Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Friday 25th March 2022.
Although the Festival itself runs from June 10th to 25th, the
Cabaret Festival Variety Gala, the red carpet event, presented by the Adelaide Festival Centre, that usually opens it, has been brought forward by three months, also serving as the launch of the full programme. The Festival Theatre will not be available at the usual time as the stage version of Frozen will be performing there.
Hosted by comedian, Paul McDermott, and directed by
Mitchell Butel, Artistic Director of the State Theatre Company, and a cabaret favourite himself, who also appeared onstage, it featured the first-time Artistic Director of the Festival, Tina Arena, with musical direction by Mark Simeon Ferguson.
Isaac Hannam began with a performance on the didgeridoo, showing it complex range of tonalities, and gave the Welcome to Country, acknowledging that we were on the traditional lands of the Kaurna people. Tina Arena then began the evening, pleasing the enthusiastic audience with
Church and
Burn, her latest single, from her show, Songs My Mother Taught Me. Special guests for this show will be Lior, Thando, Jess Hitchcock,
Wendy Matthews, and Sophie Koh.
Right from the start, the sound mix was in need of tweaking, the bass and drums drowning everything else, the piano, guitar, brass, and reeds seldom audible, and a touch too much middle in the vocals, muddying the diction. Such a shame.
Gary Pinto's show is a tribute to the music of the 'Godfather of Soul',
Sam Cooke, and his offering this evening was,
Feel It, Don't Fight It, filled with passion and smooth power.
Presented by the
State Opera of South Australia, Carla Lippis will join forces with several other singers for How to Kill Your Husband, based on the book by Kathy Lette. From this operatic adaptation, she sang, The Hand as her contribution to the evening, engendering a strong temptation to see the whole production.
The Class of Cabaret is always good value, and I highly recommend the two performances, each with a different group of high school students who are brought together for a series of workshops that culminate in performances to display their efforts. Representing the 2021 graduates, Kieran Beasley appeared to sing Billy Joel's Just the Way You Are. He coped very well with a microphone that failed to work and had to be replaced, taking it in his stride like an old pro.
Catherine Alcorn was next, assisted by Michael Griffiths on piano, with In The Air Tonight, from the show, 30 Something, music from the 1930s Depression era, in memory of the seamier side of Sydney, followed by Mitchell Butel with Something's Coming, from his Stephen Sondheim tribute, Moments in the Woods, which is sure to be a big hit with Sondheim's many fans in the thriving Adelaide musical theatre community. He shares the show with Nancy Hayes AM,
Geraldine Turner,
Tony Sheldon, and Queenie van de Zandt.
Libby O'Donovan sang a medley,
Oh Happy Days and
Climb Every Mountain, from her show, Sister Elizabeth, a trip into the convent to explore nuns in music, film, and television. You can be sure of plenty of laughs, as well as her powerhouse voice. This ever-popular artist, who performs in a multitude of genres with ease, is sure to have sold-out performances.
Sophie Koh introduced us to The Shànghǎi MiMi Band, with her unique bilingual rendition of
Creep. She recreates the 1920s and 30s cabaret scene in Shanghai, a fusion of local musicians and jazz.
Victoria Falconer, Parvyn, Erin Fowler, Jarrad Payne and Flick Freeman got together to sing Go On, from And Then You Go - The Vali Meyers Project, a production funded by the legacy left by the late, Geoff Ford, the man who was behind getting this Festival started. If you haven't heard of Meyers, you should really research her incredible life.
From Simply Brill,
Amelia Ryan, Michaela Burger, and Michael Griffiths, at the piano again, sang On Broadway and A Natural Woman, in a medley from Brill Building. Number 1619 Broadway was known as the 'Brill Building', turning out records by some of the greatest names in rock 'n' roll.
Host of The Funhouse, Paul McDermott, with a cheeky nod to the Prime Minister, sang
Jenny, introducing his musical director on guitar as his 'Plus One'.
Before the final act for the evening, there was the announcement of the award to the Cabaret Icon for 2022 and, this year, the extremely popular recipient was Adelaide's own, Libby O'Donovan. Her excitement was palpable, and the award couldn't have gone to a better recipient. She has performed in every single Cabaret Festival.
There is always a big finish to the Gala, and the 'Queen of Pop' was on hand to provide just that. The Gospel According to Marcia features Marcia Hines who, with Charmaine Jones & The Gospo Collective backing her, sang
Love Me Like a Rock as the closing number of this performance. The audience just couldn't get enough, and nobody was complaining that the evening of such diverse entertainment was half an hour longer than advertised.
Pick up a copy of the programme, or jump online and find it
here.
Photography, Jay Vasicek.
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