A cabaret showcase for the musical theatre talents of Australian Mauritian mezzo soprano Lauren Easton, Making It Up As I Go takes a select mixtape of class songs and lets Easton do her performance razzle dazzle all over them.
The show is loosely draped across the framework of her autobiography, from first childhood love, to relationship disappointments, meeting her husband, motherhood, and finally intergenerational relationships. It’s a broad church to fill with a cherry-picked selection of musical theatre songs from the houses of Sondheim, Wallace and Bernstein, amongst others. So much of the human condition is written about eloquently by great lyricists, and Easton delivers each one as if it was tailored to her performance measurements specifically. Demonstrating a lively and natural versatility, drenched in humour and pathos as the music grows in maturity alongside her story, Easton is magnetic on stage as a big-hearted and casually precise performer. She doesn’t lose a single punchline or heart-tug in her delivery, and the tight direction between the singer and her pianist Lana drives home the professionalism and synchronicity of the pair and is a treat to witness.
As Easton’s debut show this still very much has the feel of being a talent showcase. Full energy heart and soul go out with each well-timed wink or side-lit look into the middle distance, with the breadth of performance fully elasticated into a captivating evening fired by, at times, an audition-like intensity.
Making It Up As I Go may have taken half of its magic from award-winning greats in its musical material, but Easton matches it in bringing her own remaining half of the sparkly spine-tingling stuff in a warmly sparkling delivery. The standing ovation at the end is the cherry on the shiny musical top.
Brighton Fringe: Making It Up As I Go
Komedia Studio
https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/making-this-up-as-i-go
