ABOUT
Jan Cornall
A journey that changed my life.
IT STARTS WITH AN ENDLESS PASSION
For music, for travel, for people, for life…
Jan Cornall was hitch hiking in the USA with her best buddy Ruth Maddison in 1974 when they found themselves stuck on a freeway ramp in the Badlands of South Dakota. They had just managed to avoid a ride with a local who wanted to show them how bad the Badlands really were; the sun was going down fast, no cars were in sight, so they walked up onto the carriageway, where it was illegal to hitch, to try their luck. Before long, two huge semi trailers screeched to a halt. It was the road crew for Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, doing a long haul from coast to coast with all the concert gear. Jan and Ruth jumped in and rode with them to the Nevada/Utah border, where early next morning Jan crept out into the desert and wrote her first song about a cowgirl riding across the Nevada plains.
It’s a true story and though Jan made up plenty of songs as a kid, this was the first one she ever wrote down. She ended up staying in the USA a while, penning more tunes like her most famous Monogamy Shbedogamy and joining an all girl latin jazz band called Baba Yaga, making an album and touring with them before returning home to Australia in 1978 with a bagful of songs.
Back in Melbourne she was invited to apply for the position of writer in Residence at the Pram Factory Theatre where she went on to write the ground breaking musical, Failing In Love Again.
The following year she and musical director and pianist Elizabeth Drake took a cabaret version of FILA on tour to Adelaide Fringe, followed by a tour of eastern cities and towns. Landing in Sydney they joined Cabaret Conspiracy at Palms Cabaret and were invited to do the late show at The Nimrod Theatre (now Belvoir St).
The show was a cult hit and is remembered by all who saw it way back then. After a second successful show called Worse Than Perverse The duo went their separate ways, making careers for in the creative arts: Jan in writing and performance and Elizabeth in composing for theatre and film.
In February 2020 they returned to the stage at Gingers Cabaret to take part in Oxtravaganza Festival in Oxford St, Darlinghurst. Audiences were delighted to see Failing In Love Again and declared it was just as contemporary as ever!
Since Covid Jan and Elizabeth have been lying low but plans are afoot for a return of Failing In Love Again in the main program of Mardi Gras 2021. Stay tuned!
ABOUT FAILING IN LOVE AGAIN
In an increasingly identity aligned, post binary, peri-apocalyptic world, one thing is for sure — love’s casualties are still strewn all over the place.
It’s timely then that two survivors of the sexual revolution — singer, Jan Cornall and pianist, Elizabeth Drake, return to the stage to shock and delight audiences with the wit and wisdom of their eighties cult hit cabaret.
All these years on, their anti-normative message is more relevant than ever!
With original songs like What Ever Happened to the Evolution of the Sexual Revolution, Better than Het, Sad Masochist, Spilt Guilt, Limping for Sympathy, Erotic Dream, The Vibrator Song, Monogamy Shbedogamy and more, Cornall and Drake’s sexual soiree will leave you wanting more.
Musically sophisticated, lyrically transgressive, their post punk personas challenge the age-old myth of romantic love and celebrate the passions that drive it.
Whatever your age, era or inclination; be prepared to recognize yourself in this frank and funny feminist mirror of modern love.
Ahead of their time — still!
READ THE STORY OF THE SHOW HERE AND WHAT THEY SAID WAY BACK WHEN.
Jan Cornall can always be found leading the charge into the minefield of comedy about contemporary sexual and social mores. Wendy Harmer.
A brilliant writer/composer. Jewish News.
Elizabeth Drake and Jan Cornall have talent close to the top of what Australian cabaret can offer. Theatre Australia.
Late night, intimate venue, one electric (grand) piano, two women performers with their wits and melodies about them. Daily Telegraph.
Talent abounds! (We) wait impatiently for the return of Jan Cornall and Elizabeth Drake. Canberra Times.