I'm Changing My Major to Gay
Gemini Creative Arts
TICKETS: One show only (But check out the rest of the Feast Festival!)
There are few things more enjoyable than an evening of friends getting together to share their love of queer musical theatre. Gemini Creative’s I'm Changing My Major to Gay is exactly that – a fun evening of community, featuring a mix of incredibly talented and seasoned performers, all coming together to raise funds for their upcoming Adelaide Fringe production of Fun Home.
Opening with the classic “Wilkommen” from Cabaret, Daniel
Hamilton set the audience at ease with some genuinely funny crowd work. Lindsay
Prodea, a seasoned cabaret performer, followed with “Poor Unfortunate Soul”
from The Little Mermaid. A few forgotten lyrics did little to spoil the evening,
with Prodea instead milking the moment for comedy and giving the other
performers permission to relax if they flubbed a line or note or two. This was
an evening of friends performing for friends, and the audience was very much
along for the ride.
With 15 performers taking to the stage, it is difficult to
do justice to everyone in a review of this length, but there was not a weak
link among them. Jemma Allen and Sarah Hamilton’s powerhouse opening to Act 2,
“Take Me or Leave Me” from Rent, was a particular highlight. They had fun in
all the best ways, with vocals that matched each other’s power and vibrancy.
Another standout was Felix Folland’s queered rendition of
“She Used to Be Mine” from Waitress. By flipping just a couple of well-placed
pronouns, Folland transformed a song about losing one’s identity in an abusive
marriage into something deeply personal about transitioning from their gender
assigned at birth. It became a song about the unseen grief of losing the dreams
and hopes you once held for yourself, while finding a ray of hope and joy in
discovering something new. The emotional weight of Folland’s performance left
very few dry eyes in the room.
But this cabaret was a fundraiser for Gemini Creative’s
upcoming production of Fun Home, so of course we had to meet some of the cast.
Lucy Harry performed “Ring of Keys” as Small Alison, a young girl discovering
that her tomboy tendencies might be something deeper and more fundamental.
Seeing a butch delivery woman, Alison realises – without yet having the words
to explain it – that she has just seen a version of who she might like to be
when she grows up.
Harry’s performance was pitch perfect, capturing the
earnestness of Small Alison. There is something unfair about someone who has
been conscious of their own being for barely a decade being this good at
something. I cannot wait to see how Harry develops over the next 90 or so days
until Fun Home premieres in Adelaide.
Mia Ferraretto took on “Changing My Major” as Medium Alison.
The morning after her first lesbian experience, Alison’s entire world has swung
sharply into focus, and she is experiencing all the intensity of a first love
and crush rolled into one. Ferraretto captures the wonder and ecstasy of
Alison’s discovery, with the earnestness and eagerness of Small Alison still
present, but now accompanied by a sense of growth and self-discovery. Her
performance pulls genuine laughter from the audience, particularly in those
moments of hesitation, or when Alison briefly slips into youthful exuberance.
Rounding out our Alisons is Isabel Kruse as the older Alison
Bechdel, graphic novelist and creator of the Bechdel Test. In “Maps”, Kruse
captures Alison as she wrestles with the life her father might have lived had
he embraced his identity rather than hiding behind the mythology he created for
himself in small-town Pennsylvania. It is a mostly quiet and restrained song,
with bursts of frustration and sadness that Kruse captures exceptionally well.
It was, however, left to Kruse to close the evening with “Woman
Is” from Lempicka, in which artist Tamara de Lempicka discovers what it means
to be a modern woman and an artist while embracing her bisexuality. With an
amazingly powerful delivery, Kruse belts their heart out, and we feel that
power in our own hearts.
The three Alisons Gemini Creative have assembled for the
Adelaide premiere of Fun Home promises great things for this five-time Tony
Award-winning musical. Each brings something distinct to the role, capturing a
different stage of Alison’s journey of self-discovery. If these performances
are anything to go by, the production is in very good hands.
Tickets go on sale 4th December as part of Adelaide Fringe. Don’t miss what is sure to be a special production, produced with care and love, and a whole lot of talent and skill.
- Scott
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