Following a sold-out Smash Hit season at the Edinburgh Fringe and a sold-out season at the Sydney Opera House
D’Arrietta’s seven-piece band presents a stirringly personal
tribute to the legendary Cohen
2ND MELOURNE SHOW – JUST ANNOUNCED!!!
Due to popular demand, a second show has been announced for Thursday May 11 at 7.30am. Tickets go on sale this Friiday April 28
MELBOURNE – ARTS CENTRE, PLAYHOUSE
Wednesday May 10 & Thursdasy May 11 – 7.30pm
https://www.artscentremelbourne.com.au/whats-on/2017/popular-music/my-leonardcohen?m=performances
‘My Leonard Cohen’ was the toast of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2016 and Sydney Opera House 2017, with sold-out shows and rave reviews from critics and fans alike.
Performed by Stewart D’Arrietta and a seven-piece band, featuring some of Australia’s best contemporary musicians. D’Arrietta’s musical interpretations are gutsy and arresting and the stories he tells give an insight into Cohen’s life and the motivations behind the songs with a sprinkling of laconic humour. In MY LEONARD COHEN, Stewart and his band perform 18 songs including the heartrending Suzanne. The iconic Tower of Song, the seductive I’m Your Man the rousing Hallelujah, Dance Me To The End of Love, Birdon A Wire, So Long Marianne, plus many more.
“For lovers of Leonard Cohen young and old”– Edinburgh Reporter
“It is startling and moving” – Broadway Baby
D’Arrietta is the full package as musician and entertainer” – Daily Telegraph
“music with passion and poise, back by a superb six– piece band” – Sunday Mail
“he (D’Arrietta) and his extraordinary band bring Cohen’s songs to life in a way that surpasses mere imitation, altering arrangements and infusing them with a new energy that drives the emotional narrative of the show” – The Advertiser, Adelaide.
Few bodies of musical work rouse, seduce and are of such great solace as that of the great singer songwriter Leonard Cohen. Soulful lyrics are laced with raw emotion and sheer seductiveness. D’Arrietta’s arrangements add an uplifting, upbeat feel.
Producer, Harley Medcalf added “Seeing the raw emotion in Stewart from Mr. Cohen’s passing, and knowing how he deeply loves this music, I felt driven to ask Stewart to perform this very special tribute.”
For two decades, Stewart D’Arrietta and his collaborators have brought their own musical personality to the works of great songwriters, including Tom Waits, John Lennon and Randy Newman, and have received praise for shows in Australia and overseas.
D’Arrietta on piano and vocals is accompanied by a veritable ‘who’s who’ of Australia’s best musicians.
Expect Cohen’s best – all delivered as you’ve never heard them before.
A dynamic singer with a gravelly voice — imagine Tom Waits with overtones of Joe Cocker — and a wicked line in jokes and stories, D’Arrietta is the full package both as musician and entertainer News.com.au
www.facebook.com/myleonardcohen
Stewart was born in Sydney, Australia, the son of a Hardware Merchant. He attended school at St Ignatius, Riverview and went on to graduate in Arts/Law at Sydney University. After graduating, instead of becoming a lawyer, he chose the world of music.
For many years he was in great demand as the ‘Piano Man’, entertaining the elite in Sydney’s most prestigious nightclubs in the 80’s.
Stewart since then has gone on to become extremely successful in the music industry, as a prolific composer, and as a highly regarded musical director, performer, and producer.
He was signed to Polygram in the mid 80s for his solo project “Side Effects” and then in the late 80s went on to form ‘Big Storm’ which was signed to Warner Brothers.
In 1992, Stewart co-created a show with the well known Australian actor, John Waters. Their show ‘Lennon – Through A Glass Onion’ has enjoyed success world-wide, most recently with performances in the UK, Ireland, Canada, and the USA. The Sydney Opera House, will host the celebration of their 25-year anniversary as one of Australia’s longest running stage shows in January / February 2017.
Among Stewart’s many other musical directing and composing credits are ‘Reunion’ and ‘Cafe Brel’ (with John Waters), ‘Satango’ (with Justin Fleming) and a New York production called ‘Gigi, The Black Rose’ (with Josh Gosfield).
In 2008 and 2009, he was the musical director for ‘The Beatles White Album’ and in 2010, ‘The Beatles Back to Back’ (Sergeant Peppers and Abbey Road).
Stewart has composed movie scores for ‘Whitsunday Ash’, ‘Sugar Inc’, ‘Blood Oath’, Emmy Award winning ‘Faces in the Mob’ and award winning ‘Moeder’. His TV scores include ‘Ocean Star’, ‘Trapped’, “The Cut’ and ‘Second Chance’ and recently ‘Easter in Jerusalem’ for Compass.
In 2005, Stewart moved to New York to perform his highly acclaimed show ‘Belly of a Drunken Piano’, a homage to the music of Tom Waits. The show got rave reviews from the New York Times, Variety and the Village Voice. He then took it to The Montreal Jazz Festival, The Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Riverside Studios in London.
Whilst in New York he formed the rock band ‘America’s Least Wanted’ which went on to live up to it’s name!
Stewart received the Drover’s Award from ‘Arts on Tour’ for his production of ‘The Blonde, The Brunette and The Vengeful Redhead’, starring Academy Award nominee Jacki Weaver.
In 2013, Stewart produced and starred in ‘Tuxedo and The Little Black Dress’, a musical he co-wrote with renown playwright Louis Nowra.
It wasn’t till 2014 that Stewart first developed ‘My Leonard Cohen’ which was a smash hit at Chapel Off Chapel in Melbourne.
That same year, Stewart and John Waters took ‘Lennon: Through a Glass Onion’ to New York where they played for three and a half months. They went on to Florida and then Japan.
In April 2016 a well known Liverpool actor named Daniel Taylor joined Stewart to perform ‘Glass Onion’ to full houses and standing ovations in Liverpool, the birthplace of the Beatles. If you can make it there…
A few months later, Stewart and his band were back performing ‘My Leonard Cohen’ at the 2016 Edinburgh Fringe Festival to sell out crowds and rave reviews.
After Edinburgh, Stewart went straight back on the road with ‘Lennon – Through A Glass Onion’ to 23 towns all over the UK and Ireland, including, by popular demand, a return season in Liverpool. Word spread and soon Canada and the USA were added to the tour.
‘My Leonard Cohen’ is a wonderful vehicle for Stewart to showcase his multitude of talents, and that of the superb band who play with him.
Stewart’s latest solo album, “My Magnificent Narcotic”, a selection of gritty blues, rock songs and ballads, is currently on sale by limited release.
