Lulu McClatchy will bring back her larger than life, delusional pop star character SuperGirly with her new show ‘SuperGirly: The Return Of The Pop Princess’.
This time around, the show is a mini-musical with Lulu getting away with almost everything by bringing ‘SuperGirly’ to life through song, comedy and audience interaction. Lulu describes her show perfectly. "If you love pop music you'll laugh and if you come along and hate pop music you still laugh! You might agree with what I'm singing or when I sing the miss heard lyrics I get a lot of people saying I thought those were the words! It's very relatable, it's fun!"
The show will involve another character, Bradley Cooper, played by Lyall Brooks. Lulu joyfully describes the collaboration: "Lyall plays Bradley Cooper in the show; I just would always say to him, 'you look so much like Bradley Cooper!' He got involved with the show, and at first he was in bits and pieces, but he is such a talent so I said to him 'you've gotta be in more!' He is such a good sport and a good asset!"
The creation of the show was a collaborative process with Lulu sitting in Lyall’s kitchen going through hundreds of songs while developing a storyline. “This show is a little different; there is more of a script and a storyline, it's like a mini musical rather than an improvised comedy show,” Lulu says. “Lyall and I worked on the show together for a couple of months. I then figured out the songs and we had to see if 21 costume changes and set changes would work, everything had to be doable and moveable to make it work!"
Choosing the right songs was a key in order to create the storyline. The process of writing the lyrics itself is something that varies for Lulu. “I always pick songs I love because I have to sing them every night! I start with a song I love and then begin to figure out what to do with it. Sometimes it happens straight away; I can write a song in 20 minutes... Other times it takes three weeks or even a year later! Longevity is important, I can't make the lyrics too topical and relevant otherwise they become dated too."
'SuperGirly' follows the massive success of the pop princess, although her past success is not what creates nerves. "I don't get nervous really, with new songs I do a bit, I often think 'I hope they laugh!' ‘Royals’ by Lorde was a difficult song because it's so wordy, and I hope the audience gets it... But every audience is different, you never know if you can sing the same song to a different audience and they'll laugh, but I've been doing this for a while so I don't get too nervous about it!"
With each show, Lulu most looks forward to the audience interaction and reaction. “There isn’t a strict script, so I can interact with the audience, chat to them during the show and if they yell things out I can react there and then!” she says. “I’m just excited to see the audience’s reaction to me, Bradley, the beautiful sets and costumes. It's just fun to see their response and to see them enjoying being there!”
'SuperGirly: The Return Of The Pop Princess' plays QUT Gardens Theatre 25-26 August.
