What: Rebel

Where: Wonderland Spiegeltent at Gluttony

When: 24 Feb – 17 March

Cost: $28-$39, tickets available here

David Bowie is my very problematic fave, and his music has been incredibly important to me throughout my life (I happened to be walking along Rundle St when news broke of his death and I sat in the gutter outside what was then American Apparel and sobbed). From the outset, I was inclined to enjoy the show, and forgive its flaws. And while there are flaws in this glam rock-circus-comedy-sideshow, there was a pervasive feeling of pure joy, and a Bowie-esque celebration of the weird and glamourous.

Filtering in to the sweltering Wonderland Spiegeltent at Gluttony, I was surprised by how many people fit into the space, and how small the stage was. I also noted that the median age of the audience was higher than I expected, and I suspect that this is a show which will appeal to Bowie fans from way back. That said, if you can’t tell Aladdin Sane from the Thin White Duke, there’s still plenty here to enjoy.

Stewart Reeve is brilliant, perfectly capturing Bowie’s strange trans-Atlantic accent and vocal range and hosting the show with verve and humour, and the “Spiders from North Fitzroy,” the multi-instrumental, circus-performer band are genuinely quite incredible, swapping back and forth between singing, playing their instruments, and performing acrobatic circus stunts seamlessly.

While the show will certainly appeal to people without a Bowie fetish, I can’t help but feel that the joy of this show is in singing along to the songs. The circus stunts are the [space] oddity that caps off the show, rather than the focus.

4.5/5 stars

–Brydie Kosmina