CRAZY ARMS – A Few Centuries of Piano Tinkering
- Live at The Count's | Melbourne Cabaret Festival Roadshow
- The Count’s
The Ian Potter Centre for Performing Arts
Monash University Clayton Campus
$15 - $35
Past Event
Melbourne Cabaret Festival Roadshow: Live at The Count's
MPAC unites with Melbourne Cabaret Festival to present Australia's best cabaret talent across five shows in The Count’s this October. The limited season includes drag, jazz, comedy and pop performances.
Feast on a smorgasbord of exquisite cabaret shows, curated by the long-running Melbourne Cabaret Festival. Each show opens with emerging cabaret talent thanks to the Ron and Margaret Dobell Foundation. Nestled in the heart of Monash University’s Clayton campus, The Count’s transforms into a cosy cabaret room with full bar with dinner service available.
With absurd, improvised humour, musical wizardry and incredible stories about the piano and its players, acclaimed writer & pianist, Damon Smith, from critically acclaimed shows, ‘Sun Rising, the songs that made Memphis’ and ‘Mental as Everything’, will perform virtuosic piano tinkering in homage to some of the great musicians that have ‘tickled the ivories’ spanning the origins of the piano from its birth in 1709 through to the 20th century.
Featuring music and stories from Liberace, Jerry Lee Lewis, Winifred Atwell, Dr John, Nina Simone, Mozart, Beethoven, Ray Charles, Fats Domino and so many more, you’ll hear finger busting boogie-woogie music, delicate sonatas and huge rock and roll hits like ‘Great Balls of fire’ and ‘Blueberry Hill’.
Suitable for an all ages audience, this unique comedy–cabaret documentary will blow the audiences socks clean off their perpetually tapping feet. Crazy Arms is pure cabaret, musical magic…don’t miss it!
“Damon Smith on piano is a blues/boogie virtuoso” – Michael Coghlan, TheClothesLine.com
“Immediately impressive due to the significant talent of Damon Smith” – Liam McNally
“Damon Smith sat at a grand piano, exhibits his effortless ability” – Milly Farmer
Also appearing: Maxwell
Maxwell Simon is an actor/singer/songwriter whose career has ranged from playing leading roles in MainStage musicals to writing songs for children’s theatre . As a performer, most recently Maxwell was seen playing the title role in “The Grinning Man” which was produced by Salty Theatre/Vass Productions, at the Alex Theatre. Prior to that their credits include; Ex in Bananaland (Brisbane Festival), Norm Waxman in Jersey Boys (Prospo Arts), Christian standby in Moulin Rouge The Musical! (Global Creatures), Bjorn in Muriels Wedding The Musical (Global Creatures) and many more. Maxwell’s work as a songwriter can be seen later this year in Melbourne Shakespeare Company’s show Adventures in Neverland, a new children’s theatre production.
Show Times
Doors @ 6.30pm
Maxwell @ 7.30pm
Damon Smith @ 8.15pm
Eat & Drink
Make a meal of it! The music gets underway at 7.30pm, but arrive a bit earlier if you can. From 6.30pm, enjoy pre-show dinner and drinks at The Count’s Italian-style kitchen and bar. Reservations are not required when you purchase a ticket to a show. Order from the QR code on your table, or at the bar. View the menu.
