Adelaide Cabaret Festival. Festival Theatre. 10 Jun 2016
The Adelaide Cabaret Festival kicked off in its usual style with the opening night Variety Gala at the Festival Theatre. Festival Artistic Directors Ali McGregor and Eddie Perfect opened the performance with a wonderfully funny poke at each other that included some of the wittiest insults heard on stage in quite a while!
The artistic duo are exploring What Comes Next in cabaret and have a ‘stripped back’ theme to support the festival which runs from 10 to 25 June.
The Festival Theatre stage is laid bare, adorned only with a collection of items which spell out the word “Cabaret” and the Variety Gala musicians under the talented musical direction of Vanessa Scammell.
The string of performers gracing the stage for the opening night show included Frank Woodley, who is taking over the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra with a performance titled The Composer is Dead; Barb Jungr, who brings the songs of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen to the 2016 festival, singing Dylan’s Things Have Changed; Maeve Marsden and Libby Wood who performed a gin infused prayer from their upcoming performance Mother’s Ruin; and Bobby Fox who delivered a rousing Frankie Valli impersonation from his show 4 Seasons In 1 Night.
Standouts on the night included Rhonda Burchmore’s take on pop icon, Sia, with stunning choreography by Trevor Ashley from their show Twins; Die Roten Punkte’s drinking song from their show Eurosmash which had the audience dancing in their seats; and Miss Behave and Harriett’s antics on and off stage, including a fetching lapdance by Harriett for one lucky(?) audience member!
The production felt more ‘variety’ than ‘gala’ this year, however, with some interesting and even polarising content on show. Tripod will also take over the ASO this year with a show titled This Gaming Life - their number for the Gala requiring prior gaming knowledge to truly enjoy. Andrew Strano’s song about incest from his show Nailed It had one squirming awkwardly in one’s seat; and Amy G’s chicken dance to Mon Truc En Plumes from her show Entershamement was… well an interesting take on a chicken dance if nothing else.
The inimitable Roby Archer sang The Bilbao Song with accompaniment from Michael Morley on piano and George Butrumlis on accordion, before being presented with the Cabaret Icon Award previously bestowed on the likes of Reg Livermore and Frank Ford.
The festival is already boasting 25 sold out performances including Dita Von Teese, David Hobson and Colin Lane, Sven Ratzke’s Starman, and Megan Hilty. First time events like the Family Gala and the new closing night show The Last Galah promise to be crowd favourites. The opening night show closed with a bang in the usual shower of streamers and balloons before the audience were played out by a marching band that signalled the start of the after party – an action packed night of fun at the Backstage Club and the Piano Bar.
Paul Rodda
When: 10 June
Where: Festival Theatre
Bookings: Closed
