Velvet Rewired

VELVET REWIRED caused PETE’S EYEBROWS to form a CATERPILLAR ARCH.

The Show

Velvet Rewired is an intoxicating mix of disco, theatre, vaudeville, cabaret and Studio 54-style debauchery.

Featuring disco legend, Marcia Hines, the show was a glittering rainbow of joy from start to finish.

There’s a disco inferno burning up the dance floor. It’s a boogie wonderland which is raining men. You’ve never known love like this before so you’ll never leave anybody this way. At least not until the last dance.

The Acrobats

But there’s more to this show than The Bee Gees, Earth, Wind and Fire and Diana Ross!

The songs are enhanced by acrobats, aerialists and even a bit of a hula hooping clown.

Sitting in the front row, up against the catwalk stage, we feared an errant hula hoop might smack us in the teeth.

We feared, even more so, that a roller skating acrobat might lose his grasp on his companion’s ankles, as she whirled around him at death-defying speed, and send her hurtling towards us on a kill vector.

But we surmised that the performers knew what they were doing and resolved to enjoy the spectacle, whilst bracing to duck if necessary…

The Girl in the Pink Dress

Most of the audience in our matinee session were of, ahem, advanced years. Not surprising, perhaps, given that it’s almost 50 years since the disco-era.

Amongst the sea of senior citizens, trying to recapture their youth, was an actual youth – twelve years old at most – just enjoying the moment.

The girl in the pink dress with glittering disco balls in her eyes. The girl who clapped along with every song and who sang along to every word. Enraptured by the colour and the movement and the music and the songs and the sheer joy.

Art, alone, is not transcendent unless it affects a beating heart. And I suspect that young girl will remember this show forever.

The Moment

The show moved, with inexorable energy, towards its climax when the show’s star, Marcia Hines, strode down the catwalk, belting out a high-energy rendition of I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself.

Though almost 70 years of age, Ms Hines has lost nothing of her star power. There’s more boogie in her shoulders than most of us possess in our bodies…even on our best of days.

She had the intimate audience on its feet. She interacted with her most enthusiastic devotees, including that young girl in the pink dress.

And the crowd was euphoric by the time she took her final bow.

For more information:

Velvet Rewired – Sydney Opera House

(Originally posted on 8 February 2023.)