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Despite what old gloomy puss in The Age had to say about it, The Book of Longing was a sheer delight. The poems of Leonard Cohen were mostly sung by two gals and two guys with fine voices (although one was slightly too mild) to an accompaniment of strings and keyboards with maestro Philip Glass playing his usual low-key role behind one of them. It was a gentle evening but no less memorable for being so. And we all came away with a book of Cohen poems to refresh our memories of the night.
Then there was the mayhem of drinking in Beck's Bar while "bar girl" Wendy Houston wove her way between the drinkers with her non-stop monologue encapsulating every drunken phrase ever uttered by the acutely inebriated. An hour of laughs, incredible body movements and a few pungent barbs in between.
But nothing outdoes the sheer joy of  Tales and Songs for Weddings and Funerals which sent the State Theatre audience rocking, cheering, whistling and hooting for more - which they got in good in huge measure as Goran Bregovic and his company provided an encore almost as long as the actual show. This is a multi-faceted troupe - a classical orchestra, a wondrously sonorous male voice choir, two polyphonic Bulgarian folk singers (the Radkova sisters) in traditional garb, two woodwind players (including bagpipes) and a line-up  of brass which made its arrival through the auditorium. Then, of course, there is the endless drumming of his lead singer (and accordioniste) Alen Ademovic plus the delightful Bregovic himself on electric guitar. The show is rich in  music from the heart - lilting Balkan folk-based melodies, sad and plaintive as well as joyous and soul-stirring. There are themes that underscored films, snatches of opera and songs steeped in his Sarajevo background. A great night.

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