Performance Works
September 15, 2006 10:45pm
The Big Kiss Off is a film noir musical as hard-boiled as a greasy spoon egg. It's the story of a singer whose life is almost destroyed by mobsters and how she gets her revenge. All the story conventions of a Raymond Chandler novel are brought to life on stage with plot twists, shady characters, violence, steely dialog, and shifting time line. The atmosphere and look of those noir films is captured in the monochromatic costumes, and shadowy lighting. All that was missing was a cigarette holder in the singer's hand with the smoke twirling into the air. In smoke-free Vancouver an ever present glass of "booze" substituted for that iconic vice.
Stefanie Wiens plays the singer to femme fatale perfection. She starts out as a starry eyed young innocent who is harshly changed into a cynical, and world-weary woman. Her voice is archetypally dark and sultry as you would expect. She also sings well, delivering rediculous lyrics like "Your cigarette smoke reminds me of Christmas when the house burned down," with a dead-pan seriousness.
Alternately funny, and tragic but always totally engrossing. Recommended with a bullet.
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