeky concept executed with talent and flair by blackcat productions. Their ambition to tour eleven emerging artists to Edinburgh was immense, and the fact that they achieved it and did so well while performing in the Fringe is an impressive testament to the hard work and talent of the group.”
**** Review of Lady Sings it Better in the Scotsman, 10 August 2012
“Men do talk some rubbish. We sing some rubbish too, but when six sassy Sydney sirens sing those songs back to us, it makes for comic cabaret gold. They’re sunshine from Australia, a tonic to remove the stench of any bad day.”
***** Review of Lady Sings it Better on Broadway Baby, 11 August 2012
“Beautiful, talented and fully rounded individuals, hotties even, that embrace and paint the universe a resplendent colour with a minxy grin and a cheeky wink… Maeve, Chandra, Libby, Belinda, Monique and Jenni energetically prowl like six sexy and playful kittens, hanging loose in the vibrant land of cabaret, by the way of ‘OZ’.”
**** Review of Lady Sings it Better in Fest Mag
“Armed with tonges in cheeks, slick banter, and heavenly harmonies they are reinterpreting bright pop hits by the likes of Joel, The Knack and Otis Redding, to show music’s dark underbelly.”
***** Review of Lady Sings it Better on one4review
“The girls all have great singing voices. They share the lines, so your eyes are flashing from one girl to another. Together, they have a full rich sound and their harmonising is wonderfully executed. A solid hour of first class entertainment.”
Interview and performance with Fran Kelly on ABC Radio National, 20 July 2012
Interview and performance with Julian Morrow on ABC Radio Nation RN Drive, 2 March 2012
Interview on Radio Adelaide’s The Big F, 28 February 2011
Review of Lady Sings it Better on aussietheatre.com
“The voices have just the right blend and timbre to them – all very different but in combination, perfect. The arrangements are tight and can turn a run of the mill rock song into a full tilt showstopper.”
Review of Lady Sings it Better at the blackcat lounge in the Star Observer
“The ladies themselves are a diverse bunch – from sweet-voiced glamourpuss Chandra Franken to big-lunged powerhouse Marsden, there’s not a weak link among them. Special mention must go to the impressively voiced Libby Wood, though, whose two solo contributions – a hilarious rapid-fire version of Usher’s Yeah and a countrified take on Bon Jovi’s Wanted Dead or Alive – were the undoubted highlights of the night.”
Review of Lady Sings it Better in Time Out
“Each song is recreated with its own decidedly sweet choral arrangement, using layers of harmonies and soaring solos to bring a feminine touch to the songs of men. The strength of the show lies in the diverse range of voices. With the contrast between the Billie Holiday-vibrato of Libby Wood, the charisma of Chandra Franken and the raw power of Maeve Marsden, each of the five women has her own unique charm which is balanced with the others.”
Review of Lady Sings it Better in the Adelaide Advertiser
“Sometimes the song becomes satirical, such as Try a Little Tenderness, sometimes powerful, Satisfaction, and in the totally gratuitous – and they admit it – Michael Jackson medley, just a sheer joyful explosion of sound.”
Lady Sings it Better reviewed and included the the Fringe Wrap on ripitup.com
“Proud of their sexual independence and not afraid to show it, they definitely showed the crowd that without a doubt, a Lady Sings It Better.”
InDaily Review of Lady Sings it Better at the Adelaide Fringe
“The ensemble rose to the occasion with a medley of Michael Jackson hits and a well-known Queen anthem. New arrangements of old hits by Midnight Oil and Guns n’ Roses worked well, and (for me) the Billy Joel and Kings of Leon remakes improved on the original.”
Article about Homage, which Lady Sings it Better performed at in February 2011
Maeve Marsden, interviewed about Lady Sings it Better in Sydney Central in December 2010
Our August 2009 gig, reviewed on Australian Stage Online
“Lady Sings It Better delivers song, dance, cabaret and comedy all under the one bosom. It is the sort of show that takes audiences by pleasant surprise and a show that I intend to catch again.”
“As far as cabaret goes, this particular incarnation by the girls who form Lady Sings it Better is spectacular, in the real showstopper sense… Talk about sisters doing it for themselves…the showstopper was just the start of the show.”
- Vanessa Lahey, Lady Sings it Better review, Australian Stage Online
Interview with Maeve Marsden on Australian Stage Online
Blogged
“…in their acts of gendered ventriloquism and appropriation they took me back to adolescent moments of undefinable pleasure, singing along to love songs about women, relishing the perversity of the improper pronouns in my proto-gay, out of key and uneven voice. Seeing six women doing a cabaret version of ‘Closer’ by Nine Inch Nails? Good thing.”
