Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2019 review: RocKwiz Salutes the Rock Musical

This packed Thebarton Theatre event was a highlight of the 2019 Cabaret Festival program, treating its audience to roaring renditions of hits from classic 1960s and ’70s “rock operas” to today’s more contemporary jukebox musicals.

Julia Zemiro and Brian Nankervis from RocKwiz Salutes the Rock Musical at Thebarton Theatre. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

Musical theatre rocks – a point made abundantly clear and just as entertaining in this one-off show by the team from TV’s RocKwiz, its host and Cabaret Festival artistic director Julia Zemiro, their special guests and even more special Adelaide contestants.

This packed Thebarton Theatre event was a highlight of the festival’s 2019 program, treating its audience to roaring renditions of hits from classic 1960s and ’70s “rock operas”, as they were once known, to today’s more contemporary jukebox musicals.

Firstly, we were treated to the part of the show home viewers usually don’t see: Don Dunstan lookalike Brian Nankervis’s audience warm-up, from his alternative history of the Thebby to his not-quite-Freddie Mercury vocal call-and-response exercises, and the contestant selection process.

Then Stella Angelico welcomed us to the Age of Aquarius and urged us to Let the Sunshine In from 1967’s Hair, backed by the RocKwiz Orkestra with guest guitarist Dan Kelly, later returning to reveal her very pregnant profile and put a new perspective on Rizzo’s song There Are Worse Things I Could Do from Grease.

RocKwiz salutes the Rock Musical cast Kate Ceberano, Brian Nankervis, Tex Perkins, Dave Gleeson, Stella Angelico and Julia Zemiro at Thebarton Theatre. Picture: Patrick McDonald

Tex Perkins brought his tortured intonations to Judas’s equally tormented and tumultuous song Heaven on Their Minds from Jesus Christ Superstar, then surprised with a more melodic and restrained rendition of Rocky Horror’s Science Fiction/Double Feature.

Dave Gleeson from Screaming Jets and the Angels turned his hand and high-reaching range to Tommy’s Pinball Wizard and the Rock of Ages Whitesnake track Here I Go Again.

Surprise of the night was former CabFest director Kate Ceberano’s resurrection to perform her supersonic, sultry soul Superstar hit I Don’t Know How to Love Him, before switching to that other Jesus musical Godspell for the show’s finale, Day By Day.

Adelaide Cabaret Festival artist director Julia Zemiro and Brian Nankervis from RocKwiz Salutes the Rock Musical at Thebarton Theatre. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

In between, there were trivia quiz shenanigans galore led by team captains Trevor Jones (the festival’s resident piano man) and former Western Bulldogs football captain Bob Murphy.

However, the unexpected stars of the night were the local contestants, veteran DJ Steve and 16-year-old musical theatre student Grace – the latter astounding both the show’s hosts and audience alike with the depth of her knowledge and speed of her answers.

Here’s hoping we see her back on the stage in a more professional capacity in the not-too-distant future.

RocKwiz Salutes the Rock Musical

Australia

Rating: *****

Thebarton Theatre

June 21