 Christmas comes twice a year in Adelaide, once in June. Peter Burdon looks at some mid-year stocking fillers among the dozens of premiere performances in this year’s Cabaret Festival program.A month before curtain up, the Cabaret Festival was already selling out shows. A fortnight out, a raft of extra nights was announced, and the sell-outs continued. Opening night is upon us as this issue of blaze goes to press. Will there be anything left at all? Here’s hoping! The first weekend of the Cabaret Festival is, not surprisingly, all about the superstars, and sure enough, Bernadette Peters casts a pretty long shadow! But outside the 2,000 seats of the Festival Theatre, there’s much to enjoy. In the Playhouse, for instance, there’s the Australian premiere of Duel, a brilliant show featuring virtuosi Laurent Cirade and Paul Staïcu. Cirade (cello, voice, didjeridoo and chainsaw) and Staicu (piano, voice and handcuffs) performed in Duel for the first time together in Marseille in 2001, and some 700 performances in 20 countries later they’re in Adelaide, en route to the Avignon Festival. The show is very much in the ‘Bach to Beatles’ mould but with an hilarious twist as two master musicians stand slapstick alongside silky-smooth jazz with a dramatic recitation thrown in for good measure. Check out The Cello Chainsaw Massacre on YouTube—then book! One of the shows is an early session at 5pm, just for those who like to fit in three shows instead of two! Also on the first weekend is Axis of Awesome, the comedy band that shot to international fame through their internet clips leading up to the 2007 Federal election. Their history of pop music, performed using only 4 chords, is just one of their many inspirational numbers. Opening on June 10 is yet another Adelaide premiere, this time by Mr Percival, the creation of Sydney muso Darren Percival, whose musical pedigree includes stints backing James Morrison and training with Bobby McFerrin of Don’t Worry Be Happy fame. It was McFerrin who encouraged him to follow the dream of ‘painting’ with his voice and so, with just a voice, a microphone, and some technology at his feet, he’s a genuine one man band, recording, looping and over-dubbing melodies and harmonies, complete with rhythm section, in a performance that’s had the critics reaching for the thesaurus to find new superlatives. An early show, in the Banquet Room. Something completely different for the fans of La Clique and late night cabaret is Cabaret Décadanse, (pictured above) a blend of music and movement featuring astonishing puppets, that started life as street theatre in Montreal a decade ago. The stars of Cabaret Décadanse include Conrad the French transvestite, Lorraine La Diva, Ertha Kitt incarnate, queen of the night and an, um, “old pro”, Mauve the ingénue of dubious habits, Kiko the Latin lover, Jazz and Java, a couple of middle class gossips, and Chica, the seductive little number who really shouldn’t have been in gaol, and in any case it wasn’t her fault. Puppeteers Serge Deslauriers and Enock Turcotte assist the cast through a delicious repertoire that ranges from blues and jazz to Broadway show-stoppers. In this they’re ably assisted by Andre-Anne Le Blanc, who straps the numbers together as the grotesque MC, using just the foam head of a puppet and a feather boa!  Don’t forget Thursgays during Cabaret. The Adelaide premiere of Gentlemen Prefer Blokes (pictured right) with Courtney Act, Trevor Ashley and Virginia Gay is on June 11 at the Dunstan Playhouse. And then there’s Bingay with Mitzi and Naomi (June 11 & 18), the funniest and most wicked bingo game you’re ever likely to experience! Book at
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The final mid-Festival treat, at least for this issue, is Butterscotch, the America’s Got Talent finalist who stunned audiences from coast to coast with her combination of brilliant musicianship—she’s a cum lauda classical and jazz pianist—a phenomenal voice, and assorted talents including being an international beatbox champion! In her Australian premiere performances she’ll being presenting both the original tracks that have already established her in the States as a distinctive voice, and the covers that she presents in her own inimitable style, with influences that by her own admission range from Chopin to Coltrane and everywhere in between! Book for Butterscotch, and all Cabaret Festival events, at Bass 131 246.
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Cabaret Festival: Quality all the way
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