To see Bette Midler in the audience one night would be a treat for Catherine Alcorn.
For more than a decade this vibrant performer has been knocking them dead with her show, The Divine Miss Bette. And, of course, she wonders what Midler would think of it.
Alcorn, who is in Brisbane for two shows at Brisbane Powerhouse on February 10, would love to have Midler in the audience. However, she has a reasonable idea that the American legend is okay with it.
“I do know that she is aware of my show,” Alcorn says. “Some years ago a festival in Tasmania was trying to get Bette Midler for their event and that didn’t work out. But her LA management suggested they call me.
“So, she knows. And the endorsement from Bette Midler is that she has never shut us down. If we weren’t doing her justice we wouldn’t be allowed to continue. I’m so glad that we are obviously doing her proud.”
Alcorn, who started out as a student in cabaret at pubs in Wagga Wagga, is a multi-award-winning artist, presenter, producer, podcaster and artistic director. She’s also one of Australia’s most in-demand entertainers, renowned for her powerful vocals and razor-sharp wit.
She has headlined at Sydney Festival, Adelaide Cabaret Festival and Tasmania’s Festival of Voices. She’s toured her Bette Midler show to the US and channelled Midler when The Divine Miss Bette played the Sydney Opera House.
She won Best Cabaret Production in the 2018 Broadway World Awards and has starred in several other productions including the off-Broadway cult hit 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche. That show played in Brisbane in 2015 and was her last appearance at Brisbane Powerhouse, a venue she loves.
She first brought The Divine Miss Bette to Brisbane for the inaugural Melt Festival at Brisbane Powerhouse. And she’s very happy to be in the “big room” (Powerhouse Theatre) this time around, as she needs a bigger venue for a show that has grown over the years.
“It has gone from 60 minutes to two hours and an interval,” Alcorn explains. “We premiered it in Wagga in 2009 as a much smaller production.” Now she has a four-piece band and her back-up singers, The Harlettes.
Alcorn discovered Bette Midler when she saw the film Beaches as a girl.
“There was this larger-than-life character with fiery red hair who sings and acts,” she recalls. “That film took me through every emotion and she sang jazz and rock and show tunes. I wasn’t a fanatic about her but eventually she became the sort of artist who really appealed to me.”
Falling in love with cabaret, Alcorn realised she needed a show as a foil for her talents. She thought of Bette Midler.
Alcorn has performed her show in Midler’s home city of New York and while she has never met the star, she was thrilled to see Midler perform in Hello, Dolly! on Broadway.
“That was amazing,” Alcorn says. “She’s an icon and I have built my career playing a version of her.”
Alcorn’s show changes from night to night, as she likes to tweak things and make the comedy more local where she can. You will get all the big hits including Wind Beneath My Wings, Do You Want to Dance? (a particular favourite of Alcorn’s), In the Mood and other numbers.
“I just added Beast of Burden,” Alcorn says. “She did a duet of that song with Mick Jagger and she has covered all sorts of other artists, including Neil Young and The Supremes.”
Expect a powerhouse (pardon the pun) performance of The Rose too, the theme song of another of Alcorn’s favourite Midler films.
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“She was extraordinary in The Rose,” she says. “She was robbed of the Oscar.”
Being Bette Midler, or a version of her, is a joy for Alcorn and her audiences, who often leave the show with renewed interest in the star’s music.
“People go and buy all her albums again,” Alcorn says. “And she gets the royalties.”
The Divine Miss Bette plays Brisbane Powerhouse, February 10, 3pm and 7.30pm
brisbanepowehouse.org
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