Tina Arena announced as boss of Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2022

The Adelaide Cabaret Festival may be over for another year – but plans are already underway for 2022 with artist Tina Arena at the helm.

Just like her famous song, Tina Arena is hoping that the chains of travel restrictions and border closures will be broken when she takes over as artistic director of the next Adelaide Cabaret Festival.

“I’m happy it’s 12 months away so we have a better idea about what the borders are going to be like,” she said.

“This business about not being able to travel has got to relent at some stage because it’s just too totalitarian for me. It kind of scares me a bit.”

The announcement of Arena as the next Adelaide Cabaret Festival boss was made by outgoing artistic director Alan Cumming at Friday night’s closing of his sold-out season of Club Cumming and the final night of this year’s festival.

Singer-songwriter Tina Arena has been announced as the next Adelaide Cabaret Festival boss. Picture: Aaron Francis/The Australian

Arena, however, was not able to have the baton handed to her, being stuck in Victoria, but said she was looking forward to catching up with Cumming in a few weeks.

“He did email me a couple of weeks ago and wrote me the most beautiful message,” Arena said. “I was just blown away by his generosity of spirit. He is so incredibly kind.”

Arena follows a long line of well-known artistic directors including Barry Humphries, Julia Zemiro and Kate Ceberano, but said she was looking forward to putting her own stamp on the festival.

“I do like to go in with fresh ears and eyes because I would much rather have an untainted perspective,” she said.

“I like to go in to things with a fresh mind. It will be a great event and I’m very excited about it.”

Having sold more than 10 million records worldwide and singing in English, Italian, French and Spanish, Arena is one of Australia’s highest-selling artists. Her musical theatre credits include the West End production of Chicago in 2007, as Roxie Hart, and in 2002 she played the role of Sally Bowles in Cabaret, at Sydney’s State Theatre. More recently, she played Eva Peron in the Australian production of Evita.

In his announcement, Cumm­ing paid homage to Adelaide. “This year’s Adelaide Cabaret Festival has been nothing short of joyous, vibrant and elating,” he said.

“To be able to connect with audiences again after such a tumultuous time has been a heartfelt experience for artists, myself included, and audiences alike. Cabaret is such a vital form of connection for us all through music, dance, and comedy.

“I have felt so welcomed and loved by you all and I’ve had such a ball …”.