Alice Tovey: Personal Messiah - Melbourne Fringe 2016

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Sun 18 Sep 2016

Alice Tovey: A Personal Messiah is currently playing at the Melbourne Fringe Festival 2016 . Her show is, without question, one of the funniest I have seen in a long time. It had me chuckling throughout, at times descending into laughter that had me wiping away tears of mirth, and still has me smiling now, a day later. After seeing her show, it is no surprise to learn that Tovey was the winner of the 2016 Adelaide Fringe Weekly Award for Best Emerging Artist.



Alice Tovey: A Personal Messiah is essentially a series of songs, with some cheeky banter and one-liners in between. Tovey is capably supported by a four-piece band, The Apostles. On the keyboards is Melbourne composer Ned Dixon, who co-wrote the show with Tovey.

It is difficult, I'd have thought, to create a program of songs that is witty, clever, funny, fresh and razor sharp, in equal parts, but in this show, Tovey and Dixon have pulled it off. There are no weak points in this show, it maintains a consistent high standard throughout.



The other surprise in this show is the musicality of Tovey. Her versatility is such that at times I could have been in a jazz concert, at other points in a soul concert and at others again in a mainstream stage musical. She can be soft and sassy or bold as brass and carry it off with aplomb. One gets the feeling Tovey could do whatever she wanted in a musical field. But she does brilliantly as a stand-up comedian also.



One memorable line (I may not have it exactly): 'I like science. Especially astronomy, or is it astrology? The one without the pictures and star signs.' The banter about the model's search for the perfect butt cheek also had me in stitches.

If there is one bit of constructive feedback I could provide it is that at times, the balance between Tovey and the band was not quite right, with the volume of the band overpowering Tovey's voice. This was a particular shame because we knew we were missing out on some great lines.

Overall, this was a thoroughly entertaining hour, jam-packed with fun. I can't wait to see where Tovey heads next in her career!

Follow this link to see an example of Tovey's performance:



Alice Tovey: Personal Messiah runs for one final night at the Melbourne Fringe Festival, 7.00pm on Sunday 18th September. Tickets are $25 full, $20 concession. Click here to buy tickets online.

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!date 18/09/2016 -- 18/09/2016
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