Entertainment News

Tom Dickins and Gemma O’Connor are HAMMERED AND ENAMOURED

Ever fallen in love with a complete stranger? Ever fallen in love with a complete stranger and followed it up? Ever fallen in love with a stranger, followed it up with some cute remark, find yourself in a beautiful relationship which slowly turns into a millstone around your neck and slowly sucks all the life out of you leaving you as a shadow of your former self which struggles to find meaning in anything and then slowly recovered? Ever done all of it in 24 hours? Tom Dickins and Gemma O’Connor will do this for your erogenous pleasure in the premier of HAMMERED AND ENAMOURED.

“Tom Dickins is one of those rare songwriters who delivers his smart rufus-meets-fiona ballads directly from the heart, with the velvety yet bittersweet voice of an angel who’s only recently fallen from grace” – Amanda Palmer, The Dresden Dolls

Dates: Friday 4 to Sunday 6 January
Times: 7.00 pm Fri and Sat / 6.00 pm Sunday
Ticket price: $20 full / $15 concession and for groups of 8 or more
Bookings: www.thebutterflyclub.com
Duration: one hour approx

Ruth Rogers-Wright in A DIVA OF A YEAR

A DIVA OF A YEAR will star Ruth Rogers-Wright with Mark Fitzgibbon on piano. The show is a review of Ruth Rogers-Wright’s 2007, featuring Nina Simone, Billy Holliday, a girl called Dusky and Ruth’s songs written for various international projects including a cd out next year on Tricky’s new label. With anecdotes, dry martini humour and smoke blue vocals Ruth will muse on her year as a diva abroad and at home in the cabaret of life.

Dates: Friday 4 – Sunday 6 January
Times: 9.00 pm Fri and Sat / 8.00 pm Sunday
Ticket price: $25 full / $20 concession and for groups of 8 or more
Bookings: www.thebutterflyclub.com
Duration: one hour approx

Linda Pearson is WACKED!

The Butterfly Club would like to apologise in advance for the appearance of Linda Pearson. This has been a direct result of encouragement – something that her mother warned us about. Having many years ago won Red Faces on Hey Hey It’s Saturday with her bassoon playing ballerina act, she now feels entitled to entertain us with a variety of ridiculous and embarrassing musical numbers (some involving animals). This is a life-time of music education gone to waste by a person simply unable to behave. Attendance will only encourage her and you’ve been warned about that!

Dates: Wednesday 9 – Sunday 13 January
Times: 7.00 pm Wed to Sat / 6.00 pm Sunday
Ticket price: $20 full / $15 concession and for groups of 8 or more
Bookings: www.thebutterflyclub.com
Duration: one hour approx

I’VE WRITTEN A LETTER TO DADDY

Have you wiped your feet? An audience of 20 walk up stairs and through a corridor into a decaying home for an intimate evening of deft theatrical performance. Crooning sisters. A has-been. A never-been. One bound to a wheelchair, the other with a sordid secret. The memory of cries of ‘Bingo’ echo, family ties bind … tightly.

“Deliciously dark, unsettling and enjoyable show” – Richard Watts, Man About Town blog

Dates: Wednesday 9 to Sunday 13 January
Times: Wed to Friday 8.00 pm, two shows Sat at 6.00 pm and 8.00 pm, and two shows Sun at 5.00 pm and 7.00 pm
Venue: Upstairs at The Butterfly Club
Ticket price: $20 full / $15 concession and for groups of 8 or more
Bookings: www.thebutterflyclub.com
Duration: one hour approx

Ali McGregor in JAZZ CIGARETTE

Creator of the Opera Burlesque, regular guest of La Clique and ABC’s Spicks & Specks and Opera Australia soprano Ali McGregor returns to The Butterfly Club. After her successful season of Midnight Lullabies in 2007, Ali now sings renditions of her favourite sassy jazz classics. Accompanied by a trio that includes Melbourne’s rising jazz star Ben Winkelman on piano & Ben Hendry on drums, these lazy, sultry songs will ease you through these summer evenings.

‘… stunning, seldom does one find such grace and energy combined in one voice’ – Herald Sun

‘… sparkles with sexy playfulness, moving simplicity and a beautiful warm tone’ – The Age

Dates: Wednesday 9 – Sunday 13 January
Times: 9.00 pm Wed to Sat / 8.00 pm Sunday
Ticket price: $25 full / $20 concession and for groups of 8 or more
Bookings: www.thebutterflyclub.com
Duration: one hour approx

WHO THE DUCK *IS* MONTMORENSY?

Montmorensy is an alter-ego, a pseudonym, a pen-name, a medium, a time-traveller, an excuse, a mirror, a philosopher, a fop, a dandy, an aristocrat, a poet, an innocent, an imaginary friend, a piano tamer, a bird whisperer, a tree hugger, a star gazer, a melancholy madman, a silly soul, a heart of gold, a sound world, a sound, a world.

He is a wanderer, a wonderer.

He is a child, he is a man.

He likes to stay home in his pyjamas.

He is lost in thought.

He has not forgotten how to play.

He is in dire need of an orchestra.

“camp, ethereal, visionary, completely insane” – The Australian

Dates / times: Friday 11 and Saturday 12 January, both shows at 10.30 pm
Ticket price: $20 full / $15 concession and for groups of 8 or more
Bookings: www.thebutterflyclub.com
Duration: one hour approx

The Royal Storr in DEDICATED TO ALL OF YOU

DEDICATED TO ALL OF YOU is a collection of solos and duets devoted to romance gone wrong. Sewn together with tales of woe, alcoholism and the odd bit of necrophilia, Monica Royal and AC Storr dedicate their ode to romantic melodrama to the hidden loser in everyone.

Dates: Thursday 17 – Sunday 20 January
Times: 7.00 pm Thu to Sat / 6.00 pm Sunday
Ticket price: $20 full / $15 concession and for groups of 8 or more
Bookings: www.thebutterflyclub.com
Duration: one hour approx

Jane Kelson in WONKY EARS

A Midsumma Festival hub event

Who do you blame when a song makes no sense? The song? The radio station? Your ears? Be there as writer and performer Jane Kelson guides you through the comical adventures of a lass who has spent her life misinterpreting the music she hears.

Dates: Thursday 17 to Sunday 27 January (performances Thursdays to Sundays)
Times: 9.00 pm Thu to Sat / 8.00 pm Sundays
Ticket price: $20 full / $15 concession and for groups of 8 or more
Bookings: www.thebutterflyclub.com
Duration: one hour approx

Jonathan Cook in A TRIBUTE TO POPPINS

A Midsumma Festival hub event

From a four-year old drag queen through to obesity via the Virgin Mary then all through to musicals, this VCA Music Theatre Graduate takes to the stage with just a spoon full of sugar to help the night go down.

With the help of Judy Garland, Matt Frank and Dean Bryant, Jerry Herman and the Catholic Church, Jonathan recreates his life of living in a small coal mining country town where the boys played football and Jonathan did Ballet. Come and enjoy a night of singing and dancing comedy with only one word to describe it … Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

Dates: Thursday 24 to Sunday 27 January
Times: 7.00 pm Thu to Sat / 6.00 pm Sunday
Ticket price: $20 full / $15 concession and for groups of 8 or more
Bookings: www.thebutterflyclub.com
Duration: one hour approx

I AM GLASE CHASE

A Midsumma Festival hub event

After selling out Mardi-Gras, Glace is going to unleash his razor sharp insights on the modern condition: chicken or beef? Part cabaret, part motivational-lecture, part trash, Glace’s outrageous story telling and wicked songs will leave you awestruck. If you’re struggling to cope you’ve just found a new best-friend.

‘Encapsulates the glamour, punk and trash of the party season’ – SameSame

Dates: Thursday 24 to Sunday 27 January
Times: 10.30 pm Thu to Sat / 9.30 pm Sunday
Ticket price: $22 full / $18 concession and for groups of 8 or more
Bookings: www.thebutterflyclub.com
More info: myspace.com/glacechase
Duration: one hour approx

YANA ALANA AND THA PARANAS IN ‘BITE ME’

A Midsumma Festival hub event

Winners of The Melbourne Fringe Cabaret award 2007

Yana Alana is an angry, feminist, spoken word, interpretive dancing, and cabaret performer extraordinaire. ‘BITE ME’ is her premiere show and will feature The Paranas, her three hot lady musicians. This one woman show with three other woman in it, will take your on a wild journey through burlesque, dance, song and poems from her latest book ‘If you were a carrot I would have cum by now’. Created by Sarah Ward of Sista She and directed by Anni Davey – Circus OZ. You’ll bite yourself if you miss it.

Dates: Thurs 31 January to Sunday 10 February (performances Thurs to Sun)
Times: Thurs to Sat at 9.00 pm; Sundays at 8.00 pm
Ticket price: $25 full / $20 concession and for groups of 8 or more
Bookings: www.thebutterflyclub.com
Duration: one hour approx

Reuben Krum is CRASS, VULGAR AND IN VERY POOR TASTE

A Midsumma Festival hub event

He speaks the thoughts most of us have had and then flagellated over. Shamelessly blurring the lines between standup and cabaret Reuben Krum is taking no prisoners!

With reflections on Fathers, Pornography, Yentl, Racism, Sex and Mothers, Reuben Krum is on no-one’s side but his own and he’s winning the battle!

Ripping through songs by Nick Cave, Barry Manilow, Guns and Roses and many more, Krum’s performance deftly encompasses tragedy, comedy, and the darker side of the funny bone.

“Reuben Krum is a racist, fascist, socialist, Nazi-loving, Aryan-looking, Jewish, gerbil-loving cabaret comedian out to entertain and he certainly succeeds” – Australian Stage

“Krum has an intensity that can be rare and unusual … A talent to perceive the exquisite contradictions of the great joke that it can be, to simply be alive and survive …” – Aussie Theatre

Dates / time: Thurs 31 January to Saturday 2 February, all shows at 10.30 pm
Ticket price: $25 full / $20 concession and for groups of 8 or more
Bookings: www.thebutterflyclub.com
Duration: one hour approx

Regular nights

Ali McGregor in EVERGREENS

Harking back to the days when standards were the making of any singer and covers weren’t just for ‘idols’, Ali McGregor sings her favourite ‘Evergreen’ hits just for you. Following on from the successful ‘Midnight Lullabies’ she is joined by Ben Hendry on drums and Chris Hale on Bass as they work their way through their CD collection from AC/DC and Kate Bush to Guns ‘n Roses and Kylie Minogue with plenty more in between.

‘… a fusion of operatic purity and soulful improvisation …’ – The Adelaide Advertiser

‘Gorgeous opera diva Ali McGregor doesn’t just steal your breath, but your heart and soul too’ – Chortle, UK

‘… sensual, seductive, tantalising, funny and downright divine …’ – AussieTheatre.com

Dates / times: Second last Wednesday of every month at 8.00 pm (Wed 23 Jan, Wed 20 Feb, Wed 19 March, Wed 23 April, final night Wed 21 May)
Ticket price: $25 full / $20 concession and for groups of 8 or more
Bookings: www.thebutterflyclub.com
Duration: one hour approx

DR SKETCHY’S ANTI-ART SCHOOL

SPECIAL EVENT TO LAUNCH DR SKETCHY FOR 2008!

A Midsumma Festival hub event

‘Dr Sketchy’s will cure you of every boring art class you’ve ever been to’ – The Sunday Age

Dr Sketchy’s Anti-Art School is the little Brooklyn event that became a movement. Founded in 2005 by artist Molly Crabapple, it has branches in 19 cities spanning four continents. It was launched at The Butterfly Club in June 2006 by Miss Louie (Melanie Knight) and continues an unbroken monthly residency to this day.

In normal life classes, silent students sit in a silent room and draw a bored, oft-uninteresting model. At this special Dr Sketchy’s event for the Midsumma Festival and to re-launch itself in 2008, you can sketch The Australian Ballet’s sexiest dancers, Kevin Jackson and Vivienne Wong! More models to be announced soon. A short performance routine is followed by ample opportunity to sketch them.

Date / time: Saturday 2 February at 2.00 pm
Ticket price: $20 full / $15 concession
Bookings: www.thebutterflyclub.com
More info: www.drsketchymelbourne.com
Duration: two hours approx

THE BUTTERFLY GLEE CLUB

Forget yoga. Forget All-Bran. Forget colonic irrigation. If you really want to do something that makes you feel good inside – just SING. And what better place to sing out than at THE BUTTERFLY GLEE CLUB, the hippest sing-along choir in town. Come along and sing as loudly or softly as you like – there are no solos and no karaoke microphones – just a big ol’ group sing. THE BUTTERFLY GLEE CLUB is conducted by the gorgeous and talented Vicky Jacobs (Green Room Award Nominee for Musical Direction) who never tells anyone off and lets all singers drink as much wine during rehearsal as they like!
“An inspired group sing-a-long” – Beat Magazine
“A rad singalong choir” – The Pun

Dates / times: Wednesdays at 6.30 pm from Wed 16 Jan
Tickets: $10
Bookings: www.thebutterflyclub.com
More info: go to www.myspace.com/butterflygleeclub
Duration: one hour approx