Variety Gala Performance
\nHer Majesty\u2019s Theatre
\nJune 9.
\nAdelaide Cabaret Festival
\nUntil June 24. Bookings : bass.net.au or 131 246<\/p>\n
The Adelaide Cabaret Festival is not its usual self this year. The world at the Festival Centre has been turned upside down by demolition and reconstruction on every side. There has been a strategic retreat to Her Majesty\u2019s Theatre (especially since the Matilda<\/em> season has taken over the Festival Theatre) but with a new, more snug, location for the Wintergarden, and the addition of the Magic Mirrors spiegeltent, life is still a cabaret and the program as perky and intriguing as ever.<\/p>\n Heralded by the gluteus maximus techno burlesque of the Briefs<\/em> male troupe – fluttering peacock quill fans along with their tailfeathers – the festival co-directors, Ali McGregor and Eddie Perfect, greet the opening Variety Gala audience, spruiking a second year of cabaret programming. \u201cWithin the rubble and chaos\u201d Perfect beams, \u201cthere are gems\u201d.<\/p>\n Including his opening duet with McGregor \u2013 an alleged out-take from his yet to be completed musical, Beetlejuice <\/em>which he described as \u201cthe opening song for a musical about death.\u201d For something more familiar, the Three Mikados- <\/em>David Collins, Amy G, and the hilariously self-important Colin Lane – provide a Gilbert and Sullivan excerpt, I<\/em> am so Proud<\/em>, as cleverly funny as it is vocally precise.<\/p>\n Over its seventeen years the Cabaret Festival has showcased outstanding international talents and this year, in the first weekend alone, we saw a splendidly minimal pop-jazz set from guitarist Bill Frisell (featuring vocalist Petra Haden), the vocal theatrics of Grammy winner Dianne Reeves, and the impish, confessional, outlandish Alan Cumming singing his Sappy Songs. Equally, it has presented new works to keep building the repertoire.<\/p>\n Vigil<\/em>, written by Steve Vizard with music by Joe Chindamo, is an ambitious new festival commission, a musical monologue about a prodigal daughter returning to Australia and her dying mother. It features the impressive Christie Whelan-Browne who, for the Gala, selected one of Vigil<\/em>\u2019s highlight songs – Pretty Little Thing, <\/em>a poignant cameo of regret and expectations unfulfilled.<\/p>\n For some comic gender-bending, New York drag king Murray Hill (aka Buzzbee Gallagher) with a pencil moustache and a Groucho delivery, hits the stage running, mercilessly lampooning and delighting the front rows. \u201cYou\u2019re thinking: Is he a man ? Is he a woman ?\u201d the portly Hill challenges. \u201cThe answer is : No.\u201d Sydney club veteran Carlotta equally rules the stage, celebrating fifty years as Queen of the Cross<\/em> with a wickedly re-written version of Sondheim\u2019s Follies<\/em> classic, I\u2019m Still Here<\/em>.<\/p>\n Perfect and McGregor return for solos \u2013 his, the touchingly pensive, Quiet<\/em> from Matilda<\/em>, her\u2019s the spiralling Carousel<\/em> from next weekend\u2019s Jacques Brel tribute. UK duo Michael Roulston and Sarah-Louise Young sing one of their Songs for Lovers (and Other Idiots)<\/em>, Naomi Price delivers a commanding version of Eleanor<\/em> Rigby<\/em> from her show Lady Beatle<\/em> and Michael Griffiths locomotions his way through a medley from his Songs of Kylie<\/em>.<\/p>\n The Variety Gala is always a welcome feature of the opening weekend, showcasing the range of performers, ably supported by musical director, Michael Tyack, and the resident cabaret orchestra, introducing the Class of Cabaret choir and- with a mashup finale of Hi NRG pop and Gorillaz\u2019 \u201cFeel Good Inc\u201d- setting the pace for sixteen days of cabaret spritz.<\/p>\n \u201cSmorgasbord of tasty bites from a perky and intriguing festival menu\u201d, The Australian<\/em>, June 16, 2017, p.16<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Variety Gala Performance Her Majesty\u2019s Theatre June 9. Adelaide Cabaret Festival Until June 24. Bookings : bass.net.au or 131 246 The Adelaide Cabaret Festival is not its usual self this year. The world at the Festival Centre has been turned upside down by demolition and reconstruction on every side. There has been a strategic retreat to Her Majesty\u2019s Theatre (especially since the Matilda season has taken over the Festival Theatre) but with a new, more snug, location for the Wintergarden, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,5,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-37","category-archive","category-cabaret"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2770"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2771,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2770\/revisions\/2771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}