Encore for Motown show
SINGER Jude Perl has returned from the United States to star alongside Bert LaBonte in a short return season of Let’s Get It On, a tribute to the music of singer-songwriter Marvin Gaye, at the Athenaeum Theatre until September 13.
The 24-year-old Caulfield singer, who has been performing professionally for the past six years, made her musical debut in the show’s premiere season in May.
Many people are surprised at how many hit songs were composed and recorded by Gaye, the Motown soul star who was tragically killed 30 years ago.
He’s best known for his Grammy Award-winning Sexual Healing, but there’s also Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, It Takes Two, Dancing in the Street, I Heard it Through the Grapevine, Mercy Mercy Me and How Sweet It Is, which all feature in the two-hour show.
Backed by the classy eight-member Funk City Band, LaBonte and Perl link the songs with the story of Gaye’s life, explaining how music offered a refuge from an abusive childhood, broken marriages, drug addiction and financial woes.
Perl has been in the US for the past three months working on her new album.
Let’s Get It On is at the Athenaeum Theatre, 188 Collins Street, Melbourne from September 9-13. Bookings: www.ticketek.com.au
REPORT by Danny Gocs
PHOTO of Jude Perl and Bert LaBonte in Let’s Get It On.
comments