In the kitchen of the corporate surrounds of Melbourne’s Melba Opera Trust, Bon Appétit! proved that opera need not require grand scale.
This compact 20-minute work, based on a 1960s episode of The French Chef, brings the irrepressible Julia Child vividly back to life as a chocolate cake quite literally shares centre stage with award-winning Australian mezzo-soprano Deborah Humble, who channels Child’s endearing, infectious and idiosyncratic style with delightful pizzazz.
Child – cookbook author, culinary educator and the woman who developed and starred in the pioneering television cooking show – transformed American home cooking with her warmth, wit and unapologetic love of butter.
Her cultural resurgence in recent years, through the 2009 biographical film Julie & Julia starring Meryl Streep, and the 2022 HBO Max series Julia with Sarah Lancashire in the title role, confirms her enduring appeal.
For Humble, this was the last of a series of kitchen appearances, starting in the Hunter Valley, in which the suitcases of ingredients and utensils were unpacked for Child’s classic Le Gâteau au Chocolaty l’Éminence Brune.
As the small audience settled, Humble was already busily at work. Then came the humongous “Welcome!” – instantly nailing Child’s unmistakable lilt, quirky mannerisms and wigged silhouette in an uncanny, affectionately drawn transformation.
There is much to juggle in this cooking-in-action, bite-sized opera. Eggs are cracked, chocolate whisked and cake mixture is slopped about with cheerful abandon. Humble must blend culinary choreography with Lee Hoiby’s effervescent score, set to Mark Shulgasser’s libretto drawn from Child’s own words.
Darting from one spot to the next in exuberantly characterful form, Humble never dropped the musical line nor comic timing. The performance was seamless, buoyant and deliciously entertaining. Hoiby’s music bubbles with tuneful, arabesque energy and Sharolyn Kimmorley at the keyboard lent it a smooth, upbeat propulsion.
For Humble, there was a swathe of intricately crafted upper range head notes to showcase and she backed them with a generous heftiness that propelled the recipe-come-to-life entertainment excellently. Notably, Humble captured Child’s signature whirling inflections impeccably, the voice riding the culinary chaos with triumphant ease.
And what chaos it is! Child famously promoted the sheer fun of cooking – the joy of experimentation over perfection – and Humble relished this in her performance.
Deciding to take a glass of chardonnay in hand — something which Child may well have emboldened many a 1960s-and-beyond housewife to copy — Humble declared the virtues of a “self-cleaning kitchen” while cake mixture splashed across the workspace.
And, in a sign that Child is as much a mere mortal in the kitchen as her audience, mistakes and mishaps are embraced as part of the process. Similarly, there is the reassurance that licking the spoon and fingers is not only permitted but encouraged – the cook’s licence.
The result is opera as sensory theatre. You can smell the chocolate melting and the boiling espresso as a recipe-come-to-life is witnessed that celebrates food, music, fun and laughter. In just 20 minutes with Humble, Bon Appétit! captures Julia Child’s skilful technique without intimidation and the conviction that cooking – like opera – can be unapologetically fun.
Humble first performed Bon Appétit! at the Newcastle Food Festival in 2021, and it remains the perfect festival opera – portable, playful and irresistibly accessible. It would sit happily in many a kitchen, theatre or converted warehouse. Indeed, one might be tempted to invite Humble to their next dinner party to whip up a fun-filled dessert.
Bon Appétit!
The Kitchen – Melba Opera Trust, City Road, Southbank (Melbourne)
Performance: Monday 23 February 2026
Information: www.deborahhumble.com
Image: Deborah Humble in Bon Appetite! – photo by Paul Selar
Review: Paul Selar