CABARET: Peter Frost
NATALIE GAMSU, back in South Africa after a four-year stint in New York, returns to a closing venue: the Cape Town landmark Upstairs at Elaine’s will go dark after Gamsu’s show closes. Punters should break their necks, however, to see the swansong. Gamsu is better than ever, the beneficiary of some tough lessons playing New York spots.
The Big Apple evidently appreciated the powerhouse — the New York Backstage Bistro Award for outstanding vocalist went her way in 1994, as did a most outstanding debut artist nomination from the Manhattan Association of Cabaret last year.
In the mother city, it’s not hard to see why. Curtain up and the songstress appears striking in a black velvet gown, with only a mike as prop. Sting’s Sister Moon finds its carefully enunciated way into the audience and it’s obvious that good has got better — New York has disciplined Gamsu and focused the rush of energy.
Her choice of material goes way beyond the usual dreary standards. Tori Amos’s Silent All These Years gets new meaning, ditto Marianne Faithfull’s Guilt, and Gamsu’s Craig Carnelia rendition of Flight calls for the hatches to be firmly battened down.
But Gamsu’s forte is comedy, and the whacky numbers are the strongest. Wouldn’t You Rather Love a Great Big Woman? gets a firm “oh yeah!”, setting the pace for the highlight, a monologue of Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive. Gamsu mixes song, acting and chutzpah to lift the roof.
Not much can top that, and the show dips markedly towards its conclusion. But her African trilogy (Miriam Makeba’s Ntyilo, Ntyilo, Edi Niederlander’s Ancient Dust of Africa and Jennifer Ferguson’s Roses) has the potential to invoke tears.
Gamsu performs Upstairs at Elaine’s in Observatory until March 17