Songs for Nobodies is a piece of theatrical magic created by Australian playwright Joanna Murray-Smith. It is the story of five young woman with ordinary lives each of whom has a meaningful, if fleeting, encounter with a legendary singing star.
Having been dumped by her husband, Beatrice from Minnesota meets Judy Garland in a hotel bathroom and fixes the singer’s dress. Pearl is an usher in a theatre in Kansas who is discovered by Patsy Cline and brought on stage to sing back up. Edie is an English librarian whose French father was saved by Edith Piaf in World War 2. An ambitious writer in New York known as Too Junior Jones sets out to interview the incomparable Billie Holliday. And Orla, an Irish nanny to the children of Ari Onassis encounters Maria Callas on the magnate’s yacht. The stories of each woman, each encounter are beautifully and touchingly scripted.
All up the show has ten characters, yet only one performer on stage, the always impressive Jackie Clarke. Her delivery of these personas – the accents, the mannerisms, and the story telling is flawless and compelling.
Clarke’s voice is always stunning, but I don’t think I have ever seen her range or versatility displayed in quite this way before. From Garland’s Come Rain or Come Shine, Piaf’s Je Ne Regrette Rien, to Cline’s Crazy, Clarke simply wowed. While she clearly took inspiration from the original singers, the performances were certainly not impersonations. She made them her own.
Every song, even those that were short were beautifully done, but two stood out in particular. Clarke is not an opera singer, but her rendition of Puccini’s Vissi d’arte, was masterful, and Holliday’s Strange Fruit was absolutely stunning and deeply emotional. I must also mention the wonderful piano accompaniment by the extremely talented Penny Dodd that brought a touch of on stage class to the show.
This is a show and a series of performances that will live in my imagination for a very long time. Songs for Nobodies is a triumph.
SONGS FOR NOBODIES
9-19 October 2025 – Pumphouse Theatre, Auckland