Hot Mama

Ask regular Fringe audiences what words spring to mind when you say Ali McGregor and you can bet that sassy, glamorous and siren are high on their lists. Classically trained—and with a phenomenal voice—she was a principal Soprano with Opera Australia before making the shift from opera to cabaret. Her adult shows—the returning Ali McGregor’s Late-Nite Variety-Night Night and particularly last year’s Alchemy—see McGregor work her vocal magic, blending songs from her youth with silky smooth jazz to both popular and critical acclaim.

Smokin’ hot temptress she may be but McGregor is also a smart lady and sharp comic who really sees herself as a big kid and this new children’s show, Jazzamatazz, is giving her the chance to have some fun barking like a dog and watch excited kids go nuts with a burlesque dancer from New York ("He’s usually Evil Hate Monkey but he’ll just be ‘Monkey’ in this show."). McGregor says that whilst “the facade in my adult shows is one of sophistication and sultriness, I'm really just a fool. I have all the refinery but I can laugh at myself, shake my booty and be a bit of a dickhead too.”

Although McGregor’s cabaret style is certainly sexy, it is by no means in your face but she knows that those familiar with her adult shows might wonder how she’s going to “tone it down” for children. Yes, she’s thought about it a bit, but not too much. The fact that she’s performing in front of kids at four o’clock in the afternoon and the choices of songs—think Bjork's ‘It’s Oh So Quiet’, Beyonce’s ‘Single Ladies’ and Tom Wait’s ‘Ice Cream Man’—mean that things are naturally less sassy but McGregor admits she was surprised by how little she had to adapt her style. “I've seen from my daughter what works and what doesn't but, really, this is who I am on stage so for the kids show I’m just less sultry, more fool. I still get dressed up like it’s an evening show; my hair is done, false eyelashes on, I’ve got my pretty dress and sparkly shoes on and the band are in their smart suits. Kids love dressing up and a sense of occasion so they feel like they’re coming to a proper grown up music concert, and that makes it feel pretty special.”  

Like most working parents, McGregor—who is married to fellow Australian and comedian, Adam Hills and pregnant with their second child—has experienced a step change in her career since having her daughter.

“It’s made me more focused, I prioritise a lot better these days because it has to be good to take me away from my family,” I can hear McGregor smiling, “I don’t do shitty gigs anymore.” And even more than that, being a mum and knowing that she is no longer the most important person seems to have given McGregor a new perspective on her professional life which she appears very comfortable with. "When you’re working you can get a little bit up yourself as all you’re thinking about is you. It’s easy to over-focus on yourself, how the shows are going, ticket sales or obsessing over reviews which isn’t very healthy. You just don't have that luxury when you have a child.”

The increased media and social pressures to conform to an unrealistic and—in some cases, arguably unreal—female body image weighs heavy on McGregor's mind as she raises her daughter. Refreshingly, McGregor maintains that working so closely with burlesque artists will help her daughter develop and maintain a positive body image. “I decided in the beginning that the best thing I can do for my daughter is to expose her to the burlesque acts that I work with. There are women of every different shape and size who are incredibly proud of their bodies and, certainly with the artists that I know, are not cheap and tawdry or over-sexualised: it’s actually just confident and womanly.”

McGregor sees a clear difference between these sometimes naked burlesque artists and the neediness in the sexualisation of some women in music videos and advertising. Burlesque artists don’t need anyone to like their body; they’re happy in their own skin and that’s the important bit for McGregor. "If I can give my daughter this gift – to surround her with incredibly strong, incredibly confident women - then I can teach her to love herself no matter what her body looks like and that will serve her very well."