By Peter Maddern
Sometimes amidst the onslaught of interstate comedians with their boof head routines, one can still find at the Fringe a pearl that might be on the cusp of something great. Bryce Halliday may be this year’s bright shiny object.
His show, The Bryce is Right, his debut cabaret act on its opening night, 1000 kms from home, was to be sure crazy courageous, featuring Bryce singing, Bryce playing, Bryce the lyricist and composer and Bryce delivering the patter. His topic, the fate of those obsessed with their own beliefs, started with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and finished, well, with Bryce.
Before a small and spread middle-aged audience at the Prom, the boy Bryce may well have died and inflicted a thousand on-stage deaths with such material. But he didn’t and as the show went on there was one thing that truly was holding it all together – Bryce can sing! And I mean really sing.
This is a cabaret star in the making with a strength of voice, obvious chutzpah and a song writing ability that produces tunes that sound eerily of Sondheim and his like.
Bryce, I think you made this harder than it needed be. Having a second person on stage with you to handle the looping synthesizer and its myriad of sounds and voices would have helped focus more attention on your assets rather than distracted from them. Still, I get it, there is hardly a lot of change to come from a show with a participation rate that barely broke into double figures.
Please, dear cabaret fan, be intrigued by this review and see what remains of his season – tomorrow (Wednesday) again at the Prom, then two nights at the Stamford Grand. Then, put this name, Bryce Halliday, in your little black book as a star in the making.
Kryztoff Rating 4K
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