Adelaide Cabaret Festival Reviews: Christina Bianco, Emma Pask
Find out what our reviewers have to say about Christina Bianco, Emma Pask and all the other Adelaide Cabaret Festival shows.
Arts
Don't miss out on the headlines from Arts. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Lisa Simone: Keeper of the Flame
Festival Theatre
June 22
It is impossible to imagine how the Adelaide Cabaret Festival could have ended on a better note.
Dame Lisa Simone was smoking’ from the moment she burst on the stage for the opener, Keeper of the Flame.
But before that, her brilliant big band of Aussie musicians had got the party started – playing for quite some time. It was like an extended drumroll – with every other instrument getting in on the act – in anticipation of her arrival. And it was sensational, setting the tone for the evening ahead.
All killer and no filler, the concert was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It was not a tribute show, Lisa is an outstanding artist in her own right – paying homage to her late mother, Nina Simone.
Lisa’s version of Black is the Colour is like no other. Infusing it with funk to make it her own, Lisa rightly told the audience “bet you never heard it like that before”.
She’s sassy, sexy and soulful.
Up-tempo numbers, My Baby Just Cares For Me and Love Me Or Leave Me, brought out her playful side. I Put A Spell On You – the number in which you could especially hear shades of her mother’s vocals – left the audience dazed in the best way possible.
Wild Is The Wind, powerful in its fragility, was also spine-tingling superb. And, as you would expect, Feelin’ Good was a soaring crowd pleaser.
A little bit Nina, Natalie Cole and even Whitney Houston, Lisa is, more than anything, herself vocally. She also has a unique charismatic stage presence. When Lisa decided to “take it into the now” with one of her own songs, Finally Free, she brought back some old-school show(wo)manship we haven’t seen that much of since before Covid; She circled the auditorium to connect with the audience, literally – giving fans holding out their hands a friendly squeeze with hers.
No doubt, there were ticket holders who came just to see Nina Simone’s daughter. I can guarantee you they will be back next time for Lisa Simone too.
Christina Biano: In Divine Company
Dunstan Playhouse
June 21
She’s performing in Adelaide and lives in London but there’s no mistaking Christina Bianco’s New York drawl.
The petite New York born and raised actress, singer and impressionist combines all three of her large talents for her In Divine Company show as part of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival.
Her song choice throughout the 75-minute show is irrelevant, it’s the impersonations that had the audience captivated.
There were the classics like Julie Andrews, Celine Dion and Barbra Streisand (she nailed every one of them by the way) as well as more modern singers like Britney Spears.
But she saved the best for last when she recited the monologue Gloria, played by America Ferrera, reads in the Barbie movie using several of her impersonations.
“It is literally impossible to be a woman. You are so beautiful and so smart, and it kills me that you don’t think you’re good enough. Like, we have to always be extraordinary, but somehow we’re always doing it wrong.”
When Bianco tackled the nasal drawl of Karen Walker from Will and Grace, she had the audience in stitches.
With just a piano to accompany her, Bianco puts on a well-rounded, funny show while connecting well with the audience.
And remember, it’s Christina with an ‘a’ and Bianco with an ‘o’.
Denise Cahill
Emma Pask: AC-CENT-TCHU-ATES The Positive
Celebrating the music of Harold Arlen
Banquet Room
June 20
Too much information maybe, but two years ago, at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Emma Pask had me ugly crying because of her breathtakingly beautiful rendition of Here, There And Everywhere by The Beatles.
This year Pask was the emotional one. She was passionate about her musical heroes – American composer Harold Arlen and her dear friends with whom she was sharing the stage; the brilliant musicians, Dr Kevin Hunt on piano, Phil Stack on acoustic bass and drummer Tim Firth.
Kicking off with Get Happy, Pask was the ultimate professional and you could tell she loves performing. But there were also moments where she showed vulnerability.
Before Somewhere Over the Rainbow, she gave herself a little pep talk and then gently blew everyone away with her dreamy take on the ballad.
Pask has a velvety smooth voice, but can also sing the blues like she has lived them. For one of the show’s highlights, One For My Baby, it was only Pask and Stack, who have been friends and musical collaborators since they were teens. It was a moment in the show, as they took turns stealing the spotlight while also celebrating one another’s talents.
The quartet chopped and changed between jazzy, poppy, upbeat numbers and the blues – without missing a beat. Pask also shifted in mood, effortlessly. The optimistic Let’s Fall In Love, downcast Stormy Weather and satirical Down With Love were all in the setlist.
Pask was also a superb spoken word storyteller. By the end of the show we had a new appreciation about Arlen’s important chapter in the Great American Songbook.
Pask also spoke about how music can help you during the toughest of times.
Those in the room who knew about the challenges Pask and husband Rodrigo are currently facing – after he had a serious motorcycle accident late last year – knew she was talking about a universal truth but also speaking from experience.
Pask is a world-class vocalist and all class. She constantly acknowledged her fellow musicians and also gave a wonderful, well-deserved shout out to Adelaide Cabaret Festival artistic Virginia Gay, who was there cheering her on.
Pask also thanked the audience for they gift they have given her just by being present. Ditto.
Patti LuPone: A Life in Notes
Festival Theatre
June 19
A Life in Notes could well be the crowd-pleasing centrepiece of this year’s Adelaide Cabaret Festival.
On Wednesday night Triple Tony Award winner Patti LuPone shared her musical memories from her 50-year career and life – through song and stories.
LuPone recalled being 19 when she first heard what many regard as Nina Simone’s definitive version of Lilac Wine – a song about intoxication and hallucination – “through a haze of a marijuana”.
Lilac Wine was written in 1949 – the year LuPone was born – which, if you do the maths, undoes the famous theory that if you remember the ‘60s you weren’t really there.
LuPone’s recollection of that musical “touchstone” in her life, in the late 1960s, and her rendition of Lilac Wine – which was sublime – was just one of the moments that really grabbed you.
Others included LuPone’s haunting take on Janis Ian’s Stars, her deliciously devilish delivery of Ladies Who Lunch and the tribute to all the friends she lost to HIV/AIDS in the 1980s: Anything Goes was followed by Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye, poignantly punctuated by a short and bittersweet reprise of a few notes of the former.
The performance was a mixed bag of numbers and interpretations – from a cheeky rendition of Julie London’s Come On-A My House to a raw rendition of Don’t Cry for Me Argentina from Evita, in which LuPone was only accompanied by an acoustic guitar.
The finale – a touching The Beatle’s In My Life and triumphant Those Were the Days – tied the whole show together in a neat life-affirming bow.
Anna Vlach
Murder for Two
Space Theatre
June 19 to 21
Two performers, four hands, a grand piano and a dozen or so outrageous characters come under investigation in this Agatha Christie-style, locked room mystery, which is all set to song.
Swapping spots on the piano stool mid-tune, limbs often entangled, Gabbi Bolt and Matthew Predny enact and investigate the murder of acclaimed American author Arthur Whitney during a surprise birthday party at his home.
Bolt plays Marcus Moscowicz, the ambitious police officer who arrives on the scene first, eager to prove his ability to solve the crime before the real detective gets there.
Predney switches with lightning speed between the bulk of the other Cluedo-like characters, among them a bickering older couple, a prima ballerina, the town psychiatrist, a gang-like boys’ choir and Whitney’s frustrated actor wife, all of them amusing and irritating in equal measure.
The solution lies somewhere between the clues in Whitney’s books and his final words.
As this whodunnit written by US musical theatre duo Kellen Blair and Jo Kinosian escalates, so does the frantic switching between characters and their revelations.
Regardless of who the murderer is, there are a couple of killer tunes, in particular the boy choir’s (We’ve Seen) A Lot Woise, the shrink’s Friend Like You and Mrs Whitney’s big disco dance number.
Finally, the duo demonstrate their pianistic dexterity side-by-side at the keyboard, as the crowd merrily claps along.
Patrick McDonald
Hopelessly Devoted
Festival Theatre
June 15
What was not to love about David Campbell, Jess Hitchcock, Georgina Hopson and Christie Whelan Browne’s heartfelt homage to the late, great ONJ?
Especially, when it’s with the outstanding Adelaide Symphony Orchestra under captivating conductor Jessica Gethin.
Hosted by Newton-John’s niece Tottie Goldsmith, the two-hour performance was titled Hopelessly Devoted: A Celebration of Olivia Newton-John – and it was all that and more.
It was anecdotes, hits and memories, and some songs you may have forgotten, such as Please Mr Please (Don’t Play B-17) and Make a Move on Me; Hopson made the country and soft rock pop songs two of the earworms of the night – illustrating her versatility as a singer and vocal talent. And her delivery of Hopelessly Devoted did not disappoint. It was a showstopper.
With her soulful vocal-style, Hitchcock showed, yet again, that she is a rising star who can sing any genre. Her numbers included the haunting murder ballad Banks of the Ohio, sultry Soul Kiss and beautiful ballad I Will Be Right Here.
The latter was a duet Newton-John recorded with Adelaide’s own Campbell – and he performed it with Hitchcock.
As always, Campbell wowed his home crowd and his spine-tingling solo spot – I Honestly Love You – was world class. He also talked about his friendship with Newton-John, who performed at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival when he and wife Lisa were the co-artistic directors.
Whelan Browne – who played ONJ’s character Kira in the musical Xanadu – also shone. Like the others, she is an all-rounder. But Whelan Browne is, most notably, a master of vocal workout numbers, such as Heart Attack and the playful pop of Xanadu, Physical (during which she led an aerobics session – while singing) and You’re the One that I Want, playing the sexy Sandy to Campbell’s dynamic Danny.
While there’s a temptation in a show like this to just play the hits, Hopelessly Devoted deserves paise for adding some of lesser known songs, a couple of which this reviewer was hearing for the first time. It’s a good to learn new things about one of your idols.
It was a sensational performance, celebrating Newton-John’s artistry, extraordinary career and the talents of all involved.
Anna Vlach
Swing on This
Dunstan Playhouse
June 14 and 15
When Bert LaBonte performed Let’s Get It On at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival’s opening night gala there was a rush of tickets for Swing on This.
LaBonte is the new addition to the foursome, but you wouldn’t know it.
He, Ben Mingay, Luke Kennedy and Matt Lee are a tight outfit that’s slick, with schtick that comes naturally. That said, there’s obviously a lot planned, but you wouldn't know it – the four pull it off.
Backed by a sensational “little big band” led by Craig Schneider, the four “swingers” do superb renditions of standards such as I’ve Got You Under My Skin, Ain’t That a Kick in The Head and, with Adelaide references thrown in, Well, Did You Evah!
But they also did swing versions of 1980s and ‘90s songs – a la Frank Bennett, who recorded an album Crash Landing. The foursome’s take on New Sensation by INXS and Crowded House’s Chocolate Cake were brilliant.
Highlights of the show included the group effort(less) opener Minnie The Moocher and closer New York, New York, LaBonte’s Let’s Get It On and, when Lee was in the spotlight with his song and dance number, Mr. Bojangles … goosebumps.
The singers, musicians and the audience also paid tribute to the late Michael Falzon who was part of the original line-up when Swing on This made its debut at the festival in 2014. Back then, an Advertiser review noted Falzon, Kennedy, Lee and Mingay brought the house down. A decade on, they’ve done it again.
Anna Vlach
Catherine Alcorn: The Divine Miss Bette
Dunstan Playhouse
June 13-15
Sexy, sultry and outrageous, Catherine Alcorn brings musical icon Bette Midler to life in this incredibly entertaining homage to The Rose singer.
It’s so much more than a tribute show as stage sensation Alcorn inhabits the Divine Miss B’s larger-than-life persona, taking audiences back to her days in 1970s New York.
Combining irreverent comedy with a powerful voice, Alcorn gives her adoring crowd a taste of the buxom Midler in full flight, alongside a trio of dazzling Harlettes for support.
“This show is all about hits, glitz and tits,” she declares and we have no reason to doubt her.
The second half of the night is dedicated to Midler’s cherished movie numbers, including beloved tunes such as From a Distance (performed from an unexpected location), and a special, stripped back version of Wind Beneath My Wings.
There’s plenty of musical surprises for fans of all ages, while Midler’s stand-up routines are cleverly done and hit all the right notes.
Twelve years in the making, The Divine Miss Bette’s long-awaited Cab Fest debut was well worth the wait.
Antimo Iannella
Jess Hitchcock: A Fine Romance: Songs That Made Me
Space Theatre
June 13
I got a surprise to find out A Fine Romance was a one-night stand. It was sold out and the crowd loved Jess Hitchcock, who was pinching herself throughout the gig about having her own show at the festival.
The invite came from artistic director Virginia Gay after she heard Hitchcock sing Sia’s Chandelier, but more about that in a moment.
The singer and songwriter, who has Torres Strait Islander and Papuan heritage, deserves her own show. And more than one night, where programming permits.
Hitchcock is a great storyteller in the spoken anecdotes about her life, her songwriting (which is often drawn from personal experience and her cultural background), and when she sings.
She is a great interpreter of other people’s lyrics, such as those in the evocative The Jetty Song, about the late legendary Indigenous Australian Archie Roach’s Scottish immigrant foster parents and the belonging he also felt to their heritage.
Hitchcock’s range is also impressive – both vocally and in terms of genre.
She covers jazz (opening with Cheek to Cheek), pop (the Tina Arena-penned I don’t Have the Heart), opera (from Kate Miller-Heidke’s The Rabbits and more) and country (Homeward Bound – just one of her own compositions in the show).
Hitchcock grew up in Sydney and now lives in Melbourne, but she is very connected to South Australia.
One of her mentors is Adelaide-born Paul Kelly. She does a beautiful, soulful rendition of Every Day My Mother’s Voice, which he penned for The Final Quarter documentary about footy legend Adam Goodes, from Wallaroo.
Towards the end of the show, Hitchcock tells us she woke up without a voice. You would never have known, apart from her sipping what must have been hot lemon in a mug. She doesn’t know if her voice will hold up for Chandelier, by Adelaide’s own Sia.
The final song was perfectly imperfect. The odd scratchy note only added to the chalk-on- fingernails feeling created by Chandelier’s emotionally jarring lyrics.
Hitchcock is a raw talent ready to sing anything and, it’s a cliche, I know, but I would listen to her sing the phonebook.
You can catch Hitchcock, again at the festival, in Hopelessly Devoted – a tribute to Olivia Newton John – on Saturday.
Anna Vlach
Flo & Joan: Now Playing
Space Theatre
June 12 to 15
They are the Simon & Garfunkel of sibling silliness, the Jim Steinman & Meat Loaf of epic rock nonsense and the Barbra & Donna (Streisand & Summer) of demented disco divadom.
Above all, they are uniquely Flo & Joan – real sisters, if not their real names – and their musical mirth-making goes from one extreme to the next.
Their opening tune has one word. Their tribute to old English folk songs has many, many, many words, most of them beginning with “L” in a dazzling display of alliteration.
Flo is the dark-haired, bespectacled one dressed for a ’90s rave on keyboards, while Joan slides from shaker to drum kit in slinky ’60s sex kitten attire. Their harmonies are heavenly, their humour hellishly wicked.
When they perform an electro-anthem to pop stars with a fringe, one can’t help but wonder if they know that Sia hails from Adelaide.
Their tunes are original, even if bits sound shamelessly familiar, like the echoes of I Will Survive in the escalating embarrassment of I Drank Too Much.
They list ever more ridiculous ways to ward off attackers with a Dolly Parton-esque country twang, then mash up disco moves and lyrics on I Can’t Stop Dancing.
Recurring references to their mother’s trinkets eventually pay off in a Bat Out Of Hell style song about witches and waterfowl.
Finally, they sing a love letter of advice to their younger selves. The best advice for audiences is to secure a ticket while you still can.
Patrick McDonald
Kate Miller-Heidke: Catching Diamonds
Dunstan Playhouse
June 8 and 9
Kate Miller-Heidke is a national treasure. That’s why she represented Australia at Eurovision and why there are only a handful of tickets left for her June 9 cab fest performance.
An instantly recognisable snippet of AC/DC’s Back in Black announces her arrival on stage and it is a hint of what is to come much later in the 90-minute show – including The Stones’s Paint it Black like you’ve never heard it before.
Miller-Heidke has an extraordinary range. In Politics in Space she tells us to get over the 1960s, but she’s there in more than one number – be it with a dreamy folksy vocal style in storytelling songs such as Sarah and Caught in the Crowd or with her full-on trippy take on Paint it Black.
The 1970s and ‘80s are also strongly referenced when Miller-Heidke’s musical influences such as Kate Bush – she’s previously covered Wuthering Heights – and Queen come through in her daring, dramatic vocals in, for example, the Eurovision song Zero Gravity.
That said, Catching Diamonds is an example of how less can be more.
There’s no big backing band. Miller-Heidke is joined on stage by brilliant guitarist Keir Nuttall, who also happens to be her husband, and the extremely talented Jess Hitchcock on backing vocals.
Hitchcock can sing any genre and act, as she does when she plays Muriel to Miller-Heidke’s Rhonda in a number from Muriel’s Wedding.
There’s no bells and whistles, besides a couple of percussion instruments including tambourines.
Miller-Heidke’s voice is an instrument in itself. Her singing is organic. Sometimes she sounds like a wild bird, at other times she is an opera diva, and then there’s what she has famously dubbed “yodelling ambulance or Enya on meth” notes.
All the hits are there, including 2009’s dreamy The Last Day on Earth. There’s also a cover of the do-you-dare-to-even-take-it-on Psycho Killer, by the Talking Heads, which Miller-Heidke somehow manages to make her own.
Hitchcock, whose vocals are sublime, also has a solo show, A Fine Romance, and Miller-Heidke gives it a plug.
Go see it – along with Catching Diamonds if you can land a ticket.
Anna Vlach
Jekyll & Hyde
Space Theatre
June 7 to 9
Outrageously French accented New Zealand theatre troupe A Slightly Isolated Dog returns to apply its trademark mix of plot digressions, ad-libbed asides, unwitting audience participation, karaoke pop harmonies, general mayhem and sheer hilarity to another classic.
After Sydney Theatre’s Company’s multi-screen, hi-tech production of Robert Louis Stevenson’s story last year, audiences can now revel in this low-budget, bare-bones transformation.
There are still screens … but this time they’re made of paper stretched across picture frames, while fog takes the form of a big white sheet.
Fight sequences meld Kill Bill with John Wick, love affairs between performers and punters blossom then disintegrate on a whim and – like Dr Jekyll – we are constantly required to push down the darkness within.
It’s utter chaos as the cast disperse among the cabaret tables, muttering their own commentary on the performance as it unfolds, and secretly whispering instructions to Dr Hyde’s impending victims.
Patrick McDonald
Christie Whelan Browne: Life in Plastic
Banquet Room
June 8
At first glance, Christie Whelan Browne might look like a Barbie girl in a Barbie world, but she breaks the plastic mold – and the audience’s hearts – in this story of her struggles with body image and fertility.
The musical theatre star, who also proved her comic chops on TV’s Mad As Hell, emerges in her Year 9 school uniform complete with braces and geeky headgear.
Clutching an oversized doll and performing Girls Just Wanna Have Fun with “smoke” effects provided by cans of Impulse body spray, she’s more Kylie Mole than Minogue.
A torch ballad rendition of Aqua’s Barbie Girl, No Doubt’s Just a Girl and Madonna’s Material Girl continue the musical theme.
There are more laughs as another Cyndi Lauper classic, True Colours, is given an unlikely mashup with Walk The Dinosaur for 10-year-old Christie’s dancing debut, which comes complete with video evidence.
Her doll – let’s call her Babs – is the source of much of Christie’s self-esteem issues, not the least of which concerns unwanted body hair. Let’s just say her fur-bikini dance does not pose a threat to Raquel Welch’s sex symbol status.
Diary entries to the baby she hoped to conceive bring tears to the eyes, but they are quickly replaced with tears of laughter as Whelan Browne finally gets to declare Man, I Feel Like A Woman and has her chance to Roar.
Patrick McDonald
Gillian Cosgriff: Actually, Good
Space Theatre
June 8 and 9
There’s a reason Actually, Good won Most Outstanding Show at the 2023 Melbourne International Comedy Festival and that is because it lives up to its title.
The one-woman show celebrates life’s little joys and, without giving too much away, there’s a very loose plot that’s cleverly tied together right at the end.
Cosgriff is a triple threat and some.
She can act: A great storyteller and stand-up comedienne, she never misses a beat.
She can sing: Her rich voice is perfect for the jazzy poppy songs – about love, longing, lockdown and more – she also writes.
And she can dance, having mastered Mr Mistoffelees’s moves from Cats.
Cosgriff can also accompany herself on the keyboard and operate a loop machine, and she knows how to bring a room of strangers together.
As for that audience participation: While no one gets dragged up on stage, or has to share – or in some cases overshare – anything, everyone shares in the experience that is Actually, Good.
You will definitely cackle and possibly cry. Should you do the latter you will even experience, to borrow from Steel Magnolias, the best emotion – laughter through tears – because Cosgriff is actually that good.
Anna Vlach
The 2024 Variety Gala
Festival Theatre
June 7
As Adelaide Festival Centre CEO Douglas Gautier said at the pre-drinks, the Adelaide Cabaret Festival’s variety gala is like a tasting plate of what’s on offer over the two-week program.
It’s supposed to whet your appetite and – as the gala’s hostess with the mostest Cab Fest artistic director Virginia Gay rightly pointed out – make you want to buy tickets.
Don’t just trifle with Flo & Joan – book now. The crowd could not get enough of the delightfully deliciously droll duo and its rendition of the original, and rather compelling, no, oddly riveting, composition, Lady in the Woods, which made There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly sound like child’s play.
It was a laugh ‘til you cry, side-splitting humorous rollick.
A post-show whip around also strongly suggested the audience is hanging out for more Bert LaBonte (you’ll see him in Swing on This). His tantalising take on the Marvin Gaye classic Let’s Get it On was definitely more-ish.
All surveyed were keen to have a second helping of these two acts, but, that said, the gala’s smorgasbord seemed to be to everyone’s loving (note: not just liking), with many saying it was the best they had enjoyed in years. There was something to everyone’s taste.
Gay has done a wonderful job as artistic director by offering us acts like those mentioned, Icon Award winner Reuben Kaye, who embodies the irreverent spirit of cabaret, piano whiz Mark Nadler, Mahalia Barnes and more.
Jimmy’s daughter – the finale – was the gala’s cherry on top with her soulful and (sounds a little like Barnesy at times) raw rendition of River Deep Mountain High.
Anna Vlach
Fascinating Aida: The 40th Anniversary Show
Dunstan Playhouse
June 7 to 9
Sirens of satirical song Fascinating Aida celebrate their 40th Anniversary (actually now 41st) with freshly topical tunes that show how their terrifically twisting tongues have only grown sharper with age.
Nothing is safe from or sacred to this UK trio – not even their own longevity. They open with a delightfully disrespectful ode to impending death, then flow straight into a gleeful gloat about how they’ve royally screwed the world for the next generation.
Youngest member Liza Pulman, who has “only” been with the group for 20 years, even sweetly sings a serenade to involuntary euthanasia, then takes a poke at being woke.
Ribald and often outright filthy humour abounds, as founder member Dillie Keane pounds the piano with love song about having sex in public places, while Adele Anderson manages to rhyme “puberty” with “Schuberty” in her gender transition song.
Spiritual enlightenment, cosmetic beauty, Donald Trump and even the German origins of cabaret come under fire with some cleverly comic choreography to boot.
The perils of AI are accompanied by 1980s Casio-style keyboards (courtesy of accompanist Michael Roulston), global warming transforms the Shetland Islands into a tropical calypso paradise, and the true cost of cheap flights has the audience rolling in the aisles.
Patrick McDonald
Join the conversation
Can you loathe an artist and still love their art?
Whenever an artist’s actions or beliefs contradict your own, a dilemma emerges: can you still consume their work? The answer isn’t black and white.
Read more
Review: Relationships all at sea in The Puzzle
Australia’s most successful playwright David Williamson marks 50 years at the Playhouse with a bedroom farce set on a cruise ship.
Read more