North and South Magazine, September 2007
Page Three
The Beat Goes On
    The “Blues Brothers” pile on stage for “Gimme Some Loving” (top); Kali Chote and Sanders relive the 1990s (above);a mirror finally turns up for the first costume change –as does Billy Watkins, Andrea Sanders’ husband (below). |
For now, New Zealand corporate events comprise around 80 per cent of the BeatGirls’ bread-and-butter work. And it’s never the same mix of routines regurgitated; each show’s crafted to the individual event.
Twenty minutes into the “B theme” Bayleys party, “Gimme Some Loving” by the Blues Brothers comes on. Their namesakes, all 17 of them, take that as an invitation to pile on stage. Sanders says nervously: “I thought there were three of them... “
As a set of wandering hands moves close to McLaughlin’s waist, Sanders’ eyes flash a warning and Watkins looks poised to pounce from the wings, but the girls segue into a Beach Boys number and the Blues Bro’s head back to the dance floor.
Among the bogans, bikers, ballerinas, bohemians, bimbos, butchers and boxers – in a curious case of partygoers impersonating impersonators – there are three middle-aged women in blonde beehives and sequins: yep, they’re dressed up as the BeatGirls.
At the pre-show sound check, Watkins and the trio had spent 40 minutes fine-tuning the sound with the audio man, but through the first set the backing tracks are slightly crackly. At the break, McLaughlin diplomatically asks the audio man to rectify a voice distortion. He tries to brush her off with technical terms. “I know what a gain is,” she says (but refrains from pointing out she’s an award-winning film and television sound-effects artist).
Back in the dressing room, Sanders says she’s done most of the set with a broken shoe strap; but now it’s time to slip into red stilettos and froufrou skirts teamed with tank tops (“Supre,” says Sanders, a selfconfessed costume collector and bargain hunter).
They head back in singing 80s hits: “Walking On Sunshine” (Katrina and the Waves), Irene Cara’s “Flashdance” and Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want To Have Fun”. The dance floor’s packed.
In over 1000 shows they’ve witnessed tipsy office workers and plenty more, says Sanders: “If we’d carried a video camera with us everywhere we’ve been, we’d have a great documentary by now. We go from highbrow corporate dos to someone’s wedding in a small marquee; from the Martinborough Wine and Food Festival with a crowd of 10,000 people to the Eketahuna firemen’s ball, where everyone was dancing in their socks.”
The BeatGirls also stage cabaret shows (in individual seasons or as part of arts festivals), blending song-and-dance routines with stand-up comedy and improve, imparting historical titbits about iconic groups and songs. Their 10th Birthday Bash show comes to Auckland’s Civic Theatre from August 23 to September 8 following a sellout season in Wellington last September.
And they’re milking their 10th birthday, Sanders laughs.
