The inaugural Glitter Festival will be held on the Gold Coast this year, a celebration of LGBTI arts, culture and entertainment which includes Sydney’s truly fabulous, Trevor Ashley and his Liza Minnelli show, ‘Liza (On An E)’.
“So it’s as if you’re seeing a Liza concert except that of course it’s me and I’m singing a whole lot of numbers she normally sings, wearing her outfits and saying things that she would never say on-stage,” Trevor explains. “So it’s kind of like the ideal Liza Minnelli concert: all the dish that you want to hear in a show from her but she’ll never talk about.”
Part cabaret, part parody and all style, ‘Liza (On An E)’ has taken Trevor all around Australia and the world, singing the hits of Liza Minnelli and paying tribute to her in his own satirical way.“I guess for me I’d grown up loving her, I’ve always loved what she does. So I put this show together and always had it with the same size band you’ll see on the Gold Coast which is a seven piece band, lots of brass. I tried to make it as authentically musically sounding as her show does. So it’s been a great show and of course the show’s about Liza and in equal measures pays tribute to, and takes the piss out of Liza.”
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While Trevor’s impersonation of Liza has earned him rave reviews, critical acclaim and thrilled international audiences, it turns out not everyone is all too happy about Trevor’s homage.
“I did meet her [Liza’s] publicist in New York; I was introduced via Barbara Streisand’s Director who I know and he said, ‘this is Trevor Ashley’ and the guy looked at me and said, ‘I know who you are, I know what you do and I don’t like it!’ And I was like ‘oh, sorry’,” Trevor laughs. “So I don’t think Liza particularly likes my show – but that’s fine, that’s fine.”
Glitter Festival is billed as the Gold Coast’s inaugural Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Queer, A-sexual, Pansexual plus everyone else festival and Trevor says he is both excited and proud to be part of such a positive community-building event.“I just think it’s fantastic because, you know, we’re very lucky in Sydney that we’ve got Mardi Gras and we can celebrate all the time. It’s such a great thing that brings people together and it’s a great community thing to get together and go out to see some great gay entertainers or gay-themed shows at least that gets people around and together and at the bar afterwards and just seeing stuff they know they’re going to enjoy.
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“I think it’s great to have the first one on the Gold Coast where everyone in the community up there actually has something that’s Gold Coast-specific, which I think is fantastic. Big Gay Day is fantastic in Brisbane, I’ve been up a couple of times but it’s nice to do something that’s more arts and culture based, I think it’s going to be very successful.”
