Sweet Dreams: Songs by Annie Lennox
See article in its original context here by Tim Hunter for Time Out Melbourne.
Life literally is a cabaret for Michael Griffiths at the moment. After finishing a mammoth run with Jersey Boys as one of three remaining original cast members in Perth, he’s off touring with not one, but two cabaret shows, and both of them feature two of the most recognisable women in pop music history. While his Madonna show is still doing the rounds, Griffiths’ new show, Sweet Dreams: Songs by Annie Lennox, featuring in the Melbourne Cabaret Festival focuses on the life and music of Annie Lennox.
“Who can say why gay men fall in love with pop divas,” ponders Griffiths. “When I was young, Annie was my idol, much more than Madonna; Madonna was a bit obvious, but Annie was much more mysterious and strong. And less overtly sexual, which resonated with me. There’s also a sadness in her songwriting that Madonna doesn’t have access to, and there’s a real humanity in Annie’s work; there’s always loss and longing and heartbreak. Madonna was much more about a good time. I love them both, of course.”
As well as being a formidable solo performer, Lennox started out as one half of the Eurythmics back in the early 1980s, and Griffiths will be using songs from these early years to tell the story of her relationship with Dave Stewart. Along with classic songs like ‘Sweet Dreams’, ‘Love is a Stranger’ and ‘Who’s That Girl’, he’ll also include some lesser-known songs as well.
“Yes, I will be doing a snippet from ‘Beethoven (I Love to Listen to)’ – I’m obsessed with it and no one knows it. There might be one or two real fans in the crowd who will know it. I have little grabs of spoken word from the Savagealbum. If people don’t realise where it’s from, it all fits into the story. Her first solo album Diva features heavily too, of course, because it is so seminal.
“What I’ve done with my writer and director Dean Bryant, who worked with me on the Madonna show, is used Annie and Dave Stewart’s relationship as a metaphor for what happens when people fall in love and then they start a pop band and kill their relationship. It’s a meditation on love; it’s a lot darker than the Madonna show, but there’s still a lot of humour. I don’t do the songs entirely faithfully; they’re done in a way you’ve never heard before; they’re a bit twisted and turned on their head.”