Source: Official Media Release

Updated: 14 June 2012

adelaide cabaret festival obliterates records

The 2012 Adelaide Cabaret Festival has already reached 91 per cent of its box office target, smashing all previous Festivals’ box office records.

While a number of shows and performances were sold out before the opening at the Adelaide Festival Centre on the Queen’s Birthday long weekend, there are still plenty of exceptional cabaret stars to marvel at this week.

Broadway star Eden Espinosa will charm Adelaide audiences with her rich power and beguiling emotion at the Dunstan Playhouse from 13 to 15 June. In her world premiere performance, the exceptional songstress will take on some of the biggest hits from Aida, Ghost, Rent, Sweeney Todd and Wicked, as well as paying homage to her favourite artists including Joni Mitchell, Sia, Beth Hart, Eva Cassidy and Cyndi Lauper. Calling Adelaide her home-away-from home, Eden has been a regular fixture at the Festival’s late night club, Backstage, even playing back-up singer along with Artistic Director Kate Ceberano to The Supremes legend Mary Wilson over the opening weekend.

Former French super group Nouvelle Vague member Nadeah is set to impress at the Festival Theatre Stage from 13 to 15 June with her explosive, quirky and sincerely touching solo show Venus Gets Even. Expect to fall in love with the globetrotting performer and her lively arrangements, distinctive lyrics and rich, sophisticated orchestrations.

Feisty singer/songwriter Paris Wells will grace the Space Theatre stage from 13 to 15 June in Projected. The fast rising star’s CV boasts ‘touring alongside’ music heavyweights Lily Allen and Justin Timberlake. In Projected, Paris collaborates with illustrator and sought after street artist Brendan Coghlan with fitting background projections that marry with her original and poetic songs’ themes in a stunning visual display of synergy between art and music.

On 15 and 16 June, The Suitcase Royale relives a hilarious yet dark tale in The Ballad of Backbone Joe at the Space Theatre. Featuring macabre characters, The Ballad of Backbone Joe tells a daft and gruesome story of murder set in a small country town set to The Suitcase Royale’s signature rag’n’bone live music. Don’t miss superlative storyteller Troy Cassar-Daley’s A Life’s Story in Song 16 – 17 June in the Dunstan Playhouse, Troy will share the songs that have shaped his life as a musician.

A plethora of great tickets are still available heading in to the first week of the Festival, for full program details visit www.adelaidecabaretfestival.com.au

Full program and tickets are on sale now through BASS 131 246 or online www.bass.net.au

Source: Alex Schulze, Adelaide Festival Centre

Updated: 3 April 2012

curtains up on kate’s debut adelaide cabaret festival

Kate Ceberano has secured an impressive line-up of acclaimed international, national and local artists in her debut year as Artistic Director of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival.

The 2012 program features 110 international artists from the United States of America, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Ireland and the best from Australia with 194 Australian artists, 110 of those are South Australian performers. Showcasing eight World premieres, seven Australian premieres and 20 Adelaide premieres, the vibrant program also features 12 international shows, many of which are exclusive to the Adelaide Cabaret Festival.

Opening on the Queen’s Birthday long weekend, this year’s Adelaide Cabaret Festival includes 146 performances of some 49 different shows across 16 electrifying nights.

In the Festival’s 12 year history, attendances have more than doubled since its inception in 2001. The 2011 Cabaret Festival broke all previous box office records, achieving an estimated 95,000 attendances.

Ceberano’s program builds on the Festival’s reputation for excellence, not only through its stellar performers, but also with a design that matches its international reputation. Kate is working with renowned Australian artist and good friend David Bromley who has been engaged as Festival Designer, to enhance some of the performance spaces, interiors and public areas by providing an overarching aesthetic and visual texture for the Festival.

Adelaide Cabaret Festival Artistic Director Kate Ceberano says, “I would like to extend an invitation to come to Adelaide and experience the drama, glamour, and up close and personal nature of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival. I hope it will corrupt, provoke and thrill audiences and encourage show-goers to be wild and fabulous. Don’t miss out on Cabaret 2012, I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.”

“The Festival features an eclectic mix of performers from Australia and around the globe. Discover the newest Cabaret talent along with a selection of the world’s leading singer/songwriters, living legends and icons and some old favourites. We’ve just about covered all cabaret bases from comedy, satire, contemporary, rock, pop, blues, soul, swing, gypsy jazz, the Broadway classics, whimsical numbers and most importantly, the artists who will take you on their own personal journeys”.

Opening this year’s Adelaide Cabaret Festival in the elegant Festival Theatre is Adelaide’s night of nights: the Variety Gala Performance on Friday 8 June, sponsored by Adelaide BMW. Guests will walk the red carpet and witness a selection of incredibly talented cabaret artists from this year’s program, hosted by Kate Ceberano and Mark Nadler.

Festival Highlights include:
Lea Salonga
Lenny Henry
Ben Vereen
Nadeah (Nouvelle Vague)
Kane Alexander
Don Walker
Camille O’Sullivan
Rick and John Brewster
Mary Wilson
Eden Espinosa
Sharon Millerchip
Troy Cassar-Daly
Love-Song-Circus
Tim Freedman
Sherie Rene Scott
Ziggy – The Songs of David Bowie
Eddie Perfect
Cosentino - The Grand Illusionist
Johanna Allen
Debra Byrne
Jack Charles
Paris Wells
David Bromley and Brian Cadd
Tex Perkins
The Snowdroppers
Kim Smith
Emma Dean
The Velvet Gentleman: the odd story of Erik Satie
LadyNerd
Zoe Keating
Angela Harding
Tommy Bradson
Justin Burford
Swing Time With The Andrew Sisters
Tripod
Mark Nadler
Virginia Gay
Bernadette Robinson

High School students made their debut appearance at Adelaide Cabaret Festival in 2010 under the nurturing guidance of 2009 to 2011 Artistic Director David Campbell. This year a new class of 30 cabaret students from 15 secondary schools from across the state will share their stories through music in Class of Cabaret 2012.  This program is supported by CentreEd and The Department for Education and Child Development.

Adelaide Festival Centre’s youth arts membership program GreenRoom have a range of special offers to Adelaide Cabaret Festival for 16 and 30 year olds, including heavily discounted tickets to a variety of shows, as well as the free Artist Talk ‘How to get your show up’ with the creative team of the show Kurt (Saturday 9 June, Banquet Room). Sign up to GreenRoom in April and receive a free mystery ticket to an Adelaide Cabaret Festival performance. For more information visit adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au/greenroom

Full program and tickets are on sale now through BASS 131 246 or online www.bass.net.au

Stay tuned for more information at www.adelaidecabaretfestival.com.au