A wide variety of music of many different
styles which von Memerty belts out seamlessly with skill, flamboyance and
style. (Review by Keith Millar)
After a highly successful national tour in
2016 South African showman supreme, Ian von Memerty, brought his music review, Keyboard Killers, to the Hilton Arts
Festival for two sell-out performances in the well-appointed, 470-seater
Grindrod Flagship Theatre at Hilton College.
The show features eight musical geniuses
who were all masters of the keyboard - they could compose the music, write the
lyrics and perform the songs.
Dressed in a red velvet tailcoat and
trousers, and with white takkies, von Memerty takes his audience on a
high-speed journey through the music of Irvin Berlin, Cole Porter, Fats Waller,
Noel Coward, Billy Joel, John Legend, Stevie Wonder and Freddie Mercury.
Accompanied by the dynamic Devon van Rooyen
on percussion and hipster Andrew Warneke who alternated between double bass and
bass guitar, von Memerty, in his usual irrepressible manner, performs medleys
of some of the best music crafted by these masters.
The playlist includes memorable music such
as Irvin Berlin’s How About Me?; Cole
Porter’s Anything Goes and Begin and the Beguine, Fats Waller’s Vipers Drag and Ain’t Misbehavin’, Noel Coward’s humorous The Stately Homes of England and Mad Dogs and Englishmen, Billy Joel’s New York State of Mind
and Honesty, Stevie Wonder’s Sunshine of My Life and That’s What Friends Are For, John
Legend’s soulful anthem Glory and a
host of hits from the great Freddie Mercury including Killer Queen, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Love of My Life, Bohemian
Rhapsody and Barcelona.
The show offers a wide variety of music of
many different styles which von Memerty belts out seamlessly with skill,
flamboyance and style.
Of course, being a von Memerty production
there is no shortage of humour and fun.to go with the music. He bounds
energetically about the stage between the medleys relating facts about the
artists as well as engaging the audience in chatter and teasing – all done with
his trade mark twinkle in the eye.
His grand piano has a pivot device which
attaches one leg to the floor and he has great fun swivelling the instrument
around so that the audience on both sides get a chance to see his hands on the
keyboard.
There is little doubt that Ian von Memerty
is one South Africa’s leading entertainers, a fact he proves again with his
show Keyboard Killers. – Keith Millar
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