Crossing the Taste-Execution Chasm

Your magnificent performance with the Australian Chamber Orchestra last Saturday night left me marvelling at how far you’ve come in the 15 years since we first met and worked together.

When I think back to your early shows that I was involved in, I remember the juxtaposition of an outrageously ridonculous lycra-dipped performer who serenaded the audience with a devastatingly rich bass baritone. The shows were crazily ambitious pastiches of script and song that clearly were communicating something deeper, and more universal from day one.

We all worked hard to make those shows great — and in their own way they were — but this latest performance was on an entirely different level.

Many moons ago, I remember master storyteller Ira Glass explaining that almost everyone who gets into creative work does so because they have good taste.

But for the first couple of years when you’re “making stuff”, that sense of taste leaves you acutely aware of the gap between what you’re striving for and what you’re able to execute. That the answer to this problem is to keep making things, with each creation bringing you a step closer to your execution meeting your taste.

The first time we worked together you already had a vision of who you wanted to be as an artist and the type of experience you and an audience could share. The first show we performed together was called Company of Strangers, but even among some very talented collaborators you were already in a category of one, with an undeniable voice, personality, viewpoint and charisma.

Even back in 2010 you were creating magic on a shoestring budget, with a flair for design and an attention to detail that elevated your shows beyond those of many more experienced artists. Although you had a small and dedicated team, we didn’t have resources or experience to fully bring the world in your imagination to life.

In the intervening years, everything has been finessed. You have even better control of your instrument, delivering searingly personal and fresh interpretations of beloved songs. Your presence is more commanding, even as you now “do less” on stage. I love hearing you work with musicians that have the talent and the orchestral forces to provide the accompaniment you deserve. Our cabaret scratch band defers to the amazing orchestra you sang with at the Melbourne Recital Centre. I loved seeing you in a venue with a lighting rig fit to realise your heightened world, and sound gear that allowed me to hear every breath and word. Your costumes, which have always been an iconic aspect of your performance, have evolved to haute couture and contribute to your storytelling more than ever.

What perhaps impressed me most was that this particular performance was in collaboration with an established orchestra. You’ve taken a significant journey from the early days of “putting on a show” to being invited to collaborate with “the establishment” without sacrificing any of your unique creativity. You didn’t dilute your essence in order fit in with the orchestra, instead they actively stretched themselves to embrace the level of theatricality and connection that you bring to wrapt audiences around the world. Rather than the musicians asking you to tone down your costumes, they actually elevated their own dress to meet you! You have created the GCU (Gateau Creative Universe) a world that other artists seek to experience and spend time in, which is a remarkable achievement.

The orchestra may have found this collaboration challenging at times, because your vision is bold and ambitious. I know from experience that working with you invited me to extend beyond the experiences I was familiar with. Although I was occasionally reluctant, I learned to trust your intuition because ultimately the results are always as exhilarating for those of us on the stage as they are for the people before it.

We all know people who quit before they get the chance to bridge the gap between taste and execution. It’s all too easy in our profession to stop believing that our vision is worth the investment (mostly of time) it takes to realise. At every turn there is the opportunity or temptation to compromise what makes us unique in order to fit in with the crowd. I’m proud, my friend, of your commitment and dedication to your vision and I’m overjoyed to see and hear what your performance is like now that you’re on this side of the taste-execution chasm. Bravo! 👏👏👏