Le Gataeu Chocolat: Icons
The Soho Theatre 31 Oct - 4 Nov 2017
It’s at London’s Soho Theatre that I find myself mesmerised once again by the incomparable Le Gateau Chocolat, who brings his show Icons back for a short run this month. It was actually way back in 2009, as part of the burlesque variety show La Clique that I first encountered La Gateau Chocolat. His unforgettably moving rendition of Radiohead’s ‘Freak’ not only stole the show, (not an easy task given the quality of all the acts that night!) but it remains one performance I can still vividly remember to this day. Surprising then that it wasn’t until February this year that I got the chance to reacquaint myself with this unique performer, when he brought a revival of his 2013 autobiographical solo show Black to The Conway Hall, for which he understandably received outstanding reviews. By now I am well and truly a fan, so I was delighted to learn that another of his shows, Icons was returning to London, a show he originally performed around Christmas time last year. Like Black before it, the audience is again invited to share an entertaining, intimate and emotional hour with this bearded vision in lycra and sequins, not to mention some rather stunning ‘chapeau’s’
To consider Le Gateau Chocolat as just another cabaret drag act is to completely miss the artistry on display here, and like many artists it is to his own life that he looks for inspiration, once again musing on some of its more defining moments. Not all of these would normally be considered the ingredients for an entertaining night out, but entertaining it is as he deftly intertwines his verbal vignettes with an impeccably chosen song selection which, flanked on stage by two versatile musicians, he sings with such deliciously rich, velvet tones that they almost seem powerful enough to caress each member of the audience individually. His recollections from the days when Le Gateau Chocolat was little more than ‘Le Pain Au Chocolat’ touch upon his most personal experiences of love, loss, sexuality, tragedy, depression and euphoria, with the songs that accompany the more sobering of these brief but poignant stories being transformed into the most beautiful renditions you are ever likely hear. Before there is even the chance of drowning in the melancholia of the moment however, the atmosphere is flipped on it’s head and with the aid of glitter, flashing lights, a wind machine and a quick costume change, the audience just as quickly showing their delight at being treated to these sudden bursts of unapologetic camp disco.
There are undeniable echo’s of Black on display here, from the autobiographical recollections to the intimacy of the bedroom staging, seen this time with walls adorned with 80’s pop and film ephemera. It is to that decade that Le Gateau Chocolate mostly returns to find the musical icons whose songs are the markers for both the good times and the bad. Listen out for reworked renditions of songs by Kate Bush, Eurythmics, Bonnie Tyler, and Madonna amongst others. It’s an emotionally and musically perfectly pitched show that moves deftly between the light and shade of Le Gateau Chocolat’s life, successfully taking the audience with him every step of the way.
Having tried to keep the spoilers to a minimum, (given that everyone should have the chance to enjoy for themselves their first taste of gateau), the show does close, pre encore, with Xanadu, which was also the one time closing-time song of choice for DJ’s The Readers Wives during their ‘Duckie’ nights at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern. Hearing this again only reaffirmed my belief that that there isn’t a night out that can’t be made at least 12.5% better by the inclusion of this ELO/Olivia Newton-John classic!
With stories beautifully told through reworked iconic songs, this is a divinely unique piece of performance
★★★★★
photograph: Eli Schmidt