Comedy Festival 2018: Alice Tovey delivers musical cabaret with a punch

FOUR to the floor as millennial angst and anger don the tights, raise the lights, and rock down the house.

THERE’S a four-piece rock band already on stage when Alice Tovey - resplendent in a glittering, fringed jumpsuit - swaggers out and grabs the mic.

She is dressed like Freddie Mercury and belts out the tunes like Pat Benatar, kicking off with the catchy number We’re All Going To Die, an ode to a quarter-life crisis.

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For the next hour, Tovey and her band The Apostles - led by show collaborator, composer and keyboardist Ned Dixon - regale the full house with superbly executed, fist-pumping rockers. This band has some serious musical chops to complement Tovey’s powerhouse vocals.

Between numbers, Tovey riffs on typical millennial fare such as climate change, the housing market - and Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, who even gets his very own song.

Millennial fans of musical cabaret will love Alice Tovey in Existential Crisis. Picture: Supplied.

Her on-stage manner is easy and breezy, and her comedic timing is as on song as her vocals.

The songs are sharp, and Tovey brings a fun lyrical twist to serious subjects such as dealing with anxiety (Dolly Doctor) and relationship commitment (the hilarious Zombie Apocalypse Plan).

The closing number, a proggy, rock opera-esque suite on the unlikely villain behind climate change, was the only one that didn’t quite hit the mark for this reviewer.

Millennial fans of musical cabaret will love this show. Peter Dutton, maybe not so much.

Alice Tovey, Existential Crisis

The Coopers Malthouse, 113 Sturt St, Southbank, until April 8.

comedyfestival.com.au