★★★
A melodic voice plays over the speakers, so obviously a mum talking sweetly about their baby, clapping along to her singing, and only 8 months old! This baby musical genius is Alexis Sakellaris – now fully grown, who bounds onto the stage, with such energy and excitement, you’re immediately enraptured by this tsunami of camp bombasity! In this preview show, we got to see Alexis already finding a rich groove.
Alexis is both maestro and tutor. He teaches the audience what ‘stan’ means (an overzealous or obsessive fan of a particular celebrity) and how his own fanaticism as a queer child saved him. It’s a story a lot of queer kids can relate to. Especially boys, who, bewildered by the template of masculinity and maleness, retreat into the safety of those divas, those confident goddesses; your Whitneys, Gagas and Dions. Sakellaris inhabits many of these divas, using them as segues to tell the story of his childhood in rural Germany.
The songs are brilliant. Alexis is a wonderful singer and lyricist, with quick, clever riffs on queerness, divas and in later numbers heartfelt and soulful sadness.
The show is a little uneven in places. Some of the monologues between songs can seem directionless and too emphatic. That’s not to say that there a many moments of inspired performance; the ‘diva domino effect’ sequence is a joy to behold.
My heart went out to Alexis, especially as he describes that desire to connect with his mum, that the women in his life were the real divas, and he himself, is a diva too!
The core of this show is important and so personal. How do queer kids flourish, how do they feel connected to their family? I’d say it would be better directed at families and people not used to queer culture, it’s would make for a valuable education.
A Stan is Born! Is on at Blether at Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose until the 25th August.
