Kiss of the Red Menace is a well-compiled cabaret with great promise, but which, due to poor singing technique and awkward performance, contains very little razzle dazzle.
Ms La Rouge is filled with great passion for her subject matter and this is evident in her performance. She is obviously excited about the talents of Kander and Ebb, as well as of her idol Liza Minnelli and her account of the duo’s writing history is interesting and clearly-delivered. Her passion translates into likeability and her audience certainly roots for her to perform well throughout the piece.
The show is compiled well and showcases the best Kander and Ebb works possible in a one-woman performance. Audience favourites are placed alongside more obscure works to engage the audience from start to finish with appropriate peaks and troughs. The use of Willkommen between every song was effective in linking her own cabaret with the duo’s famous musical. Chicago-esque announcement of a few songs was also a nice touch, but would have been better if it had permeated the whole show.
Unfortunately, Melody La Rouge is not a good singer. Her tone was pleasant for just under an octave’s worth of range, but as soon as she moved above a G, her voice grew shaky and her pitch flat. There was a lack of control over her high range which caused her to sing from her throat, which damages the voice as well as sounding unpleasant. Held notes were especially strained, with a pitch wavering between flat and sharp. One particularly awkward moment arose in the “Sheba shimmy shake” section of All That Jazz when she didn’t hit a single high note, failing even to pick notes that worked in the chord.
Attempts at dance were hugely misguided. Ms La Rouge is not light on her feet and does not hold her core well. Even when executing the simplest of moves, she plods around the stage without charisma. Tap sounds were very scraping, indicating too much tension in the feet and a lack of good technical knowledge. I found myself actually cringing when she attempted wings in an early number and Fosse-style choreography in All That Jazz.
Ms La Rouge tells us at the beginning of her piece that she has always dreamed of being Liza Minnelli, singing the works of Kander and Ebb in front of a huge audience. Not all dreams are meant to be, and Melody La Rouge is not a performer. She is a woman singing into a hairbrush in front of her bedroom mirror and this is a mediocre, uncomfortable-to-watch show.
