So whose idea was this? “It’s a musical collaboration between me and Elena,” explains Busé. “We met and it turned out that she’s the ‘woman of me’ when it comes to musical comedy. We wanted to push the boundaries of medleys, create an assortment of mega medleys inspired by certain playlists, including embarrassing ones and make a comedy show out of different types of music. We mix up things like Eminem with Jimmy Hendrix, so we pack as much variety of genre into one show and we do it very fast.
“There are many commercial hits, songs everyone knows and loves,” the performer continues. “They’re all there together – we have themed playlists, for instance, we do the Foreplay Playlist which includes songs by Marvin Gaye, classic Rod Stewart – tunes for getting in the mood!” What are the oddest playlists in the show? ‘Melbourne Weather’, answers Busé. “We do I Can See Clearly Now as well as Thunderstruck – we recreate a day of Melbourne weather in song. There’s the Diva medley, the ‘Booty Mix’ which is 34 songs about big bottoms, and a few surprises – I don’t want to give too much away. The Shuffle Show is an epic musical adventure; we go on a rollercoaster ride. It’s a great gig – we get to play songs audiences love, playlists they may have at home and we bring them alive on stage. They get to listen to all of them in a short amount of time. We had our premiere at the comedy festival and there was a lot of demand for a longer season. We’ve developed it since the comedy festival; we’ve added new songs, seven more songs to the show.”
What has been the hardest aspect of putting The Shuffle Show together? “Making them all fit,” replies Busé. “At one stage we’ve got three different songs going at once. It’s a mammoth test. I might be riffing one song and Elena might be singing another – we have to work out ways to merge songs that might not be in the same genre or even in the same key. We’re transposing, adjusting, making them fit, so we’re learning new skills. I’ve had to teach myself percussive guitar to fill out the sound, create some depth – as musicians we’ve learnt a lot.”
Busé and Gabrielle are on to a winner with The Shuffle Show, because, as he says, given that it features songs from Beyoncé to the Beatles, there’s something for everyone. “It’s a very commercial show. Everyone can get on board. And we play to the room, so there’s room to adjust to the crowd. There’s every genre, from Snoop Dogg to – you name it! Plus there’s a bit of social commentary thrown in. And there’s a bit of a narrative involved: the playlists actually form a story along the way. I can’t tell you what that this though!”
Any special moments in performance that stand out so far? “The last time we did the show we had a guy from Italy in the audience; he didn’t speak any English, his friends brought him along and said he loved it ‘cos he recognised all the songs!”
By Liza Dezfouli
