[2013085] The Girl Who Won’t Grow Up

[2013085] The Girl Who Won’t Grow Up

Megan Doherty @ La Bohème

4:30pm, Sun 3 Mar 2013

As I head back into the city from North Adelaide, I duck into Burgastronomy for a tasty bite; crossing the bottom of O’Connell Street, a car full of young men drives past. My orange hair, coupled with my beloved green Young Gods t-shirt, draws their attention: “Oi, Drop Dead Fred!” they catcalled, and I made a mental note to thank my hairdresser for nailing my colour.

I’m fading as I get to LaB, and the days (and, more pertinently, the nights) catch up to me; it’s sleepily warm inside, but the mojitos are refreshing. And, more importantly, Megan Doherty’s stage presence is enough to keep my eyelids wide open.

Doherty’s cabaret show is tightly constructed around her dreams; as she gets older, Megan has realised that a lot of her childhood dreams aren’t going to come true, but accepts that dreams are still an important reflection on who she is… and who she wants to be. Accompanied by Daniel Brunner on piano (who gets a few vocal moments to shine too), her voice is gorgeous, with plenty of soaring notes and some occasional grittiness, and the number of off-key micro-moments could be counted on one hand.

The song choice was varied and creative: a few cabaret staples, a curious melding of Creep and Tim Minchin’s When I Grow Up, and a storming rendition of Ride This Feeling closed out the show. But my highlight was another Minchin cover, Not Perfect – it’s a truly beautiful song that rarely fails to make me well up with tears, and Doherty’s rendition does it proud.

By having no real expectations walking into the show, this proved to be a very pleasant surprise – Megan Doherty is a wonderful performer, and brings a genuine sense of honesty and humour to the stage. Well crafted and supremely polished, The Girl Who Won’t Grow Up was a lovely set of songs, personably delivered… and I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for Ms Doherty in the future.

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