Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2022 Variety Gala

Opening with a splendid Welcome to Country from Isaac Hannam (pictured above) and his skills on the yidaki, the curtain rises to reveal a decadent stage overflowing with talent: seated in velvet armchairs amongst the extensive band, are the evening’s performers, sipping drinks, just visible in the cabaret club lights of the Festival Theatre stage.

The 2022 festival’s director, Tina Arena opens with a passionate rendition of ‘Church’ that has the crowd cheering, then an older hit – ‘Burn’ – that Arena seems to be less comfortable with.

Our evening’s host is Paul McDermott, resplendent in a full length, burgundy velvet morning coat – and his trademark cheeky smile. He guides us through each act of the evening with edgy wit and navigates the occasional technical glitch with skill and humour.

Each of tonight’s performers has a full show in the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, which runs through June this year. Tonight is a chance to get a glimpse into each of those shows, hearing a song or a story to set the scene and whet our appetites for more.

Next up, Gary Pinto appears from a chair at the back of the stage, singing the songs of Sam Cooke. Then a stunning performance from Carla Lippis, singing ‘The Hand’ with such physicality in her body and incredible voice.

Part of the Cabaret Festival each year is an educational stream that encourages young performers to hone their craft for the big stage – and one of last year’s graduates, Kieran Beasley, is next up, dealing with a dead microphone as if he’s been on the stage for years, then combining his story with a song, his warmth coming through his version of ‘Just The Way You Are’, delivered with a huge range of shade in his voice.

Catherine Alcorn and Michael Griffiths give us a flavour of songs from more recent times as if they were performed in the smoky cabaret clubs of the 1930s – Phil Collins’ ‘In The Air Tonight’ a fabulous if unlikely choice for the jazz-cabaret treatment.

The director of the gala, and artistic director of South Australia’s State Theatre Company, Mitchell Butel, gives us a taste of an exciting show in this year’s cabaret, exploring the songs of Sondheim, and then it’s an Adelaide favourite, Libby O’Donovan, giving us more religion in a medley of songs from her forthcoming show about nuns in showbusiness. Her effervescence extends to her brilliant green sequinned dress, and she rightly brought the house down. And then again when she is presented with the 2022 Cabaret Icon award. Her engagement with the audience begs the question when she will take on the role of artistic director? Arena, with her hand permanently in her pocket, seems disinterested.

Another reframing of a more recent song – Radiohead’s ‘Creep’- is Sophie Koh’s choice, beautifully delivered bilingually as if in decades ago Shanghai. Then Victoria Falconer takes the stage, with a song ‘Go On’ from her works on Vali Myers, supported by the Frank Ford Commission. This show promises to be an intriguing exploration into the bohemian life of a woman who mingled with and was the muse to people like Tennessee Williams and Salvador Dali. Falconer’s voice, harmonised with those of Parvyn and Erin Fowler, gives us goosebumps in a very different cabaret experience.

The always excellent Amelia Ryan and Michaela Burger, with the brilliant Michael Griffiths on piano, give us a medley of songs about the women who defined rock ‘n’ roll, centred around New York’s Brill Building in the 1960s. Burger’s ‘A Natural Woman’ was a highlight.

The band are superb throughout, providing the subtle or the brash to support the storytelling or song, even providing a larger-than-usual backing to one of McDermott’s own ditties, ‘Jenny’.

The show ends with Marcia Hines and the Adelaide-based Gospo Collective singing ‘Love Me Like A Rock’ – and it’s clear the capacity crowd in the Festival Theatre are full of love, and full of impatience for the individual shows in June.

The Adelaide Cabaret Festival runs from 5 – 20 June 2022 at various venues in the city.

Mark Wickett

Photographer: Sia Duff.

Click here to read more about the 2022 Adelaide Cabaret Festival