Singer Angela Lumisici is currently in town performing in ‘Wicked’ but on Tuesday June 2nd she’ll be heading down to The Ellington Jazz club to deliver a special presentation of her cabaret show ‘We’ve Only Just Begun – The Music of the Carpenters’.
OUTinPerth chatted to the opera trained singer about what attracted her to the music of the brother and sister duo of Karen and Richard Carpenter.
Why did you decide to do a show based around the music of the Carpenters?
I was at an open mic night back in Melbourne when I was studying Opera, and I was looking through songs to sing and stumbled across “Superstar” by the Carpenters. Because I was singing mostly classical music I hadn’t sung these songs since I was a teenager so I decided to give it a go.
I walked up on stage and singing this song in front of an audience, and not in my room as I had done when I was a teenager, was such a thrill. I remembered how much I loved this music and how much their music had meant to me. And from that point on I knew that I wanted this music back in my life, so I decided to write a show about them
When did you become a fan of the Carpenters?
Funny story, I was browsing in the audio-visual section of Target when I was fourteen, when all of a sudden I heard this angelic voice come over the loud speakers and I had to know who was singing. I ran up to the counter and asked who they were playing and they said it was the best of The Carpenters.
So I bought the cassette, yes that is how old I am, and listened to that tape till I could sing all of the songs by heart. I was hooked!
Which songs in their repertoire do you love the most?
The song ‘I Need to be in Love’ is so poignant, the lyrics are just beautiful and I relate to them quite a bit, but my absolute favourite is Superstar. There is something so magical about this song and I just connect to it for some reason. This was the song that inspired me to write my cabaret show.
Do you open the show with ‘We’ve Only Just Begun’ – this I really need to know.
Yes the show opens with me entering the stage singing ‘We’ve only just begun’.
Let’s chat about ‘Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft’ – do you think this is one of the oddest songs in the Carpenters’ catalogue?
Oh my goodness!!! I remember listening to this song on my cassette all those years ago and asking myself, “What were they thinking??”  The Carpenters recorded that song at a time when there was an obsession with extra terrestrials, with such movies as ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’  So they decided to capitalise on the publics obsession and recorded a song they felt would appeal to the wider audience. Have you seen the film clip to it?
Some of the Carpenter’s recordings featured over 160 musicians, how does it translate to a smaller more intimate setting?
Richard Carpenter was the arranger as well as the main pianist and singer on most of the songs the Carpenters performed and he was so particular about the sound he wanted that most of the sheet music available is of his original arrangements.
So in that respect a more intimate setting suits the songs well. And in the end as long as the voice is able to shine, the music will always sound as timeless as it was when it first came out.
Book tickets to see Angela Lumisici in ‘We’ve Only JustBegun’ at The Ellington Jazz Club on Tuesday June 2nd.
Graeme Watson
