Review – Le Gateau Chocolate: Icons

Our first glimpse of Chocolat is a silhouette, light filtering through an oversized fascinator and catching on glittering sequins. Within the fabulous confines of the Deluxe his amplified voice fills the mood lit room welcoming audiences to the show. As Le Gateau Chocolat adds and removes costume layers in front of the audience he dons a mask in order to reveal his true self.

Icons is a personal and nostalgic journey through vivid moments in the life of Pain au Chocolat, and the music that is connected to the strong characters woven throughout his life story. Songs are as diverse in nature as the stories that inspire them. Although the title evoked an idea of icons as musical divas this is actually much more powerful material and gives better scope to show off his talents, not only as a singer and gazelle like dancer but as an emotive storyteller. His rendition of the song ‘For Good’ from the musical Wicked has forever altered my view of that song as he managed to pack it full of such raw emotion.

Chocolat’s superb vocal range and strength left me questioning why his voice was being amplified in the first place, although such a long run can be taxing on a delicate instrument like the voice, the song choices that show off his training suggest no reason why he couldn’t do it. Le Gateau Chocolat is a regular feature of the Adelaide Fringe, continuously delivering tasty performances to audiences and treating them to the first bites of his new shows. I can’t wait to see what he serves up next year.