Michael Griffiths – Lucky: Songs by Kylie

World premiers are great: the excitement and anticipation is palpable, the nervous energy heightens the performance and, when the subject matter is Kylie, you know you’re in for a treat! Michael Griffiths’ Lucky: Songs by Kylie celebrates everything about our Australian pop princess.

The Space Theatre, brimming with Minogue fans, was clearly primed and ready to sing along. One particular girls’-night-out table gleefully shimmied and sang through the entire performance, with one lucky lady even offered the opportunity to play Jason Donovan to Griffith’s Minogue in Especially For You.

The embodiment of Kylie quizzed the audience, almost game show style, on all things Pop Princess. And the audience knew their stuff! From the early days on ‘Neighbours’, to her dramatic love life, and her rise to musical fame, Lucky: Songs by Kylie covers it all. And then there’s all of the earworms!

Beginning with I should Be So Lucky (naturally), through to Can’t Get You Out of My Head (with a Latin slant), and of course, Locomotion, the music is on point. The four-piece band accompanying Michael Griffiths on piano are superb, even if they’ve only rehearsed a few times.

Lucky: Songs by Kylie was not without its hiccups or, as Griffiths referred to them, “brain farts”. It’s possible that writer Dean Bryant worked a semi-logical narrative into the show, but the repeated stumbles throughout resulted in a self-termed ‘Royal Mess’. With the show’s structure thoroughly confused, Jimmy, the musical director subtly attempted to keep Griffiths on the straight and narrow. Griffiths, in all his glory, was anything but subtle: he embraced the mistakes and the outcome was hilarious! This is pure entertainment, the type of which that can only be enjoyed during a world premier!

Lucky: Songs by Kylie is great fun. Even if luck wasn’t entirely on Michael Griffiths’ side during his world premier performance, we can all feel lucky to have experienced it with him.