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Cabaret may be in trouble in Sydney and Melbourne, but it's thriving in Adelaide, according to AussieTheatre.com Adelaide Editorial Coordinator, Rohan Shearn...
Last weekend, Nick Ferranti published on this site a piece about the dying art of cabaret in Australia. Whilst, I agree with many of the points raised, it was also a timely piece, as in a few days, the 7th Adelaide Cabaret Festival (ACF) starts its annual homage to the art-form at the Adelaide Festival Centre. For 16 days, the ACF will feature more than 450 performers from New York, Paris, London, Germany, Canada and Australia presenting 68 different shows in a 178 performances.
Whilst some consider cabaret to be languishing in Australia at the moment, I believe the opposite can be said in Adelaide. This year’s festival has already enjoyed record advance ticket sales, with 19 performances already sold out. Even outside of the festival, cabaret has been featured in the Adelaide Fringe and Feast Festivals with performances from these occasionally making its way into the Cabaret Festival programme.
One such performance is Moira Finucane’s The Burlesque Hour. Originally presented in Adelaide by the Feast Festival in 2004, The Burlesque Hour has enjoyed immense popularity with successful seasons at the 2006 Adelaide Fringe and Cabaret Festivals, and in 2007, these saucy girls return with The Burlesque Hour Bravissima! Not only does the audience welcome their return, the artists themselves also like returning to Adelaide, as Finucane recently told the Adelaide publication Blaze, “We really wanted to come back to Adelaide because it’s so diverse, everything from the hard edge to the velvet glove as far as cabaret goes. I think it’s fantastic when you can see everything from a sultry chanteuse to some heavy performance art on the same night.”
In her 7th Festival, Artistic Director, Julia Holt has always managed to program a few surprises and this year is no different. In Adelaide exclusives, Michael Feinstein plays for one night only in an all Gershwin programme with the Adelaide Art Orchestra Big Band; Isabelle Georges and Frederik Steenbrink in their first Australian performances present their hit of the Edinburgh Fringe Une Etoile et Moi…a Judy Garland tribute (Judy and Me) as well as their brand new show I Wish You Love; and Tony Desare, who is considered one of New York’s hottest new young performers. Whilst some maybe disappointed that these performers won’t be performing outside Adelaide, many festivals worldwide build their reputations (and audiences) on having exclusive access to artists.
One popular aspect of the ACF is the Masterclass series where International Headliners offer more than just their performance. This year, Feinstein, Britain’s Jeremy Sams and our own Philip Quast will offer selected performers the chance to be mentored in a series of Masterclasses from writing for musical theatre through to interpreting Sondheim. The ACF has selected a mix of local and national participants offering them the chance to engage with high caliber artists. The audience is also given a rare opportunity to see these international stars up close and offering advice to the next generation of performers.
Cabaret comes in many forms and can often be misguided as an evening of interpretive show tunes. However, cabaret is more than that! As the Festival Guide states ”Cabaret is an extraordinary form of human communication evoking all our senses and challenging and informing our thoughts about ourselves and the world around us.” With this in mind, Julia Holt has been quite eclectic in her programming, from Madame Pat Thompson, Dave Graney through to an evening of The Scores of James Bond, it offers choice and comfortability to those who may never have stepped inside the Festival Centre. At the same time old favourites return such as Paul Capsis and Phil Scott in an evening of pure cabaret bliss, and the local performers from Libby Donovan and the girls form Women with Standards. As it has done in the past and will again this year allowing the showcasing of local talent on an international playing field.
From the launch of the Festival a few weeks ago, we got a sneak peak of a cheeky new musical comedy The Beauty Spot. Composed by David Young and short-listed for last year’s Pratt Prize for a New Musical Theatre Work, The Beauty Spot is described as Little Shop of Horrors meets Chicago and continues the tradition of presenting new works in development to an audience.
For a number of years, The Famous Spiegeltent has made its presence felt in Adelaide by setting up camp during the Adelaide Fringe. In homage to the spiegel magic and to mark the centenary of the "travelling Kabarett salons", the ACF will be presenting a sensational showcase of performers from the Festival with special guests from The Famous Spiegeltent, ensuring a thrilling start to the festivities.
This year will mark my fourth year attending the Adelaide Cabaret Festival. It will offer a chance to re-engage with old favourites, whilst taking a chance on something new! And what are my picks: The Burlesque Hour Bravissima!, The Beauty Spot, Variete, A Homage to the Spiegeltent, Phil Scott’s My Long Awaited Comeback, Michael Feinstein sings Gershwin, and Isabelle Georges and Frederick Steenbrick’s Judy and Me.
The Adelaide Cabaret Festival has the ability to be “a critically reflective mirror of topical events, morals, politics, personal and cultural issues, walking the tightrope between drama theatre and the variety show. Always a flexible medium, cabaret has shifted with the times without ever losing its rebellious wit or innovative nature. It's a playroom of emotions for adults.”
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