In other words, the show works on an intimately personal level, being about the sexually and racially ambiguous performer, Mama Alto, her cabaret persona, and her vocal range. “My stage identity has been formed over the last few years,” she explains. As well, the show is informed by the concept that any performance is a co-creation between audience members and the performer. “The 20th century idea of the diva is one that is socially constructed,” continues Mama Alto. “We have certain codes, a certain mythology, oral and visual concepts of what a diva is. A diva is expected to be a force of nature, the breathy vibrato, hitting the highest of the high notes. But she’s only present in the moment of performance; she exists between the audience and the performer. You have that brief time in the room together but without the audience she doesn’t exist. She’s not a diva when she’s at home; she’s human, she’s vulnerable….” Mama Alto’s instrument also encapsulates these ideas. “The voice box is such a tiny thing – it is two tiny muscles and a few folds of skin, and water. It’s frail and vulnerable yet with immense power; with the ability to communicate. The voice box itself is a metonym of ‘diva’”.
Mama Alto describes her show as being essentially about ‘mythology, heart and voice. “All good cabaret is autobiographical in its essence. It’s multi-layered, powerful and uncompromising. Countertenor not cabaret by numbers, those shows that go story, song, story, song, story, song… There’s no speaking in the show,” she continues. “The show is sung for 50 minutes. My musical director (Tiffani Walton) has arranged the important parts of the songs and I interpret them for the audience. The songs can work on different levels: the audience can be entertained by pretty bodies and sexy songs, or they may experience a deeper layer, where a line or lyric will mean something particular to one person at one time, it will resonate with an individual depending on what’s happening in their lives, communicate something to them personally. It may affirm or identify their life choices. The songs are open to interpretation; authorship is not exclusively with the performer, it lies as much with the individual audience member. People don’t come to a cabaret show and expect it to be about them.The best performers themselves provide another layer to the songs.” Who does Mama Alto count amongst the best local performers? “Meow Meow. Paul Capsis. Yana Alana.” Hear hear!
BY LIZA DEZFOULI
