If manners maketh man, then a whole lot of sass, courage, tenacity and divine vocal chords maketh broad. After a sell-out season in 2020, Perth Cabaret Collective is back with Brassy Broads 2.0: Electric Boogaloo. And they are well on their way to selling out this year too, so make sure you snap up those tickets!

Our three vocalists for the evening, brilliantly backed by the nine-piece Perth Cabaret Collective jazz band, treated the audience to a smorgasbord of jazz standards, Broadway belters and cabaret classics. Just to name a few of the brassy broads whose songs were performed tonight: Ella Fitzgerald, Patti LuPone, Barbra Streisand, Eartha Kitt, Nina Simone, Edith Piaf, Etta James and Judy Garland. You’d be hard pressed to find a better line-up than that.

The show pays homage to these grand dames who went before, with even the most preliminary of Google searches revealing that most, if not all of them, endured countless personal and professional setbacks and  heartbreaks. But despite all they had been through, no matter how far or how hard they fell, each of these women got back up again, and again, and again, and again.  They took their tragedies and turned them into creative triumphs, gifting us their music, imbued with a part of their soul. 

Each of the three vocalists with their own distinctive styles carried their songs well, with commanding confidence and good humour. The band was fantastic; raucous and delightful, and it was bliss to simply sink into the music and allow the gorgeous harmonies to wash over you. In the interest of complete honesty and the journalistic integrity we all expect of Fringefeed reviews, I was in a less-than-ideal headspace before the show, but lo the curative powers of “the devil’s music”. 

Snappy and seductive, these broads know how to put on a good show.