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650 Light Years Away
5 stars out of 5
Stage 25, Spotlight Cabaret, 8217 104 St.
Andrea House was born at the foot of an oak tree, and when she was tall enough they cut her down.
Her words, not mine, and while it reads like a mythic start to a mythic tale, 650 Light Years Away is something more than a myth.
As with her award-winning, 2022 musical offering Salsa Lesson, House works with keyboardist and co-writer Chris Andrew, digging deep into her life to date, finding out who she is, where she comes from, how she’s gotten to this point. The myth underscores the journey, but House is far too self deprecating and witty to allow it to take over.
Whimsical as well, which is a pretty smart direction to take when you’re grappling with a long stretch of bad luck, forewarned by an astrologer who looks like Sabrina Carpenter. This is House at her most vulnerable, unblinking as she scopes the uncertain future with high humour.
“I do what any girl does when she’s offered a bestie text for a facial or yoga or astrology or cocaine,” she says. “I say yes, because I learned that in improv.”
Those are just the half-rapped, half-sung segues between songs that will linger well into your next Fringe show. House and Andrew are adept genre hoppers, and this time out they skip easily along neo-soul, Latin American rhythms, hints of jazz, aided and abetted onstage by bassist Rubim de Toledo. The earworms go on for days.
Congratulations, friends; when does the album come out?