The gender bending, glam-rock God iOTA is back in a brand-new, sexy-as-hell, theatrical concert experience. The award-winning star of international smash-hits Smoke & Mirrors, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and The Rocky Horror Show, iOTA brings his signature rock ‘n’ roll, vaudeville style, to this daring new stage production, B-Girl.
Directed by Craig Ilott and jointly written by Ilott and iOTA, Blazey Best stars alongside iOTA as B-Girl, a troubled young woman trapped in a bleak reality. As her situation worsens, she conjures up a vivid glam-rock fantasy where she escapes into the world of her alter ego Clifford North (iOTA), a rising star who represents everything she isn’t – powerful, sexy and in-control.
Created by the team behind the award-winning Smoke & Mirrors, this innovative theatrical experience features a live band onstage and all-original music.
iOTA said: “Smoke & Mirrors was really our first go and the experience has brought us closer together as people. We trust each other, we’re a better team – B-Girl will reflect that.”
Craig Ilott said: “In some ways Hedwig and Smoke & Mirrors were warm-ups to a show like B-Girl and the Playhouse at the Opera House was always our target theatre. We’re so excited for audiences to breathe life into B-Girl. Buckle up!”
Sydney Opera House Director of Programming, Jonathan Bielski, added: “We are thrilled to welcome the extraordinary artist that is iOTA to the Opera House, and look forward to seeing his incomparable rock n roll persona light up the Playhouse stage.”
Singer, songwriter and performer iOTA’s career spans five albums, eleven singles, six ARIA Award nominations, and a Helpmann, Green Room and Sydney Theatre Award for Best Performance in a Musical. He burst onto the Australian alternative music scene in 1999 with debut album, The Hip Bone Connection. His theatre debut as the lead in Hedwig and the Angry Inch brought critical and public acclaim, followed by roles in Sydney Dance Company’s Berlin, The Rocky Horror Show, Baz Luhrmann’s, The Great Gatsby, and the upcoming theatrical release, Mad Max: Fury Road. iOTA created Smoke & Mirrors for The Famous Spiegeltent at Sydney Festival in 2010 with director Craig Ilott. A complete sell-out, the theatrical phenomenon won three Helpmann Awards and five Greenroom nominations before touring to Adelaide, Melbourne, Auckland and Edinburgh then returning for a second sell-out Sydney Festival season.
One of Australia’s most versatile performers, Blazey Best recently appeared in Luckiest Production’s critically acclaimed Miracle City at the Hayes Theatre, for which she won the Sydney Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Her theatre credits include Nora, Miss Julie and Medea at Belvoir, Much Ado About Nothing, A Comedy of Errors and The War of the Roses for Bell Shakespeare and ‘Yitzac’ in the original Australian production of Hedwig And The Angry Inch alongside iOTA.
Craig Ilott won a Green Room Award for Best Direction of a Musical for Hedwig and the Angry Inch. He went on to direct Love Song for Melbourne Theatre Company, The Pig Iron People for Sydney Theatre Company and The Pillowman for Company B Belvoir, which was nominated for six Sydney Theatre Awards including Best Director and Best Production. Other directing credits include La Clique Royale at Edinburgh Festival, La Bohème for Opera Queensland, Diamonds are for Trevor for Arts Centre Melbourne and The Composer is Dead for Sydney Opera House.
B-Girl was created by Lunar Hare Productions, a company founded by Craig Ilott, iOTA and independent producer Phil Bathols.
Praise for B-Girl:
“… it is, almost without exception, the most stupendously brilliant show you will ever see in your life.”
Sydney Morning Herald
“Director Craig Ilott and iOTA have created something special, that is the pick of the festival so far.”
The Brag
“Director Craig Ilott has created a show that is heart wrenching and explosive… Beg, steal and borrow to get there”
Adelaide Advertiser
“It’s rare in this job to have an experience that is so powerful it moves you to tears. That’s exactly what happened at the Sydney Festival’s Smoke & Mirrors.”
Sunday Telegraph
“A remarkable presence both seductive and repellent, jaunty and regretful, malevolent and desperately sad”
The Guardian (UK)
