Friday night and the lights are low, and if you are looking for a place to go…. look no further, as Dancing Queens Rhonda Burchmore and Trevor Ashley are jetting to the Adelaide Fringe with their new take on Rhonda’s sellout 2017 show, ABBAsolutely Fabulous.
After several knock-backs due to COVID and border restrictions, ABBAsolutely Fabulous will finally be performed at The Regal Theatre February 18 – 20, thanks to the hard work of local promoter, Markus Hamence.
Almost 12 months ago, Rhonda was here in Adelaide premiering her sensational new show, Glamazonia, which is an autobiographical look at her 40 years in the entertainment industry. Sadly, shortly after this her Australia-wide tour had to be postponed, but in the last few months, Rhonda has been in high demand once again.
“I’ve just taken on Sondheim on Sondheim, on top of all the different shows I already have on the go. I’m in Adelaide shortly for ABBAsolutely Fabulous, which has gone through three date changes in the past 12 months, then a week later I’m back touring Glamazonia, which I opened in Adelaide last February. Amongst all that I also have more performances for Cabaret De Paris in Queensland and Sydney, and then more Sondheim thrown in for good measure. It really is the biggest mind game keeping on top of all the different material. With all the Sondheim as well, which is 60 odd songs, as well as recently doing a piano bar tour in regional Victoria with my MD Jack Earle… my poor brain. I’m very blessed!”
In 2017, Rhonda first performed ABBAsolutely Fabulous here in Adelaide to a sellout crowd, and it was the same in every city the show toured to. What is it about ABBA that, even all these years later, makes their music so popular across so many generations?
“I think it’s one of those things where everyone is familiar with the songs. The big hits were in the 70s and 80s but the music just makes you feel good. You don’t have to think about it. It’s like a dear friend – when you see or hear them again it just makes you happy. More recently the Abbatars have brought ABBA to the next generation, but their music is here forever. Their music also appears in so many different forms, whether it be Muriel’s Wedding or Priscilla, and just enters so many demographics.”
Rhonda was fortunate to be cast in the original Australian production of the smash hit musical Mamma Mia!
“It was amazing. You see so many productions now, professional and amateur, happening around Australia. To think we got it in Australia before it even went to Broadway. I got to meet Benny and Bjorn as well. They were so careful as to who was in the show and who sang their material. It feels like it was yesterday, but it has been 20 years since I did that. It was an amazing time, and I look at the stars that have come out of that original production, like Esther Hannaford and Lucy Durack; it’s just amazing. I feel so honoured to have been part of it.”
Rhonda will be performing alongside her darling partner in crime, Trevor Ashley. Trevor is, of course, a new addition to the ABBAsolutely Fabulous show for this Adelaide run. No doubt, Trevor will bring his own sensational flair that only he can bring.
“When I had to replace Lara, who worked with me in Mamma Mia on the original staging of ABBAsolutely Fabulous, I was trying to find a female to step in, as it’s very loosely our stories throughout the show. Then it hit me – it had to be Trevor. Lara and I have a very special friendship, but this is so far removed and it is ridiculously funny and Trevor will just bring this new level of joy, silliness and fun. The show has never been done in this form. We are taking the songs and using them to tell our own life stories.
“It will also appeal to a whole new audience. The show is very gay and camp, which is fabulous. I don’t think you could find anyone more perfect to sing Dancing Queen with than Trevor Ashley. The fact we’ve got a great working relationship already is great. We did a short stint years ago at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival with a show called Twins and one of the numbers was an ABBA song. I was looking through old photos whilst trying to think of the perfect person to join me on this show and saw a photo of Trevor and I in white ABBA cat suits.”
Apart from celebrating the music of ABBA, Rhonda promises that this will be a performance like no other: full of fun, laughter and lycra.
“There will be lycra as far as the eye can see, platform boots, big hair. Trevor will be doing the whole thing in drag. There may well be a special appearance by Cher. Trevor is obsessed with her, so you never know what he might do. It’s going to be outrageous. Trevor and I are two peas in a swarovski pod. Just looking at Trevor in the blonde wig, I just don’t know how I’ll keep it together. It’s what we all really, really need now – lots of fun. This will be like you’ve never seen or heard ABBA before.”
These performances will also feature Adelaide’s very own Les Girls star, Vonni. Vonni will be DJ-ing an hour before each show, spinning some cool, fun and camp tunes on stage.
ABBAsolutely Fabulous, starring Rhonda Burchmore and Trevor Ashley, will be at The Regal Theatre, Friday February 18 at 8pm, Saturday February 19 at 2.30pm and 8pm, and Sunday February 20 at 2.30pm. Tickets available through FringeTix or at https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/abbasolutely-fabulous-af2022 .
Interview by Ben Stefanoff
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