Reviews

On the night Barry Humphries announced Ali McGregor and Eddie Perfect as joint Artistic Directors of next year’s Adelaide Cabaret Festival, the wonderful Ali McGregor herself was the first among gloriously glamorous chanteuses to risk performing with Australia’s most outrageous knight, Sir Les Patterson, in Love Songs for Sir Les. The hilarious world premiere closed the 2015 Cabaret Festival with a raucous, F-word-peppered bang.

Playing to full houses, Ballina Players has another hit on their hands with Clem Halpin’s production of Oliver.

Using the limitations of the stage area to advantage, Clem’s clever set took the audience back to the London of Victorian England with all its unsavoury characters plus a smattering of gentile folk thrown in for good measure.

The Adelaide Cabaret Festival revisited the grand era of Swing as The Glenn Miller Orchestra celebrated its 78th anniversary and brought the timeless hits of the War years to town.

Glenn Miller’s theme song Moonlight Serenade was recorded in the spring of 1939 and featured his trademark clarinet lead sax section. Glenn Miller also added a fourth trumpet and fourth trombone that year, with his genius resulting in an orchestra with a unique sound that stood out amongst the hundreds of bands playing during the Swing era.

Eddie Perfect has gone back to Mentone to revisit his childhood and with it he has discovered a cabaret show dedicated to the town he could not get out of quick enough as a youth. Perfect has that down to earth quality with a touch of class. His compositions carry sincerity and humour, which is very Australian. Looking dapper in his suit and tie, his wayward hair gives you solace that the larrikin still lives within.