Stage: Piano Man – Rhumbelow Theatre Umbilo
– Performances at 7.30pm on Saturday, June 14; and 2pm on Sunday, June 15
REVIEW BY BILLY SUTER
DURBAN’S Evan Cullum has grown a lot as a performer, displaying increasing charm and versatility since his earlier days in the limelight, initially mostly as the keyboard-player in the band for the Elvis Presley impersonation shows staged locally by Doug Weich.
His first professional show, however, was in November 2015 – playing piano and acoustic guitar, with Marion Loudon on lead vocals, in the festive Mazirlou and the Rockabilly Rebels. That was at the Rhumbelow Theatre’s former branch in Westville.
Public performing was little more than a hobby for the father of two, who has been playing piano since the age of seven and worked fulltime as a music educator and logistic manager at Curro Heritage House. After 17 years at Curro, Cullum became more active on the local entertainment scene.
Now, having chalked up several successful shows and made a name for himself with his Elton John and Billy Joel tributes on the Barnyard theatre circuit and elsewhere, he is back with Piano Man. It is his debut solo production which was first staged locally in November last year and is now back by public demand.
This time, seated at his piano and donning a changing parade of jackets, Evan throws his net wider to salute not only Joel and John, but also several others associated with piano and song, both male and female.
The result is a highly enjoyable entertainment which, presented over two halves, has Evan using his very easy rapport, amusing banter and good, varied repertoire of songs to keep his customers more than satisfied.
Opening with the fun, showy instrumental flourish of All of Me, a Jon Schmidt original popular on YouTube and associated with The Piano Guys, the show’s first half then trips into two Jerry Lee Lewis stompers, Whole Lotta Shaking and Great Balls of Fire.
We then get a good Ray Charles selection highlighted by Georgia on My Mind – unusually, intentionally performed completely in the dark, as a reference to how the blind Charles must have felt delivering it in concert. I’d have liked the lights to very slowly bleed through two-thirds of the way through, rather than have the whole number performed unseen, but the audience shows huge appreciation.
Also in the show’s first half are great renditions of Bruce Hornsby and the Range’s The Way It Is, Marc Cohn’s Walking in Memphis and four Joel gems: Always a Woman to Me, Piano Man (with Evan also on harmonica), River of Dreams and You May be Right.
The second half opens with another lively instrumental, Boogie Woogie Piano, a toe-tapper that leads to the Barry Manilow hits Mandy and Copacabana, Burton Cummings’ rollicking, if lesser-known, My Own Way to Rock is also here, along with Elton John hits as closing items – Candle in the Wind, Your Song, Crocodile Rock and I’m Still Standing; complete with sparkly specs and feathers and sequins, of course.
There are two nice surprises in the second half – one, involving Vanessa Carlton’s A Thousand Miles, which I won’t touch on further as I don’t want to spoil the fun. The other surprise has Evan inviting someone on stage, getting some personal info, then instantly writing a Disneyesque ballad about that person.
Piano Man was originally presented with occasional audio-visual material which, shown on screens flanking the stage, included graphics and video footage of some of the featured artists being interviewed. This allows Evan time to leave the stage and change, but these predictable comings and goings might be better served were some costumes put on display on rails, or even a mannequin or two, behind the piano, where Evan could occasionally dress on stage during the video moments. However, this is a minor quibble – the show remains a light delight and deserves support!
Tickets for the Umbilo and Northlands shows cost R200 each and booking is via Webtickets, or by emailing theatre manager Roland Stansell at roland@stansell.co.za.
PS: to find out more about Evan Cullum read my early interview with him by clicking https://wp.me/p8dL0W-3Jm
.....SoSuterBill..... 