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50 Shades of Bambi

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REVIEWS OF 50 SHADES OF BAMBI IN CAPE TOWN  — AUGUST 2013

Bambi’s sexcapades raise hearty laughs and make you think

50 SHADES OF BAMBI written and performed by Pieter Dirk Uys Musical director Godfrey Johnson at The Fugard Theatre until August 24

– Tracey Saunders, Cape Times, 15 August 2013

BAMBI Kellerman is the sister of that well-known South African, Evita Bezuidenhout. While both grew up in the relatively quiet town of Bethlehem that is essentially all they have in common.

Evita went on to an illustrious political career, while Kellerman escaped to Europe and earned a living in slightly less salubrious circumstances.

Uys is so utterly convincing in his transformation to the weather-worn stripper that one doesn’t doubt that you are listening to the weary and slightly tragic tale of a melancholic woman recollecting her past .

The reference to the best-seller 50 Shades of Grey is parodied in the production with Kellerman’s retelling of her sexual debut and subsequent sexual escapades. The set contains a washing line filled with an unusual mix of purchases from a toy store, a pet store and an adult entertainment store.

The similarity between several of the items is cause for much mirth when recounted by the jaded cabaret star.

Uys is well known for laughing in the face of fear. In the same way that Bezuidenhout made a generation face the realities of apartheid, Kellerman exposes the ravages of the HIV pandemic and the consequences of a generation’s reluctance to discuss sex openly with their children.

The cabaret is not entirely comedic and the serious and life-threatening threat posed by drugs in the Western Cape in particular is dealt with in a cynical burlesque number which lingers after the final curtain call.

Politicians are not given a free pass, however, and the donning of a pink beret and a heartfelt and scathing rendition of Weil and Gershwin’s Jenny from the musical Lady in the Dark are examples of Uys at the top of his satirical game.

Johnson is a musical maestro and works in absolute synchronicity with Uys. In addition to playing the role of musical director he sings and plays a keyboard and a piano with dazzling talent.

50 Shades of Bambi will give you pause for thought as well as hearty laughs.

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**** Geen grys op Bambi se palet

– Steyn du Toit, Die Burger, 12 August 2013

KAAPSTAD. – Bambi Kellermann (Pieter-Dirk Uys) is ’n bietjie laat vir die vertoning. Sien, sy het vir die dag by haar suster (Evita Bezuidenhout) op Darling gekuier en die verkeer terug effe onderskat. Om dinge te vererger, is die voertuig ook met haar aankoms in Kaapstad aangeval deur ’n groep poefprotesteerders wat haar met die burgemeester, Patricia de Lille, verwar het.

’n Kleurryke verskeidenheid speelgoed vir kinders, diere en grootmense hang aan ’n wasgoedlyn agter teen die Fugard-teater se verhoog. Voor op die klavier lê daar ’n kopie van E.L. James se hygroman 50 Shades of Grey.

Die drie tipes speelgoed op die wasgoeddraad, vertel Kellermann, verteenwoordig dít waarvoor sy ’n passie in die lewe het.

Saam met die musiekregisseur Godfrey Johnson neem dié voormalige sekswerker, wêreldreisiger en “grande horizontal from Bethlehem” die gehoor op ’n onkonvensionele en humoristiese reis vol nostalgie, patos en reguit gesprekke.

50 Shades of Bambi is ’n kabaret wat aanklank sal vind by enigeen wat al ooit verlief (of lus) was, gevoel het daar is meer om te sien in die lewe as die klein dorp waarop jy gebore is, of grootgeword het onder sêgoed soos “sies”, “vuil”, of “die Here gaan jou straf”.

Bekende liedjies wat deur Kellermann en Johnson herkleur word om relevante onderwerpe soos dwelmmisbruik, onbeskermde seks en konserwatisme aan te spreek, sluit in “Hier’s Ek Weer”, “Hoe Ry die Boere”, Peggy Lee se “Fever”, en “One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)” deur Frank Sinatra.

Om die pad na vryheid van spraak in hoë hakke te kan stap, is geen maklike taak nie. As iemand dit egter kan doen, dan is dit verseker Kellermann (een van Uys se 80 karakters dié afgelope 38 jaar). Sy is ’n formidabele vrou met baie kleure op haar artistieke palet, nie een daarvan ooit grys nie.

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REVIEW: 50 SHADES OF BAMBI

– Marilu Snyders, Whats on in Cape Town, 12 August 2013

With over four decades under the South African media spotlight, Pieter Dirk Uys has become more than a household name: he is a legend, an institution. And in his latest production, singing husky tales in cabaret as Bambi Kellermann, he shows once again why he still holds centre stage. Political spokesperson, entertainer and satirist, Pieter Dirk Uys is one of the most important characters in South Africa’s entertainment industry.

Bambi Kellermann (formerly Baby Poggenpoel) is the younger sister to Uys’s most famous incarnation, Evita Bezuidenhout. Though related by blood, they are nothing alike – Evita is conservative and old school, whereas Bambi… is a cat of a different colour. But grey, she definitely is not. Fifty Shades of Bambi sets free all imaginable hues.

Variety is the spice of life for Bambi, and oh, what a life!  She claims that she realized, still in her teens, how little she knew of life, love and lust, and became adamant to rank up in experience from her humble beginnings. When her sister Evita, together with South Africa’s first operatic prima donna, Mimi Coertse, offered her the opportunity to get out of the Free State she grabbed it with both hands and found herself relocating to Vienna. Here she found love and lost love, lost and found herself, and met and married Herr Kellermann. He still travels with her, and also features in her show – albeit in an urn that looks very much like a thermos flask.

Fifty Shades of Bambi is part memoir, part glitzy cabaret. Led by musical director and melody master Geoffrey Johnson, Bambi takes us on a whirlwind tour through her life. “Through hot times and vrot times, high times and low times” we get a fascinating glimpse into the life of a Vrystaat girl turned European sex worker and stripper, with some wise lessons and clever comments between the lines.

Pieter Dirk Uys has always been known for pushing the envelope, and we expect nothing less of Bambi. With her raunchy background, she sheds some interesting light on our resistance to talk frankly about sex. The white Afrikaner conservativeness comes under close scrutiny as Bambi recalls her days in Bethlehem, working in the hairdresser on Makou Straat where the tannies would come to do their hair and speak in whispers about things that were “Sies!” and “Vuil!”, but then go home and… Well, maybe best if Bambi tells you that story.

Under her bottle blond hair and batting eyelashes, there is a razor sharp wit as Bambi takes us through the “50 shades from love to AIDS”. She effortlessly includes mentions of popular media, international travel, classic films, S&M and, of course, South African politics. In a show that is all about sex, our president is sure to feature. In fact, a whole song is dedicated to Mr Zuma and his life of polygamy. Some other songs in the cabaret include a heavy ballad about Tik addiction, sung with Geoffrey Johnson who sets a haunting atmosphere with carnival-like melodies teased from his keyboard. Bambi also takes us through a performance all in German, and some Afrikaans classics like “Hoe ry die Boere”, only with a much naughtier twist.

Bambi Kellerman, a self-confessed grande horizontale of the Northern Hemisphere, is a captivating storyteller with a sharp tongue. Her humour hits well below the belt, and lingers there to fondle a while.  Here and there an old joke raises its head, but we forgive her that – she tells it with such charm, it’s like hearing it for the first time. So, go. Go for some laughs, go for some lyrics, go because you’ll leave the Fugard feeling more introspective and, darling, much sexier.

             Fifty Shades of Bambi runs at the Fugard Theatre 6 to 24 August 2013.

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Uys Entertains in Bambi's New 50 SHADES Show

– David Fick, broadwayworld.com, 12 August 2013

Pieter-Dirk Uys is something of a national treasure. While he may be best known for his alter-ego, Evita Bezuidhenhout, he is also a prolific playwright, a social activist and the nurturer of several other alter egos, including Noelle Fine and, of course, the star of 50 SHADES OF BAMBI, Bambi Kellermann. Bambi is Evita's younger sister, a blonde Afrikaans girl from the Free State who went over to Europe to become a stripper, married a Nazi, had encounters with the likes of Marlene Dietrich and Ava Gardner and eventually returned to post-apartheid South Africa. Back home, she speaks out about HIV and AIDS education, being an HIV-positive woman herself. All of this is detailed in Bambi's autobiography, NEVER TOO NAKED: A THRILLING TALE OF LOVE, LUST, LOSS AND LIFE. 50 SHADES OF BAMBI is a reflection of a life well lived for the crude and forthright Bambi as she looks back on her life as well as at some of our current social and political trends in her own special way.

Accompanied by Godfrey Johnson at the piano, with Johnson also delivering some of the vocals, Bambi tells us some of the stories from her past, with songs like Stephen Sondheim's "Children Will Listen" and "I'm Still Here", Cole Porter's "You Do Something to Me" and the Kurt Weill-Ira Gershwin standard, "The Saga of Jenny" punctuating her anecdotes. Some of the songs have re-tooled lyrics tailored either to the unique situations in which Bambi has found herself (as in the Porter number) or to offer commentary on South African politics (such as when Zuma subs for the too decisive Jenny of LADY IN THE DARK fame.) There is also the obligatory nod to 50 SHADES OF GREY, which inspired the title of this cabaret, which is suggested not only in the copy of the novel that decorates the piano, but also in the array of sex toys hanging from line that extends across the stage. Dotted in between these are some real toys, which Bambi says show her love for children.

Pieter-Dirk Uys as Bambi KellermannAs Bambi, Uys tempers the character's crude sarcasm with a personable and intimate relationship with the audience. Even when Bambi dishes out comments to the audience, there is no fear of victimisation as there is in less sophisticated drag shows. It helps, of course, that Bambi has such a complex history. Although the audience can all see Uys's eyes twinkling behind his adopted persona, Bambi comes across as though she is a real person, fully-fleshed out and never falling into the dangerous traps of stereotype and caricature.

While 50 SHADES OF BAMBI has some fantastic high points, the show is perhaps not quite as good as Bambi is. The structure of the show is a little vague and could be sharpened by clarifying the ideas that hold the show together, which would substantially enrich the themes that Uys explores through Bambi on stage. This would transform 50 SHADES OF BAMBI from a very entertaining and comfortable show into a spellbinding and unforgettable one, one that could perhaps be the ultimate Bambi show.

50 SHADES OF BAMBI reminded me of Bea Arthur's JUST BETWEEN FRIENDS and Elaine Stritch's AT LIBERTY, two great shows in which two grande dames of the theatre reflected on their trials and tribulations as well as their luminous achievements. While FIFTY SHADES OF BAMBI is not perhaps as tightly constructed as those shows, Bambi holds as much appeal as Arthur and Stritch did in their respective shows. A colourful raconteur, Bambi has held court Uys's shows for enough time to deserve a definitive retrospective show of her own. The world premiere run of 50 SHADES OF BAMBI almost gets her one and with a little refinement, 50 SHADES OF BAMBI might yet be it.

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50 Shades of Bambi at the Fugard: Review

– Pierre-Yves Robert, Cape Town Zone, 16 August 2013

My first encounter with The Fugard Studio, at the newly renovated Fugard Theatre complex in District 6, was an introduction last week Wednesday to Pieter-Dirk Uys’ lesser-known stage persona Bambi Kellerman in “50 Shades of Bambi”. And yes, Bambi unabashedly disses the “50 Shades of Grey” story line by very convincingly ad libbing passages from the book, much to everyone’s amusement.

Being a recent transplant to Cape Town — from the KZN platteland where live theatre was but a quaint concept — it is indeed a treat to watch such an accomplished and compelling performer, especially in such a dramatic space, and all so simply staged.

Bambi is Evita’s slutty younger sister who relocated from Bethlehem, where she grew up with her more “properly” accomplished older sister Evita. Following her sexual awakening Bambi decamped to the Continent where she worked as a sex-worker/stripper in Germany and other interesting European locales, Nazi husband and sex toys in tow. The husband — what remains of him — is unceremoniously taken out of Bambi’s handbag and given pride of place on the piano…in his urn!

If you’re a “50 Shades of Grey” disciple then the title should clearly suggest that this play is all about sex and other taboo subjects, such as HIV/AIDS, drug abuse and the tragicomedy that is SA politics.

The show opens with Bambi introducing us to a varied selection of toys from the pet shop, sex shop and elsewhere — all off-handedly strung up on a washing line mind you – before she launches into one of several raunchy cabaret songs.

Godfrey Johnson makes another stellar appearance with Bambi and directs the music on the piano and keyboard. There are also some spiced-up versions of traditional Afrikaans liedtjies that leave little to the imagination, and will surely have the Broederbonders and FAK officials heaving – but all in good fun, because that’s what Bambi is about afterall.

There is no shortage of humour — droll, crass and otherwise — but Bambi/Uys is always sure to balance this with a measure of gravity that leaves one in no doubt that we are also being forced to confront some serious issues. Perhaps stating the obvious but this is well worth seeing, even if only so you can learn how to say “dah-ling” Bambi-style!

50 Shades of Bambi is showing until 24th August, with an 8pm show on Wednesday and Thursday, and 7pm and 9pm shows on Friday and Saturday. Secure parking is available, and if you get there with enough time before your show you can enjoy some snacks and a suitably laced cocktail before, and a “proper” cappuccino after. Oh, and no under 12’s!

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Review:  Fifty Shades of Bambi

– Clifford Graham, The Monday Missile, 11 August 2013

In Fifty Shades of Bambi, Pieter Dirk-Uys brings Evita Bezuidenhout’s sister, Bambi Kellerman to the fore. You may remember she left South Africa as a young girl and after many exploits, ended up as a stripper / cabaret artist on the Reeperbahn in Hamburg. The black-sheep of the family, she became the skeleton in the cupboard that Evita never dared to expose. Pieter Dirk-Uys has many characters that he uses to point fingers at life and politics in South Africa, but Bambi’s story is in many ways a sad tale. Growing up in Bethlehem in the Free State where sex was a taboo subject, hypocrisy and bigot-ism were normal practice and children grew up in fear of a Calvinistic god. Foei Tog!, we can’t help but feel sorry for this young girl. Not because we feel any pity for Bambi per se, but because there’s a little of her experience in our collective South African psyche. This is surely what Pieter Dirk-Uys is renowned for, his grasp on what it is to be a white South African taps into every sphere of our existence.

The stage is adorned with all manner of objects and mementos of Bambi’s life. Vibrators, dildos and other sex toys dangle in a sort of macabre album of this women’s exploits. A few fluffy toys give a sense of clinging to small reminders of a long lost innocence. After all children growing up in Bethlehem in the fifties were never taught about “such things” - skande!  Her Nazi husbands ashes adorn the piano in an urn (or cocktail shaker) held together with blue insulation tape.

Fifty Shades of Bambi, is a double whammy in that Godfrey Johnson joins Pieter Dirk-Uys, lending his inimitable showmanship as he accompanies Bambi in renditions of some well chosen songs, lyrics often rewritten to fit the story line. The intimacy of the Fugard Studio suits this cabaret styled performance. It’s as though we are in one of the many tiny clubs on the Reeperbahn. Among the many satirical jibes, there is in the life of Bambi Kellerman a poignant sadness. Never bitter, she regales us with tales of her life, regrets and the excitement of sexual discovery. In her own words “It’s not just about sex, it’s about enjoying what comes naturally. And if it’s not natural, be careful.”

50 Shades of Bambi is at the Fugard Theatre for a limited season from 6 to 24 August 2013, with performances Wednesdays and Thursdays at 8pm, and on Fridays and Saturdays at 7pm and 9pm.

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