The Auckland International Cabaret Season kicked off with the tour de force that was Lady Sings the Blues – a tribute to Billie Holiday and the legacy she left behind.

From the moment our flapper-styled ushers took our tickets and led us into the glamorous surroundings of the Great Hall, we knew we were in for something special. The ornate plasterwork, pressed metal ceilings, the buzz in the air from the full house, and the suited musicians on stage, all set the scene for the evening of timeless elegance that was to come.

The lights dimmed and Ladi6 took the stage. Dressed in a white gown and with a white gardenia in her hair, she opened the evening with Lady Sings The Blues and transported us through time and space to 1930s America.  

Next up was Whirimako Black with Good Morning Heartache. Whirimako sang with the grace of someone who is quietly confident that she’s knocking it out of the park – which she was. Julia Deans followed with Everything Happens to Me, a sweet and petulant song that was played up to humorous effect.

Next Annie Crummer proved how low she could go with Lover Man, switching from a smoky lower register to an emotive high register and back again with ease. Ria Hall then sang I Cover The Waterfont with effortless elegance.

All the way from Ireland, international guest Camille O’Sullivan took the spotlight to perform Gloomy Sunday and In My Solitude. Her striking voice with its spiky edges and seductive hollows suited the material perfectly. Camille made bold choices with her interpretations of the songs, and there were times when the words dropped from her lips and hung in the air as though they weren’t going to land – until they parachuted back down over the music perfectly.   

Camille upped the ante but our local songbirds spent the second half of the evening upping it even further. Annie delivered a high-energy, hilariously unhinged version of Them There Eyes, Whirimako took a chic take on Crazy He Calls Me and Julia performed a fantastically rock n roll version of Don’t Explain that channelled Portishead and Unknown Mortal Orchestra.

Next the force of nature that is Hollie Smith delivered Nina Simone’s Do I Move You with the ferocity of a caged tiger, before Ria returned for an unabashedly sexy, full-throttle version of Blues In The Night.

The show-stopping number of the evening came from Ladi6, who performed an outstanding version of Strange Fruit that left us feeling as though we’d just witnessed the scene at the poplar trees ourselves. The power of the words and the emotion of her voice added up to a truly transcendent moment.

To finish the evening Hollie returned with God Bless The Child, an emotion explosion where the clarity of the words was secondary to the power of the expression – but it didn’t really matter.  

Throughout the evening MC Waimihi Hotere did a fabulous job of introducing the singers and treating the audience to insights into the life and times of Lady Day.

With the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, the jewellery dripping from the performers and the sequins sparkling in the light, it was a glamorous evening – and a class act, thanks to the first-rate talent of the musicians and singers.  

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