Time to go to hell.
'To Live Deliciously' at Queensland Cabaret Festival is a campy, queer exploration of self – musician Úmbriel (James Halloran) and Brisbane drag queen Sellma Soul (Ethan Watson) come together to sing hits from Kate Bush, Bjork, Tori Amos and more, accompanied by fiendish big band CULT.
Hell sounds like a more exciting place anyway – wouldn't you rather have a smoke with Judy Garland than sit cross-legged with all the clean, winged heaven-dwellers?
'To Live Deliciously' is an homage to the red baddy downstairs, so it makes perfect sense that the show's two commanders would each pen an open letter to him before the show hits the Cabaret Festival.
Check out what each had to say below.
Dear father Lucifer,
Last week while walking up some stairs I felt my foot stuck in place, as I got to the top I though it had been grabbed by your sweet hand to remind me that you are always there and. . . You do know I love a jump scare. It’s been a crazy year and I think of you often during these times. We’ve been f...ed hard by plagues, fire, and damnation, but god damn is it a good time to be an angry entertainer. Hopefully if we play our flutes and sing our unholy chants the rats will come running to our sides and we can chew away at the pockets of the pious. I digress. . . Hopefully you haven’t heard us rehearsing but we would love it if you could join us for a spectacular night of worship. We have pieced together a scrumptious band and curated the unholiest of songs to tell our story. Hope you’re flogging those fascists!?
Yours forever,
Sellma Soul
Last week while walking up some stairs I felt my foot stuck in place, as I got to the top I though it had been grabbed by your sweet hand to remind me that you are always there and. . . You do know I love a jump scare. It’s been a crazy year and I think of you often during these times. We’ve been f...ed hard by plagues, fire, and damnation, but god damn is it a good time to be an angry entertainer. Hopefully if we play our flutes and sing our unholy chants the rats will come running to our sides and we can chew away at the pockets of the pious. I digress. . . Hopefully you haven’t heard us rehearsing but we would love it if you could join us for a spectacular night of worship. We have pieced together a scrumptious band and curated the unholiest of songs to tell our story. Hope you’re flogging those fascists!?
Yours forever,
Sellma Soul
To the Prince of Paradise,
You’re a sneaky little f...er aren’t you? When you asked me to stomp on the crucifix I obliged and said nothing. When you asked me to f... myself with a not-so-metaphorical knife I obliged and said nothing. When you asked me to write a god damn cabaret show about your for the Queensland Cabaret Festival I obliged and said nothing. But you wanna know where I draw the line?. . . Do you?!? I draw the line when you ask to cut my face off like god damn Hannibal Lecter and fill my insides with iridescent peacock feathers that sweat out through my pores and hurt like a mother-f...er. So NO. I will not be doing that and you should be happy enough that you're getting a camp-as-tits cabaret about you.
See you there,
Úmbriel
You’re a sneaky little f...er aren’t you? When you asked me to stomp on the crucifix I obliged and said nothing. When you asked me to f... myself with a not-so-metaphorical knife I obliged and said nothing. When you asked me to write a god damn cabaret show about your for the Queensland Cabaret Festival I obliged and said nothing. But you wanna know where I draw the line?. . . Do you?!? I draw the line when you ask to cut my face off like god damn Hannibal Lecter and fill my insides with iridescent peacock feathers that sweat out through my pores and hurt like a mother-f...er. So NO. I will not be doing that and you should be happy enough that you're getting a camp-as-tits cabaret about you.
See you there,
Úmbriel
