PostModern Jukebox has made a career - nay, a movement - out of converting the pop songbook into ragtime and swing jazz. Here, the ever luminous Perth icon Simone Craddock shows she is on the same level with her love for both Kylie Minogue and the music. And let's face it, Kylie's career - the only woman with hits in five separate decades - as style icon, queer icon, actress, singer, songwriter and dancer, deserves such a tribute as she gets here.
Simone very cleverly tells Kylie's story through the songs chosen from a very extensive catalogue, that could only ever scratch the surface within the confines of a 60 minute set. From 'I Should Be So Lucky', 'Better the Devil You Know' to a glorious 'Where the Wild Roses Grow', the highs of Kylies early career is swinging delight. As the traumas start to hit: Princess Diana and Michael Hutchence's deaths within 3 months of each other, a battle with breast cancer, the slow numbers like 'Breathe' and 'All the Lovers' come into startling context. Then it resurges into ebullience with the classic 'I Can't Get You Out Of My Head'. Life and art always intertwine, be it dance floor bangers or jazz.
What is fabulous is how well Simone Craddock infuses the songs with true feeling, like a method actor. The intimacy of the De Parel Spiegeltent only brings this home more, so the three piece band and voice bring you close to Kylie in a way not possible in an arena.
The ending with 'Locomotion' was a highlight; starting slow and slinky, it shifts into the the sixties pop banger it was, with the audience chiming in on the chorus and a lot of movement among them. It's okay to get up and dance. There were too many empty seats, so you had better get your tickets to see for yourself how the Princess of Jazz equals the Princess of Pop.