01 April 2018

MICF: Existential Crisis

Existential Crisis
Alice Tovey, Hot Mess Productions
31 March 3018
The Tower, Malthouse Theatre
to 8 April
comedyfestival.com.aus

Alice Tovey

Alice Tovey, Ned Dixon and their band, The Apostles, are going to be rocking our music theatre and cabaret worlds for a long time to come. And they are so MICF*.

Along with Romeo is Not The Only Fruit and It's not me, it's Lou, the 20-something women are making sure that a few nights at the Malthouse this festival is compulsory.

Existential Crisis rocks with Alice out front in a tight shiny jumpsuit and her name in red sequins but it isn't as rocking as their previous work – yet.

It struggles with narrative that isn't as personal as earlier shows and starts by assuming that the audience know the people on the stage. And lyrics are getting lost in the sound mix.

The link from freaking out at 25 because you're in a loving relationship, have a supportive family and can rock a super-shiny jump suit with arm tassles to hating Peter Dutton (assuming the audience know him; ok, we despise him) feels forced. The conclusion that goes back to the beginning, and death, is much stronger. I wanted to hear more about the crisis of turning 25; more of the OTT rock opera about a struggling diva that it's wanting to be.

But it does have a song about being ready for the Zombie Apocalypse – who doesn't want to see that!

* MICF: Melbourne Indie Celebratory Feminist