Adelaide Cabaret Festival ends on a high note
Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2022 finished on a high last weekend with a sold-out performance of Tina Arena’s headline show, Songs My Mother Taught Me, and will soon announce a special program for 2023, alongside Adelaide Festival Centre’s 50th Anniversary.
This year, the world’s largest cabaret festival featured 32 shows and 86 performances over 12 decadent days and nights and almost 40,000 attendances at ticketed and free events across six venues, including Her Majesty’s Theatre and The Famous Spiegeltent, located on Festival Plaza.
Led by international star and Australian icon Tina Arena AM, the festival program showcased 14 World Premieres, 2 Australian Premieres, 14 Adelaide Premieres and countless standing ovations throughout. Songs My Mother Taught Me, featuring Tina Arena, Wendy Matthews, Lior, Thando, Jess Hitchcock, and Sophie Koh wrapped up the festival with sold out performances at Her Majesty’s Theatre.
An exciting announcement about next year’s Artistic Director will be made in November and will coincide with Adelaide Festival Centre’s 50th Anniversary, which will be celebrated during Adelaide Cabaret Festival in June next year.
Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2022 Artistic Director Tina Arena said, “This year’s Adelaide Cabaret Festival has been a smorgasbord of fun and frivolity mixed with some touching and memorable performances shared with cabaret audiences. It has been a privilege to take on this role and see the artform of cabaret connect with people through the power of music, song, storytelling, dancing, and shared laughter.”
Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2022 highlights included:
US swing band Davina & The Vagabonds brought the house down in The Famous Spiegeltent in their Australian premiere. The Gospel According to Marcia featuring Marcia Hines and accompanied by Adelaide’s own Charmaine Jones & The Gospo Collective, had audiences rejoicing at Her Majesty’s Theatre on the second weekend.
Audiences connected with Tina Arena on a personal level, as well as special guests Lior, The Voice 2022 finalist Thando, Jess Hitchcock, Wendy Matthews and Sophie Koh, who celebrated their culture, legacy and family in the touching show Songs My Mother Taught Me.
South Australian artists Kuko, Katie Aspel and Rob Edwards entertained audiences in a special Adelaide Premiere where First Nations regional musicians and performers presented a mix of blues, jazz soul and folk in an evening of remarkable sound and story-telling in the show T.R.A.I.L. A brand-new event, Cabaret Life Drawing – saw audiences become artists and create charcoal drawings of a live model while sipping on wine and being entertained with live music in The Famous Spiegeltent.
Victoria Falconer made her festival debut in And Then You Go – The Vali Myers Project, harnessing the flame haired-bohemian figure and visionary artist. The show was this year’s Frank Ford Commissioning Award recipient – the award by Adelaide Cabaret Festival’s late founding father provides $20,000 a year towards the creation of new works by South Australian artists.
Musical Theatre fans were delighted with Moments in the Woods – Songs & Stories of Sondheim which paid tribute to the genius and legacy of musical theatre’s most ground-breaking composer, Stephen Sondheim, featuring Philip Quast, Geraldine Turner, Queenie van de Zandt, Josie Lane and Adelaide’s own Mitchell Butel who performed to an enthusiastic standing ovation.
Produced and presented by Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide Cabaret Festival has grown from modest beginnings in 2001 to become Australia’s major winter festival and the largest cabaret festival in the world. The festival has been a platform for shows and performers who have achieved critical acclaim and featured world-renowned artists including Ms Lisa Fischer, Kristen Chenoweth, Idina Menzel, Dita Von Teese, Tim Minchin, and Patti Lupone to name a few.
Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2023 Artistic Director and dates will be announced soon – updates at: adelaidecabaretfestival.com.au