Australian musical theatre star and cabaret chanteuse Queenie van de Zandt brings her award-winning show BLUE: The Songs of Joni Mitchell to Geelong Arts Centre next weekend.
The show, which van de Zandt describes as “a love letter from one melancholy, artistic mother to another”, delves into Mitchell’s often turbulent life to take the audience on a journey to uncover the deeper meanings of the songwriter’s lyrics and music.
“It’s definitely not a tribute show; Joni’s such an extraordinary artist and I wanted the show itself to emulate her incredible artistry,” van de Zandt said.
“I tell stories of her life and it gives the audience a different experience because they end up really understanding the lyrics. The songs become so much more, hearing them that way.”
A huge part of the inspiration for the show was van de Zandt’s experience as a mother and being aware of Mitchell’s own story as a mother.
“Joni was forced to give up her daughter when she was three months old, and she said that created a life-long melancholy that never left her and made its way into every single song she created,” van de Zandt said.
“I didn’t get pregnant for many years, until I was 47, and I really thought it was something I was going to miss out on. To see that, to feel the impact of that love, and thinking about having to give that up, it’s heartbreaking.
“Joni said when her daughter was 30 and they were reunited, she said ‘the songwriting was just something I did waiting for you to come back’. It’s so beautiful and heartbreaking.
“So I suppose that tops and tails the show, my experience of almost missing out on that, and I think that’s kind of what melds our stories together.”
Van de Zandt believes that the rawness of both Joni’s story and her own allows audiences to tap into their own experiences of loss and memory.
“One of the gift’s Joni’s given to the world is to allow people to feel seen in their own pain,” she said.
“One of the things I wanted to do with this show was take people and allow them to have that hour of melancholy, which is different from sadness, it’s almost nice. It’s like remembering an old love, it’s tinged with pain and sadness but it’s also lovely to have.
“So I say to people at the beginning, I’m popping you all in a little boat of melancholy for the next hour, and we stay in that space. And it has to be intimate, and I allow myself to be very vulnerable with the audience, which then allows them to experience that within themselves.”
BLUE: The Songs of Joni Mitchell will be performed at the Geelong Arts Centre at 1pm and 7pm on Saturday, September 3.
