Tymisha Harris’ exploration of Black musical legends through song was a standout performance at this years’ Victoria Fringe Festival
Image courtesy of Intrepid Theatre.
At time of publication, the Victoria Fringe Festival has come to end, marking its 40th year. Hosted by Intrepid Studios, the Fringe takes place over two weeks at the end of August and early September. It brings local, national, and international theatre companies and individual artists — established and emerging — to perform across Victoria.
Tymisha Harris, the writer and star of Cabaret of Legends, previously performed at the 2019 Fringe Festival in Josephine. Harris’ solo performance as Josephine Baker proved quite the spectacle, ultimately winning as the overall favourite show that year. As someone who missed the run of Josephine that year, I was always curious about Harris’ work.
In the form of a cabaret — which is usually a series of performers dancing, singing, or performing short scenes, often with drag and burlesque elements — the show takes the audience across history through the songs of Black musical legends like Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Diana Ross, Josephine Baker, Whitney Houston, Tina Turner, and Beyoncé.
The throughline of Cabaret of Legends is the influence these legends have had on Harris’s life. Before and after each song that appears in the musical, Harris speaks to the audience about how these women inspired her. These asides are used to introduce each legend, their legacy, and how they uniquely impacted Harris as a performer, as well as providing context into the songs themselves.
Learning that Harris performed as Aretha Franklin at Universal Studios and worked as a Tina Turner impersonator and tribute artist made a lot of sense. Harris is fantastic at embodying each artist through her voice alone. During the Whitney Houston section, Harris began with a performance of “I Will Always Love You” in the style of Dolly Parton, who originally wrote the song, before transitioning to Houston’s version for the song’s ending.
Each song performance was distinct and memorable, and Harris’ vocal talents shone throughout. It’s one thing to sing a song well, and another thing entirely to sing in-character while taking the audience on an emotional journey.
Harris’ ability to command the audience’s attention by just standing in front of a microphone was, frankly, incredible to watch.
The latter half of the show contained Harris’ performance as Tina Turner, which paired a pretty impressive dance routine with audience participation in the song “Proud Mary.”
The show was also peppered with smart costume and wig changes (the switch to Tina Turner’s wig was especially funny, in how big it was) that help to convey the mood of the upcoming song.
Cabaret of Legends was an exploration of history, inspiration, and song that grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go. It’s fantastic, and I can’t recommend it enough should Harris ever bring it back to Victoria.
Harris will be performing Josephine at the McPherson Playhouse on Sept. 29 for one night only as a fundraiser for the Victoria Fringe Festival. Tickets can be purchased at the Royal & McPherson Theatres website.
