Rizo: Prizmatism (Wharf 1 Theatre) ★★★★

Created by Rizo. Sydney Festival. Wharf 1 Theatre. 24-27 Jan, 2024.

Rizo, the New York based 70s-rocker-meets-50s-chanteuse-filtered-through-a-00s-drag-diva-turned-yoga-instructor, hits middle-age and the Sydney Festival with her new show Prizmatism, offering an antidote to the isolation of the last few years and a respite from the news of today.

Mixing “the great American songbook” with original material and a generous dose of “let’s see where the fuck this goes” energy, Rizo crosses musical, spiritual and maybe some personal boundaries. From Cole Porter’s “Love For Sale” to The Carpenters’ “Close To You (They Long To Be)” things seem perfectly polite in theory, but this cabaret quickly turns to the wild side for its adventures.

In her banter and stories, Rizo is a classic raconteur, carrying the audience along with her as she seemingly detours and pivots depending on where the room takes her. Crowd participation, which has been a running theme of the Wharf 1 cabarets over Sydney Festival, makes up a big part of the show. To the audience’s delight, but maybe not the participants, she is drawn to those who seem a bit reticent (but look like they secretly want to play). 

Rizo herself is something like a love child of Janis Joplin and Carol Burnett – a blend of rockstar energy and comedy smarts. As she admits she has aged into her own stage persona (“I’ve been cast as 40 since I was 20,” she tells the crowd) she stands before us and reflects back many phases on womanhood. Jokes about her transition into motherhood and middle-age get bold laughs from the crowd but the focus on Covid however does seem to date some of the material. 

When Rizo sings, the crowd is utterly wrapped. Her raspy voice envelopes the theatre when she sings, and her set doubles down on the big rockstar moments as well as the moody numbers (I especially liked “The Ghost of the Château Marmont”). With costumes that range from classic to crazy, she is an ever-changing visual feast, as well as an auditory one.

Rizo has inadvertently become the bookend to my Sydney Festival, after she guested in my first show Smashed: The Nightcap, and Prizmatism became my final one. Each Sydney Festival introduces me to new performers and this year has been the year of Rizo – and that is a great way to start 2024!