I really really love Lady Sings It Better. Story Time is the fourth show of theirs I’ve seen and they keep getting better than you can believe. It especially helps that people just don’t seem to stop writing horribly sexist/creepy/aggressive songs about women, which is pretty much what Lady Sings it Better specialise in.
From Ne-Yo to Shaggy, the troupe of harmonically perfect ladies not only hit every note, but also deliver each lyric with comedy gold. Facial expressions, audience seductions, witty deconstruction of just why anyone would write these goddamn creepy songs; it’s all there.
This year’s show is largely based on some golden oldies of creepy lyrics, covering from Elvis and his incestuous ‘kissing cousins’ tune all the way up to the early 2000s. There are plenty of more recent tracks that could have been added, but this selection had the great side-effect of jarring your childhood nostalgia of some tunes, regardless of the era. ‘I Want It That Way’ is performed much more honestly with four cabaret artists thrusting their way across the stage with flawless choreography.
The most recent tune covered was from 2015 — a beautiful slow ballad from Ne-Yo about emotionally manipulating his girlfriend into having a threesome. Maybe I’m not keeping up with music as well as I used to, but oh my god — please go and watch Story Time even if only for their version of this track.
Lady Sings It Better are the perfect combination of cabaret and comedy, and it’s not often they make it down to Melbourne so make sure you see them while they’re here — or just follow them back up to Sydney.
Oh, and make sure you check out their Patreon while you’re at it!
– Jasmin
Jasmin Ashton is a designer, marketer and freelance writer from Melbourne who has a lot of feelings about everything. Find them at @Jasmanna.
Lady Sings It Better Story Time runs 16-23 April 2017 at The Butterfly Club. Purchase tickets now.
The venue is not accessible.
Read The Plus Ones’ guide to MICF 2017, and visit often to see all our reviews.
