The Kings Cross end of Sydney’s Darlinghurst is swinging again thanks to Brendan De La Hay and his wild new plaything, the Emerald Room, writes Stuart Ridley.
Libertines of a certain age may remember the Victoria Street site where the Emerald Room is housed from its previous restaurant and cocktail lounge-y incarnations (pre-lockdowns/pre-lockouts, that is). It has recently had a whole new fit out that serves up a delicious 1930s-meets-1960s glamour and is so sparkly green that you expect Dorothy and friends to pop out at any moment.
“When I came up with the idea of creating a venue that’s almost entirely green it seemed just nonsense – and so much fun!” laughs Brendan de la Hay, creative director, cabaret star and designer-in-residence.
“Obviously we’ve referenced The Wizard of Oz and David Williamson’s play Emerald City, plus the neon signs tell some of the story of the Cross in the ‘60s. When I added gold it gave it some Australiana – which is important, because it’s a space to highlight Australian talent.”
The venue is gorgeous, comfortably glamorous and it will take your breath away when you walk in. What keeps bringing you back is the dazzling talent on stage, behind the bar, in the kitchen and oh-so-many incredible outfits.
“The Cross has had a bit of a time, which hurt nightlife in general but it also gave us a moment to reassess what nightlife can be,” Brendan explains. “We’re bringing back the idea of dressing up to go out, eating late and enjoying world class entertainment by Australian artists. Other companies keep bringing international acts out, which is great but we really need spaces like this.”
I absolutely agree. In the re-emergence of nightlife across the country, we need venues like the Emerald Room that are committed to elevating Australian entertainers across the spectrum of night time enchantments from cabaret, jazz and swing performers to acrobats, magicians and burlesque artists. Sure, drag acts offer some of these things but these days we’re served way more death drops and swishy head flicks than heartrending torch songs and endearingly cheeky repartee.
“What we’re doing here is cheeky, though never smutty,” says Brendan, before declaring: “There will be no lip syncing in this venue! Actually, if you’re going to lip sync it has to be a duet between you and a live singer and the band and that’s what makes it beautiful, quirky and interesting. I don’t want disco songs and I don’t want the clichés. You’re not going to come in to perform to a track and do a death drop – you can do that anywhere else in Sydney.”
Fly me to the moon
Equally, while reviewing some of the glittering outfits for the night’s performances, Brendan mentions how much he loves drag’s outrageous costuming. He’s become famous on red carpets for wearing his own hilarious and super stylish outfits at some of Sydney’s biggest theatre, opera and film opening nights. He’s sometimes accompanied on these outings by Lou P Scarlett, one of the Emerald Room’s popular burlesque artists. While it’s clear they both love to dress up, they shine on a whole other level when they sing.
“Yes, I’m borderline drag, and that’s as far ‘drag’ as we will go,” he says with a spirited smile. “I’m a jazz singer, really, though not in a way that’s loud. Even if some of my looks suggest it, I’m not loud or abrasive. I want people to experience something slower and glamorous, particularly with my own music choices: beautiful jazz songs which make you tingle and really move you.”
After he finishes singing Fly Me to the Moon in the show, the audience is so spellbound we don’t clap – at first – and the silence we sit in for several long breaths is golden. It’s like we don’t want to lose the weightlessness of the moment. And we don’t: it comes again and again in so many colours. There’s an incredibly sexy pole show, gorgeous and funny burlesque with a sparkle of magic and brilliant all-singing, all-dancing, all-that-jazz.
“The highlight for me is enjoying everyone’s reactions,” says Brendan. “I’ve made a really important point with my performers about interacting with the audiences during intermissions and it’s been really lovely hearing how everyone has been so hungry for something like this. It’s heartening.”
A boy from Oz
Brendan was practically born to be a performer. His grandfather was a musician at the Tivoli and the Trocadero in old-time Sydney; his great-grandfather owned several music shops and his mum encouraged his passion for music and dancing from the age of four. He can play cello and piano, he’s trained in ballet, tap, ballroom – even Scottish dancing – and he has a degree in musical theatre.
“I’ve always loved musicals and movie musicals in particular,” he muses. “But after doing that degree I felt I didn’t really fit into the framework of what a musical theatre performer needs to be.”
Admittedly, many of the musicals we see in Sydney are imported. Thankfully though, Sydney’s queer community offered Brendan another path after he made the finals of Australia’s Got Talent. He has starred in galas including at the Aurora Ball and the Red Ball for Bobby Goldsmith Foundation with Bob Downe, toured shows to local and international festivals, created award-winning theatrical costumes and sells fashion all over the world (including Bloomingdales).
“I’ve always been obsessed with people who are creative with their appearance and performative with their life,” says Brendan. “Leigh Bowery was a pretty big inspiration and I took it from there, delving into the Bright Young Things in the 1920s, New York club kids in the ‘80s/’90s, even the Advanced Style ladies of New York who are still being performative and going out in crazy outfits in their eighties and nineties. I consider them sort of the future of bright young things because it’s all about the look and the energy they bring. Now I get to choose what I wear, what I sing and I can fuck with gender. I love the idea of inverting something and presenting it in a crazy, silly way.”
The Emerald Room is at Level 1, 235 Victoria Street, Darlinghurst. Shows are on from 6pm-9.30pm on Thursdays to Saturdays. Late night dining is from 9.30pm-midnight and High Tea happens on Sundays. For more details: https://www.theemeraldroom.sydney/
