Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Text by John Cameron Mitchell
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Trask
The Queens Theatre, Adelaide.
February 26, 2025
Murray Bramwell
Since we are talking about a punk rock musical, why not start with Plato’s Symposium ?
“Love is born into every human being; it calls back the halves of our original nature together; it tries to make one out of two and heal the wound of human nature. Each of us, then, is a ‘matching …
Continue Reading Back to topAdelaide Cabaret Festival
Patti LuPone: A Life in Notes
Patti LuPone comes back to Adelaide to perform a program of memorable songs and show us what timeless cabaret looks and sounds like.
Written by Murray Bramwell
She’s back. Better than ever. New York singer Patti LuPone returns to the Cabaret Festival with a crisp new show featuring songs that made her name as a Broadway star ,as well as other personal favourites that inspired and shaped her progress. You could …
Continue Reading Back to topAdelaide Cabaret Festival
Hopelessly Devoted- A Celebration of Olivia Newton John
With Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.
With four outstanding singers and the ASO at its expansive best, this celebration of an Australian music legend is a Cabaret Festival highlight.
Written by Murray Bramwell
The more time passes, the more extraordinary are the accomplishments of Olivia Newton John. Forty six years ago, Grease became the highest grossing movie musical ever, and the soundtrack still breaks all records. In 1981 “Physical” topped the …
Continue Reading Back to topPresided over by exuberant Artistic Director, Virginia Gay, this year’s Variety Gala – featuring an array of amazing women (and also some excellent blokes) – is one of the briskest and best we have seen for a while.
Written by Murray Bramwell
It’s that time again. A week into June, just when winter starts to bite, and the Adelaide Cabaret Festival convenes for the 24th year. And, as old as the festival itself, is the Variety Gala. They are …
Continue Reading Back to topAssembling an intriguing selection of Australian songs and sources, including some doozies of her own, Robyn Archer and her versatile trio return to the Cabaret Festival in fine form.
Written by Murray Bramwell
Robyn Archer is a highlight in any festival. And her appearances at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival always remind us what the best, of that rubbery term ‘cabaret’, actually looks and sounds like. With her musical prowess, her exuberant erudition, and her keen wit, she is unique. As …
Continue Reading Back to topIn Edge of Reality, bandleader Paul Grabowsky, and Oz music luminaries Joe Camilleri and Deb Conway brilliantly rescue Elvis from impersonators and cartoon legend and celebrate his considerable musical legacy.
Written by Murray Bramwell
It is 46 years since Elvis Presley died, aged 42. It will soon be fifty. At the time his ardent followers were inconsolable. He was the first god of Rock’n’Roll, transforming the very notion of popular music. He looked like a cross between a pouting …
Continue Reading Back to topThis splendid tribute to Stephen Sondheim not only exuberantly showcases the best of his songs, but affectionately recalls his close links with Australian music theatre.
Murray Bramwell
Almost single-handedly, Stephen Sondheim transformed the stage musical in the 20th century and over his 91 years on earth he led the charge well into the 21st also. Sondheim’s invention, his flair, his brilliance as a lyricist, his gift for melody, extended the boundaries and ambition of music theatre. Whoever thought …
Continue Reading Back to topAlan Cumming is Not Acting His Age
Adelaide Festival Theatre.
June 26. Duration : 1 hr 20 mins.
It is the final night of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival and Alan Cumming bounds on to the stage in a slim-fitting grey suit jacket and black tie, matching grey shorts and black and white Converse sneakers. “I feel twitchy and bitchy and manic”, he sings, “Calm and collected and choking with panic /But alive, but alive, but alive.”
The song is from …
Continue Reading Back to topThis accomplished set may be mostly Marlene Dietrich – with mashings of Kylie and Madonna – but it is all Kim David Smith at his mercurial best.
Written by Murray Bramwell
Kim David Smith has been performing at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival for more than ten years. Back when he was still Kim Smith, he brought shows such as Misfit and Morphium Kabarett featuring his shape-shifting gremlin mix of nova pop, reptilian camp and – when he switched into persona …
Continue Reading Back to topThe opening night Variety Gala is a good chance to scratch and sniff the Cabaret Festival program. Raucously hosted by Hans, Adelaide’s own wunderkind, this year’s event is more off the leash than usual.
Written by Murray Bramwell
It’s that time again, the wintry middle of June and the Festival Centre opens up its venues (plus The Famous Spiegeltent) for fifteen nights of music, comedy and dysfunctional frolic. The Variety Gala, an institution since the festival began, not only lines …
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