By Jessica Taurins
The Breakup Variety Hour opens with a blast of Ariana’s soul directly into the audience, beautifully setting the stage for the hour of her show.
‘I Just Came to Say Goodbye’, the first track from Ariana’s album ‘The Breakup Variety Hour’ – also the name of the show, what a coincidence! – is mournful to start, then breaks into a high energy dance beat, Ariana’s vocals accompanied by a chorus laid over the backing track. In multiple ways, the song is similar to her show and, of course, to a breakup. Slow to start (in an intentional way), then people surround you, lift you, then your wings grow and sparkle as you break free of the Old You cocoon into the New You creature you can become.
The Breakup Variety Hour is composed of a lot of parts – part monologue, part musical theatre, part pop ballad, part crowd work – and all of them are handled wonderfully by Ariana. Doing comedy ain’t easy, so her skill at managing a crowd and maintaining her humour while singing along to her self-written power ballads is really astonishing.
Her show is a countdown of the steps in a breakup, from #1: Shock and Awe! to #6: Fall in Love (with another person). The songs are relatable, almost painfully so, as she intersperses high energy club songs with soulful ballads. My personal favourite is her ever-so-slightly cheesy villain song simply titled ‘Villain’, building from a quiet intro to a loud and proud threat of murder against her ex. It’s campy, it’s thrilling, it’s a tune that could literally be a Eurovision winner!
Ariana herself is charming, her outfit and personality glowing throughout the entire performance. She’s well-rehearsed, effortlessly swinging from audience chats back to her scripted content, her persona shifting with just a track change and a flick of her fingers.
There are stumbling moments to start – occasionally her audience refuse to interact – but as she gains their confidence throughout the show people start falling over themselves trying to tell stories of their terrible ex on stage.
The Breakup Variety Hour may not be a traditional standup comedy show, but Ariana is such a delicious blend of pop star plus comedian that the show feels right at home at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Personally, I’d rather don a (metaphorical) feather boa and put away my sadness for an hour instead of listening to one more man tell me a joke about how much he hates his wife!
Ariana and the Rose’s ‘The Breakup Variety Hour’ album can be found on Spotify.
