BLUE: The Songs of Joni Mitchell

AAR-Blue-Queenie-van-de-Zandt-photo-by-Kurt-SneddonTo celebrate the 50th anniversary of Joni Mitchell’s landmark album BLUE, renowned cabaret chanteuse Queenie van de Zandt, brings the critically acclaimed and Helpmann Award nominated BLUE: The Songs of Joni Mitchell to venues this June and July.

BLUE: The Songs of Joni Mitchell is not just a celebration of an iconic album, it’s also a love letter from a fan to her ‘shero’ – a thank you card from one melancholy mother to another.

“For years I wanted to write a show based on Joni’s music – but I could never quite work out how to do it, without it being just a tribute show, which felt too pedestrian for her artistry,” explains Queenie.

“And then in 2017, I gave birth to my daughter and was reminded of how Joni was forced to give her daughter up for adoption, the pain of which led her to create the BLUE album. And suddenly I found my way into writing this show, interweaving the mother, the music, and the melancholy that is Joni Mitchell.”

Renaissance woman, painter and poet, Joni Mitchell created a soundtrack for baby-boomers in the Woodstock generation and then found a whole new younger audience who love her music through hearing it in films such as Love Actually.

Over the past 30 plus years, Queenie van de Zandt has become one of the country’s best musical theatre and cabaret performers, celebrated for her artful storytelling and soulful, emotive vocals, with 19 major award nominations, winning 6 times.

In BLUE: The Songs of Joni Mitchell, along with her 3-piece band, Queenie explores her love of all the things that make Joni such a unique and timeless artist.

Affectionately reinterpreting Mitchell’s music she reveals the intimate stories behind some of the BLUE album’s most haunting songs, such as A Case of You, River and Little Green as well as celebrating her greatest hits such as Big Yellow Taxi and Both Sides Now.

Presented by Neil Gooding Productions and Amazon Woman Enterprises, BLUE: The Songs of Joni Mitchell is as exquisite a biography as you’re likely to hear, a beguiling night of melancholic songs, poetic storytelling, and haunting vocals, in a perfect, intimate setting.

“Queenie distilled Joni Mitchell’s life, liaisons, and art, into a tincture of love and grace… extraordinary and emotional… Queenie does a magnificent job.” – Australian Arts Review


BLUE: The Songs of Joni Mitchell will be presented at the West Gippsland Arts Centre (17 June); before playing the Clocktower Centre, Moonee Ponds (3 July); Chapel Off Chapel (15 & 16 July); and the Hayes Theatre, Sydney (19 – 24 July). For more information and performance dates and venues, visit: www.goodingproductions.com for details.

Image: Queenie van de Zandt – photo by Kurt Sneddon