George Kapiniaris is a seriously funny dude.
But he’s a lot more than that, as he showed off musical and singing skills at his one man stage show, Zorba the Freak at Casula Powerhouse theatre last night.
If I was marking Zorba the Freak, I’d give it a nine out of 10.
It is a pity that more people from the south west didn’t get to see it, since Kapiniaris was only booked for two shows, last night, and one earlier in the day.
But if his gig comes back locally, don’t miss it.
And the thing to know is that you don’t have to be a Greek-Australian to enjoy a big belly laugh pretty much through most of the show.
Although it does help, because he reminds you of how hard it was growing up Greek in Australia these past four or five decades.
It seems hilarious now, but obviously it wasn’t funny having parents who migrated here but were determined to pretty much pretend Marrickville was a suburb of Athens.
During the entire show, over two parts, Kapiniaris sports that cheeky grin we got to know him for in Wog Boy, Acropolis Now and other works.
But he was much funnier than I expected him to be and our group put it down to him blossoming away from the Wog Boy shadow.
He performs very funny renditions of 80s musical hits, as would have been sung by him and his Greek mates, although he needs the aid of hair pieces to recreate the look of bands like Pseudo Echo.
Greek culture, from souvlaki to yeeros and yoghurt is now entrenched into the Aussie way of life, and Kapiniaris captures all of that, in a very, very funny way.
For goodness sake, next time he’s in town, make sure you catch this hilarious show.
Not to mention the need to support gigs like Zorba the Freak because they come to us, saving us a trip to the city.
But how long will they keep coming if they perform in half empty theatres.
Whereas if we did support them a bit better, we will get more and more.
