Alexis Fishman to perform cabaret in Melbourne
"I felt there was more to her than what people knew," says Alexis Fishman.
Direct from New York, Alexis Fishman is coming to Melbourne to perform her cabaret shows for Ella’s Music Club. She will perform her shows Amy Winehouse Resurrected on May 4 at 8.30pm and Boychiks of Broadway on May 5 at 3pm, both at the Royal Brighton Yacht Club. The show comes as Back to Black, the Amy Winehouse biopic, is now out in cinemas.
Fishman lives in New York, but was born and raised in Sydney, and graduated from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. She credits Moriah College’s arts programs as inspiring her desire to perform.
As to what inspired her to produce a show about Amy Winehouse, Fishman said Winehouse was an “exceptional talent”, and felt sorry for her that she received such a “bad rap” from the British press, adding, “I felt there was more to her than what people knew,” which she explores in the show. The show has even received the support from Amy Winehouse’s father, Mitch Winehouse, who performed alongside Fishman in New York.
In putting the show together, Fishman said it required significant research, “I actually trawled through every possible interview I could find … and much of the script is actually her words verbatim.”
While in Melbourne Fishman is also performing Boychiks of Broadway, which focuses on Jewish composers and the “Jewish contribution” to Broadway, including Steven Sondheim, Stephen Schwartz, Irving Berlin and George and Ira Gershwin.
Fishman has received many accolades for her work. Last year, she was seen off-Broadway as Anne Frank in Anne Being Frank, which was written by Melbourne playwright Ron Elisha. The production received two Broadway World Awards for Best Solo Performance and Best off-Broadway production.
She described it as a “beautiful, important play”. Fishman noted it opened on September 12, and when the October 7 massacre occurred, it “suddenly it took on even more importance”.
Discussing the play, Fishman noted that Anne Frank is often revered for her optimism especially her quote written in hiding, “In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.” But this play “knocks that idea” and reflects on how her views may have changed when she was sent to the concentration camp Bergen-Belsen, where she died. Fishman said the play is about Frank “trying to maintain the truth of what happened to her”.
Fishman is also committed to education on the Holocaust. She is a board member of 3GNY, an educational not-for-profit for the descendants of Holocaust survivors, and tells her grandparents’ story in New York public schools. She noted that there is also a 3G program in Sydney.
Fishman tells The AJN that while she enjoys living and performing in New York, she is happy to be back in Australia to see her family during Passover and can’t wait to perform her cabaret shows in Melbourne.
To book tickets:
www.ellasmusicclub.com
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