Décadence!

BelleKat Productions. The Evan Room, Panthers Penrith Leagues Club 19th August, 2023. The Wintle Theatre @ The Juniors, Kingsford 29th October.

Reviewed : 19 August, 2023

‘Tis not often one gets the chance to see genuine cabaret, Moulin Rouge style! Think high kicks, seductive showgirls, sultry singers and a smidgeon of suggestive innuendo! And you don’t have to go to Paris to see it! Last Saturday it played to a rapturous audience at lovely downtown Penrith. In October it moves to Kingsford.

Decadence is cabaret in the “grand style” – but it’s happening right here in Sydney, produced by a local company. Led by musical director Meera Belle and artistic director Katrina Prichard-Stutz, the cast of seventeen performers dance and sing their way through 50 years or so of music, including tributes to The King and Neil Diamond. There are miraculously quick costume changes – all sumptuous and sparkly, some really elaborate, some barely there at all!

There are fans and feathers, bling and balloons, high kicks and pert poses – even a jazzy jive number! But the best thing about it is that it’s giving older students from a two local studios the motivation to keep dancing, keep singing and keep honing their performance skills.

All over the country thousands of girls – and a smaller number of boys – learn to dance. Ballet, tap, hip hop, contemporary, jazz, lyrical, musical theatre, they are all there for the trying. Some kids do one or two, some try them all. And over the years they practise, learn routines, take part in exams and rehearse again and again for hundreds of eisteddfods and studio concerts.

But what happens when you’re too old for eisteddfods, too mature for the studio classes … but still want to dance and sing.

Some stay on at the studio as tutors – or open their own studios. Some audition for musical theatre productions. Some are lucky enough to get into a chorus, or, eventually, land a leading role. Some move on from there to the uncertain world of the professional stage, auditioning around the country for larger, paid roles that can last a few months, or, if the show is touring, for maybe a year.

Some chance a different stage and move overseas. Such was the case with Meera Belle and Katrina Pritchard-Stutz..

Meera Belle began her career as a contemporary singer but moved to the United Kingdom to retrain in opera at the Royal Norther College of Music. She made her debut at the Royal Albert Hall and spent many years performing at international music events such as he Glastonbury Festival and the luxurious ballroom of the QE2 ocean liner. Meera has written, directed and produced several cabaret and jazz ensembles including “Close to You: the Karen carpenter Story”, The Starr Sisters and Bossababy.

After studying ballet full-time at the Australian Academy of Ballet, Katrina Prichard-Stutz left home at seventeen to pursue her dreams. She started on the stages of Australian casinos, then moved overseas where she spent 25 years performing in Spain, the Canary Islands, South America and Asia. She then joined the famous Moulin Rouge touring in their show “Formidable”, then moved to the Folie Russe, the Cabaret show of Prince Rainier of Monaco before moving to America and designing costumes for the Caribbean Cruise lines and Artists in Circus.

What do two such talented and experienced performers do after such stunning careers? They return to Sydney and set up their own studios!

Meera’s Pitch Perfect Vocal Studio has been operating since 2017. Here she teaches students of all ages to sing – or hone their already experienced voices. They work across a range of styles from rock, pop, and jazz, to classical and Musical Theatre.

Katrina returned to Sydney and retrained in Classical Ballet method, became Licentiate Classical Ballet teacher and gained a Diploma of Musical Theatre. With that and a Diploma of Business, and Cert IVs in Training and Management and Training and Assessment, she then opened Kreative Kats & Greater Western Sydney Academy of Classical Ballet & Musical Theatre.

Strangely both chose the town of Richmond NSW– and it was there that they met and discussed their interest in