Judith Lucy - Colour Me Judith - Belvoir St Theatre 20/01/01 - by epod

I was sitting in the front row waiting for Judith Lucy's latest show, "Colour Me Judith" to begin, almost regretting my decision to purchase front row seats as I am one who is quite fearsome of being heckled.

I'd never actually been to the Belvoir St Theatre before and I had no idea that front row seats really meant front row, so front row my feet were actually touching the stage. That said though it is a great venue and believe it or not, I did escape being heckled during the show, although others around me weren't so lucky.

The stage curtains opened and the audience was treated to a lively dance routine from a young man dancing around joyfully, with and atop a coffin. The coffin lid was eventually opened to reveal the demure, draped in cadavourous makeup and shimmery black evening dress, Judith Lucy who said that she was always very thankful when the coffin lid was opened. I don't think that anyone in the audience would argue with that.

After Judith struggled out of the coffin in a rather undignified, but quite amusing manner, she proceeded in her trademark cynical whine to tell the audience about the string of things which made 1999 not such a good year for her.

She told us how she lost the love of her life, a charming man by the name of Keith, almost failing to mention that all along she was blissfully aware that he was in fact married with two kids.

Also of her experiences at Montreal's comedy festival where, as a result of her performance, her management was approached by that of Jay Leno, asking for a showreel. Unfortunately Judith believes her manager sent the Leno people the wrong showreel, which featured herself and Shirley Strachan giving a slightly different "performance" to what the Leno people were expecting. Hence, they never called back.

Judiths' cd, "King of the Road" was also mentioned, and when she asked if anybody in the room had actually bought it, unsuprisingly for her, only one, slightly embarrased person put their hand up. She then gave a couple of audience members a chance to win a copy of said cd by inviting them onstage and asking a couple of questions. Judith apologised to those who missed out on winning a cd, but pointed out, "it's okay, you'll be able to find it in a bargain bin somewhere".

Judith also talked about getting her mother put into a home. One of the homes that she went to, Judith had noticed that there was a footy tipping competition chart on the wall. She noticed that while teams were eliminated from the competition, there were also peoples names getting scratched out as well as they passed away, which basically, "added an extra element of suspense to the whole thing..."

With death not being a particularly funny subject, I'm sure it was a little difficult bringing up the deaths of her parents in front of a crowd of people who were there to laugh. Whilst Judith didn't poke fun at the deaths as such, she was happy to talk about the absurdites involved in the organisation of a funeral, including the funeral director whose face happened to be covered in bandaids.

As the show was drawing to an end, the curtains closed and Judith poked her head through the curtains, and suggested that, "obviously something going on". The curtains then re-opened to reveal Judith minus some clothing, dancing to a cheerful number with the guy who had performed at the start of the show.

I've been wondering if perhaps Judith secretly doesn't mind so much that things constantly seem to go wrong in her life as it provides her with so much excellent material. I also wonder what "Colour Me Judith" would have been like if Judith did indeed have a good year.

Perhaps I would have seen a smiling Judith Lucy onstage at the Belvoir St Theatre. She would cheerfully tell how wonderful the love of her life Keith was and how he left his wife and kids for her. She would rave about how great it was to have a best selling cd and also a performance on the Jay Leno tonight show under her belt.

Somehow I don't think that a happy Judith would be as effective!