By popular demand, renowned cabaret chanteuse and musical theatre star, Queenie van de Zandt, once again brings her multi-award-winning show, BLUE: The Songs of Joni Mitchell back to the Hayes Theatre Co for a third sensational season from 4 July 2024.
BLUE: The Songs of Joni Mitchell is not only a celebration of Joni’s most iconic album, it is 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 didn’t want it to be a ‘tribute show’, that format felt too pedestrian for her artistry,” said 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 not only created the soundtrack for the Woodstock generation but also captured the hearts of younger audiences through her music being featured in films like Love Actually and her recent concert collaborations with popular singer Brandi Carlisle.
In the spellbinding show, BLUE: The Songs of Joni Mitchell, Queenie and her 3-piece band, pay homage to all the qualities that make Joni such a unique and timeless artist. Affectionately reinterpreting Mitchell’s music, Queenie reveals the intimate stories behind Joni’s haunting songs from her iconic album, BLUE, such as A Case of You, River and Little Green, as well as celebrates her greatest hits such as Big Yellow Taxi and Both Sides Now.
Since 2017, BLUE: The Songs of Joni Mitchell has been enchanting audiences across Australia and internationally, garnering rave reviews everywhere it goes. Along the way, it has won a slew of theatre awards as well as being nominated for the Sydney Theatre Award for Best Cabaret Production and for Australia’s most prestigious live performance award – the Helpmann Award for Best Cabaret Performer.
Over the past 30+ years, Queenie van de Zandt has become one of the country’s most highly regarded musical theatre and cabaret performers, renowned for her artful storytelling and raw, emotive vocals, with a staggering 21 major award nominations and 8 well-deserved wins.
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 van de Zandt performed as exquisite a biography as you’re likely to hear. Near aural perfection.” – Australian Arts Review
BLUE: The Songs of Joni Mitchell
Hayes Theatre Co, 19 Greenknowe Avenue, Elizabeth Bay
Season: 4 – 7 July 2024
Information and Bookings: www.hayestheatre.com.au
Image: Queenie van de Zandt presents BLUE: The Songs of Joni Mitchell – photo by Maria Alzate