What a delightful way to start the day: in the company of Sarah-Louise Young in her new cabaret show, I Am A Tribute,in the gorgeous Voodoo Rooms ballroom.
She has a warm, infectious personality that bubbles over as she welcomes the audience to share her love of music, and they were more than willing to participate in this immersive celebration.
She pays tribute to the many artists that we all know and love. She tells us that she has “a supporting cast of wigs”—apparently, she has over 400 of them at home. She uses these to instantly create these well-known pop stars.
From the very start, the audience were joining in singing the well-known songs, and Young revelled in their involvement and encouraged them to help her on stage to assist her in playing different singers.
We learn of her love of music as a youngster, her early introduction to karaoke as a sixteen-year-old and her experience at the Tribute Fest, where tribute acts gather together on a budget to perform. Think Glastonbury but on a budget.
There are wonderful anecdotal stories about her tour in Australia, where she included a Julia Andrews tribute and was nearly sued, so now it’s played with a puppet and it’s hilarious.
When she made the major decision to become a professional performer, she still had to get a day job to pay the bills. Sound advice for anyone starting out, she tells us.
So we meet, amongst many others, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Elvis and Abba, helped by a man from the audience playing two of the members of the group, as well as David Bowie, enthusiastically assisted by a devoted Bowie fan in the crowd.
Not forgetting Freddie, Dolly, Whitney and Britney, all amongst a vast repertoire of ‘guest’ singers and of course Kate Bush, and they are all splendidly portrayed.
Young also questions what is an original song, and the answer may surprise you.
What better way to finish such an enjoyable hour than with Gloria Gaynor’s rousing “I Will Survive”. This is tremendous fun—do go.