It’s the brightest Adelaide Cabaret Festival programme ever, celebrating Adelaide Festival Centre’s 50th anniversary.
Adelaide Cabaret Festival will bring big, bright performers to the city for its favourite winter festival, as it sizzles to celebrate 50 years of Adelaide Festival Centre through 342 artists and musicians across 91 performances. There will be 13 world premieres, and 20 Adelaide premieres, by performers from Australia, the USA, United Kingdom, and France.
The 2023 programme has been curated by an all-star line-up of nine previous Artistic Directors, The Cabaret Collective – Julia Holt, David Campbell and Lisa Campbell, Kate Ceberano, Eddie Perfect, Ali McGregor, Julia Zemiro, Alan Cumming and Tina Arena.
There’s the already sold-out 2023 Variety Gala on opening night, plus some of The Cabaret Collective have their own shows as part of the line-up.
Julia Zemiro and Brian Nankervis bring back ‘RocKwiz’, saluting Adelaide and celebrating South Australian musicians. For the first time in a decade, direct from the US, cabaret great Mark Nadler will perform two shows, ‘Hootenanny’ and ‘The Old Razzle Dazzle’.
Also coming to Adelaide from overseas is GRAMMY winning Rizo with ‘Prizmatism’, social media sensation Broadway Barbara, and Sarah-Louise Young with ‘An Evening Without Kate Bush’.
Ali McGregor – celebrating her golden 50th year with the Festival Centre, presents a brand-new show ‘Fool’s Gold’, performing new arrangements of her old favourites.
'Brag Drunch' – Image © Emily Williams
Prolific writer and composer Eddie Perfect (‘Shane Warne The Musical’, ‘Beetlejuice’) brings a new programme to the stage: ‘The Blank Page With Eddie Perfect’. He’ll be joined by composers and lyricists from the cabaret and musical theatre worlds, giving audiences a glimpse of the creative process.
Singer, writer and performer Ursula Yovich presents a not-to-be-missed show, ‘An Evening With Ursula Yovich’, where she explores culture and connection through story and song, in a moving love letter to language, taking inspiration from her Arnhem Land roots and tri-lingual childhood household.
Cabaret favourite Paul Capsis bring ‘Dry My Tears’, his first ever acoustic show. . . While diva Mama Alto performs a stunning hour of vaudeville delights in ‘Follies Girl’. Mark Trevorrow (Bob Downe) will step on stage – as himself – in ‘Singing Straight’.
This year, the spotlight’s on South Australia. There’s the legendary Robyn Archer presenting ‘An Australian Songbook’; Adelaide Cabaret Festival Icon Award 2022 winner Libby O’Donovan joining jazz vocalist Michelle Nicolle and The Yankalilla Miracles in ‘More Than A Melody’; Michael Griffiths getting personal in the world premiere of ‘It’s A Sin – Songs Of Love And Shame’; and ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under’ star Kween Kong in a variety extravaganza of drag, burlesque, circus and cabaret.
Michael Griffiths - Image © Claudio Raschella
The Frank Ford Commission show of 2023 is ‘Brag Drunch’. It’s an immersive dining and performance experience, looking at the intersection of queer history and food. It features a spread of South Australian drag artists. The Frank Ford Commission, by Adelaide Cabaret Festival’s late founding father, provides $20,000 a year towards the creation of new works by South Australian artists.
Jazz lovers are in for a treat with a new festival exclusive show hand-picked by Kate Ceberano. ARIA Award winner Vince Jones will perform the much-loved songs from the ABC series ‘Come In Spinner’, backed by a 17-piece big band and special guest Nina Ferro.
Nancy Denis makes her Adelaide Cabaret Festival debut in ‘M’ap Boulè’, exploring her Haitian heritage and stories of her ancestors revolting against their colonisers. Plus, direct from Paris in an Australian exclusive is Paris Combo, performing their show ‘A Celebration of Songs of Belle Du Berry’.
Tickets are on sale now.
Adelaide Cabaret Festival takes place from 9-24 June.
