Adelaide Cabaret Festival. Eyes Open.
Artistic Director Ali McGregor Adelaide Festival Centre. June 8 – 23. Bookings www.adelaidecabaretfestival.com.au or BASS 131 246
Previewed by Peter Wilkins
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| Ali McGregor. Artistic Director Adelaide Cabaret Festival |
I have a confession to make. I am
a Cabaret Junkie. So, it is with eager anticipation each year that I await the
programme of Australia’s foremost cabaret festival. This year marks the final
festival as Artistic Director for celebrated chanteuse and cabaret artist, Ali
McGregor. For the past two years she has partnered with Eddie Perfect, but this
year, because of Perfect’s other commitments, she has put together another
fascinating programme under the theme Eyes Open. This year’s festival will open
audiences’ eyes to headline artists for the first time such as Broadway star,
Patti LuPone and from New York, John Cameron Mitchell. There will be emerging
artists such as Joanne Hartstone with her highly acclaimed show, The Girl Who Jumped Off the Hollywood Sign and indigenous performers Archie
Roach and the Tiddas. Canberrans will be
familiar with their own shining talents, Queenie van de Zandt and Mikel Simic
of Mikelangelo and the Black Sea
Gentlemen.
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| Patti LuPone -Don't Monkey With Broadway |
To tell me more, I called Ali
McGregor in Melbourne and caught her just in time before she was about to board
a flight to London the following day. McGregor has lost none of her passion and
enthusiasm for the festival and its unique offering of a veritable smorgasbord
of cabaret delicacies. Over three weekends, the Cabaret Festival takes over the
venues within the Adelaide Festival Centre. Some artists perform in the
intimate Piano Bar. Some take to the larger stage of the 600 seat Dunstan
Playhouse while others take their wine glasses to tables in the 300 seat Space.
Carla Lippis’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival show, Cast A Dark Shadow will pack audience and performers in on the
Festival Centre Stage. For a cocktail of cabaret artists in the opening Variety Gala or at the Closing Gala, audiences will flock to
the 2000 seat Festival Theatre. On stages large and small, audiences will be
treated to a sumptuous feast of cabaret performances. Some will offer
traditional, anarchic cabaret in the intimate atmosphere of the Banquet Room or
the Artspace. Others will present a new style of Cabaret that challenges
tradition and opens the eye to new influences and experiences. There will be
something for everyone and McGregor invites audiences to experience old
favourites and new and unexpected discoveries.
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| Em Rusciano Difficult Woman |
“There are acts that I have tried
desperately to get to our shores for years,”McGregor writes in her Welcome “and
new discoveries I can’t wait to share” It’s a tantalizing invitation and I ask
her to elaborate. She begins with Patti Lu Pone. “I love her on so many
different levels.” McGregor says. “Not only is she a fabulous Broadway legend.
She’s someone who’s consistently worked in the cabaret format. She has a real
intimacy about her. This has been a year when we’ve really had our ears opened
to a lot of other people’s stories. Cabaret is great for giving us an insight
into what has been going on in other people’s worlds.” McGregor admires the
fact that LuPone has never shied away from giving an opinion. She is outspoken
but more than that she occupies a valid place in the public eye.
Em Rusciano began her career as a
comedienne , performing in a brom closet during the Melbourne Comedy Festival.
McGregor is thrilled that she has Australian artists headlining acts on the
mainstage of the Festival Theatre during the festival. Rusciano’s show Difficult Woman, with musical director Chong
Lim and an eighteen piece orchestra ”brings her powerful vocals and scandalous
stand-up comedy to Adelaide Cabaret Festival for one night only in a riotous celebration of lady bosses that
will leave fire in your belly and a strut in your step.”
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| John Cameron MItchell The Origin of Love |
“We have got so many incredible
artists in Australia” McGregor says. “That’s the wonderful thing about this
festival. It’s a little bit like a dream come true for me. I have had the
opportunity to book people to come and perform for me. I don’t even have to go
there” From New York comes the multi talented John Cameron Mitchell with his
show The Origin of Love – The songs and
stories of Hedwig. The co-creator of the Tony Award winning, Golden Globe
nominated Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Cameron Mitchell regales with anecdotes and sings song from the Rock Musical
and subversive cult film . “He has had such a massive influence on people I
know. His work is original with a really strong voice.
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| Amber Martin Janis:Undead |
The Origin of Love will also feature another New Yorker, Amber
Martin as a guest artist. Martin is bringing her show Janis: Undead, backed by a full band and mesmerising lighting by
The Joshua Light Show. “I’m really excited to bring her out.” says McGregor.” She
has this Janis Joplin show which is really incredible and she’s also a very
funny comedienne.”
McGregor confesses to being a
massive fan of Joey Arias who will recall the Eighties underground cabaret
scene at Club 57 in Three Floors of
Madness. She has commissioned Arias to create a show about a time that also
coincided with the underground, queer cabaret scene in Sydney. “We lost a lot
of those artists to the AIDS virus, so many of the stories have never been told.
I’m really keen to have someone from that era come to the festival and give an
insight into that incredibly rich time in cabaret history.”
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| Joey Arias Three Floors of Madness |
And then there is the Tom Waits
tribute show Tom Waits For No Man. At
each of her three festivals, McGregor has sought to feature the work of a great
icon of the cabaret scene. In 2016 it was Kurt Weil. Last year it was Jacques
Brel and this year it will be a tribute to Tom Waits. Directed by McGregor and
with musical direction by Charly Zastrau, the tribute will be hosted by
Mikelangelo and will feature some of the
cabaret festival’s amazing artists, such as Queenie van de Zandt.
McGregor’s cabaret festival is
not just a showcase of amazing talent. It is a platform for emerging artists to
be mentored, so that they may one day advance to their own spot in the festival. Space to Create is a passion project
of mine” McGregor says. “This is exactly what I would have loved at the start
of my cabaret career. Then we were all just making it up as we went along. I
wanted to help artists who could get to that next level.” Four cabaret artists
have been invited to a kind of cabaret boot camp. They are hooked up with a
mentor who will be one of the artists from the programme and then they have
sessions on anything they think they need from writing, designing, marketing
and budgeting as well as performance and there’s no pressure for them to have something
by the end of the week. “I want to give them a bit of a headstart.”
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| Mikelangelo Balkan Elvis |
Class of Cabaret, introduced by
David Campbell during his time as Artistic Director, also provides the perfect
training ground for young performers. Twenty young cabaret performers from
South Australian secondary schools take to the Space Theatre for two
performances on June 23rd. The show is directed by David Lampard and
accompanied by Alex Wignall. I have seen previous shows and have ben astounded
by the talent on show. The students also receive mentorship, by renowned
cabaret artists Amelia Ryan and Michael Griffiths. The students tell their
stories in a show that will amaze and inspire.
Another initiative is the First Unsettlers, celebrating the
origins of the cabaret genre in the halls of circus and vaudeville by such
artists as Roy Rene aka Mo McCackie. Singer and songwriter, Mark Holden will
present Mark Holden’s Greatest Show on
Earth, recalling his own family’s history with the Holden Bros Circus De Luxe. As part of the First Unsettlers, McGregor also aims to involve indigenous artists.
Of the hundreds of submissions, McGregor receives to take part in the cabaret
festival she has only ever had one submission from an indigenous group. “Cabaret
is seen as a little bit elitist and very white middle class. Archie Roach and
Tiddas will present Dancing With My Spirit,
and will be involved in discussions about indigenous cabaret artists and how
the cabaret festival may generate more of their stories.
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| Archie Roach and Tiddas Dancing With My Spirit |
A glance at the plethora of shows
and events on hand over the three weekends in June is enough to lure any
cabaret aficionado to the Festival City. But which weekend? “This is like
Sophie’s choice.” McGregor says. “I’ve tried to programme that every weekend
has a really good cross section of artists. Every week we have a variety gala.
It’s good to start with an artist and then the Backstage Club and then go from
there. I’ve tried on the website to list categories to help people choose things
that they like, for example, one theatre kind of show, one comedy kind of show
and then something else. Go with something that is your taste and then
something you’ve never heard of.”
Whatever you choose, you know
that McGregor’s final cabaret festival will bring you the cream of the cabaret
crop and a festival experience you will
never forget and will have you coming back for more.
