A triple sundae with chocolate sauce, nuts, sprinkles and maraschino cherries, ‘Theatrical Spectacular’, which took the National Cultural Centre by storm last weekend, seemed like a guilty pleasure.
However, the veritable treasure chest of talent that showed itself on the stage made one sit up and take notice. The energy and youthful zest was addictive, and it was impossible not to keep looking.
The long-anticipated show, which has at its helm Guyana Fashion Weekend (GFW) CEO, Sonia Noel, ambitiously set out to portray ‘The Story of Fashion’ through dance, drama and music, and featured icons of fashion and music from the 60s to date.
Wife of the late Guyanese Ambassador to the US, Sir John Carter, Sarah Lou Carter, a fashion icon in her day, was one of the featured persons of the evening.
Through a large-screen mini documentary, the audience saw that among her accomplishments, Mrs. Carter was a cover-girl for 26 magazines, was the architect of Sarah’s Salon, an interview programme popular in the 60s, and established the Sarah Lou Charm School for girls in Guyana.
The vocal talent was incredible, with rising local songbird, Jackie Hanover setting the ball rolling with her emotional rendition of the blues number, ‘I Watched You’.
Vocal renditions from Star Guyana runner-up, Travis Bowen, who, dark glasses and all, channelled Ray Charles’ soulful ‘Georgia On My Mind’; Ruquayer Boyer, sensuous and sparkling in white, and dripping in sparkly-white crystals belting out ‘Diamonds are Forever’; and Timolyn Barclay, with her spot-on cover of Donna Summer’s ‘She Works Hard For The Money’ were just a few of the stunning performances of the evening.
The second segment of the Saturday night performance featured two of the most crowd hyping performances of the night, back-to-back.
Opening the second segment was veteran songstress, Charmaine Blackman, sexily clad and with sexy choreography down pat, who did a rendition of Tina Turner’s ‘Private Dancer’.
The small army of tuxedo-clad dandies morphed into a performance of Michael Jackson’s ‘Smooth Criminal’, for which the crowd boisterously showed their appreciation. These moon-walking wonders were from the Crystallite dance group, one of whose dancers was a youngster of not more than ten, who didn’t lose a move.
According to the producers in the shows programme, in Guyana, we boast of six ethnicities living in the Land of Many Waters, so our sense of style is fashioned by our affinity to the flora, the water and our colonial past.
Caribbean style, which has been described as chic, avant-garde, ethnic, eclectic and exotic, is discernibly Caribbean in colour, silhouette, design application, texture and detail preference.