Cabaret Festival. Her Majesty’s Theatre. 7 Jun 2025
The first Adelaide Cabaret Festival took place in May 2001. This year, 2025, marks the 25th year of the festival which has run annually since its inception, warming the crisp winter nights of June in Adelaide.
Whilst this year’s event lacks the usual activation of Festival Plaza—with crackling braziers, live music, and heart-warming cocktails that herald the Cab Fest’s arrival—the programme of performers is still exceptionally strong.
None more so than headliner, Jacob Collier, whose two shows completely sold-out months ahead of the actual event.
Collier is somewhat revered as a musical ‘prodigy’. Hailing from North London, he first gained attention in 2012 with a series of viral YouTube videos that showcased his multi-instrumental arrangements.
Collier is known for his playful performances which showcase his command of live-looping, polyrhythms, and microtonalities. He takes well-known songs and completely reimagines them, deconstructing and then rebuilding them in his own unique musical language, adding complex jazz chords, unexpected modulations, layered vocal harmonies and intricate rhythmic shifts. He celebrates disharmony and atonality, and, together with his audience interaction and participation, is infectious to watch.
For his opening night Adelaide show we are treated not to a curated performance, but to ‘Cabaret’ as he defines it, “the opportunity to be completely free in performance, where there are no rules”. What we are treated to instead, is just over 90 minutes watching Collier ‘play’; in the childlike rather than musical sense of the word.
The show opens with a rendition of Pure Imagination from the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The piece is nostalgic for many in the audience, but Collier’s construction is only reminiscent of the original, and his playful melody transports the piece to a whole new level.
Other covers include Georgia on My Mind, - Ray Charles (1960), Norwegian Wood - The Beatles (1965), Can’t Take My Eyes Off You - Frankie Valli (1967), and Beyond the Sea, popularised by Bobby Darin in 1959. Collier also includes a few of his original numbers, and one suspects he is taken aback by the audience’s knowledge of his work. The Sun Is in Your Eyes (Voice Memo) (2020), All I Need (2020) which somehow morphs into Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison (1967), and the much loved Little Blue (2024) all by Collier, feature, with the latter including the audience on the chorus and harmonies.
When an audience member calls out for a rendition of Time Alone with You (2020), Collier, ever the generous performer, humorously admits it might be too much for his one-man show. But, true to his playful spirit, he teaches us the second part of the song and gives it an impassioned attempt, switching between tunings on his electric 5-string guitar as he plays. It's a wonderfully fun and engaging moment, showcasing his spontaneity and dedication.
Collier effortlessly shifts between instruments all night, at one point playing both grand piano and his custom 5-string acoustic guitar in Little Blue. For a cover of Can’t Help Falling in Love, by Elvis Presley (1961) the piano-synth hybrid is employed along with vocal modulation. Beginning with an almost delicate, reverent touch, Collier gradually expands the harmonic palette using lush extended chords, microtonal inflections, and unexpected key changes. The result creates a sense of floating tension and release, which bends the emotional tone of the song, making it feel intimate yet somehow cosmic.
Collier’s banter with the audience is effortless, creating an atmosphere of warmth and familiarity. It is a masterclass in engagement. His enthusiasm for music is infectious, and throughout the night, it feels like we’re all part of a private, joyful jam session in his living room. One moment, cross-legged atop his piano stool, he thoughtfully reflects on the question, “What is music?” His answer is simple but profound: “Music is the universal language of the world, it connects people across cultures and borders, fostering understanding and empathy”.
And connected we are. In that audience, on this night, we all understood Jacob completely. It’s a thoughtful, almost meditative experience watching him ‘play’. With each song, you can’t help but feel transported, caught up in the magic of his creativity. It is a performance that leaves you smiling, not just because of the music, but because of the unspoken connection Collier creates with his audience.
Paul Rodda
When: 7 to 8 June
Where: Her Majesty’s Theatre
Bookings: Sold Out
Cabaret Festival. Random Creative Adventure. The Banquet Room.6 Jun 2025
Wheeling her carryon baggage on to the stage, apologizing for her lateness, Clare Bowditch immediately lets us know that this will not be your standard concert; you know, the ‘I sing, you watch’ kind. The patter seems random, then rehearsed (to the theme), then random again. She can’t seem to help herself, wheeling off into streams of consciousness whenever the fancy strikes.
And this is the charm of a Bowditch gig. Ever the over-sharer, she’s quite happy to tell you some of the most personal details, before moving into homilies of a good life should be lived. Randomly. Creatively. Adventurously.
To set her theme, she opens with One Little River, and before we know it, we’re already doing call and refrain, singing “go, go, go” at her command.
We’re introduced to high school mate Aurora Kurth, who appears out of the audience and quickly makes her presence known with a killer cabaret song – an original piece kinda like Send in the Clowns but a whole lot funnier and whole lot smuttier. Glorious! A duet from their early days follows, preceded of course by the story of their meeting and subsequent band break-up. Still, Bonnie Raitt’s I Can’t Make You Love Me was in good hands, just as much now as it was some 30 years ago.
Bowditch’s chronicle continued with stories from hotel lobbies and bars, including the fabulous The One and Super Nova, with the bonus distribution of Danish pastries which she’d knocked off from the hotel’s breakfast buffet.
The thing about Bowditch is that she’s really funny – not that rib-hurting, tear-inducing funny – her humour is that gentle recognition that stuff that happens to you is worth a good laugh when you look at it as part of the random, creative adventure that is life.
Bowditch and Kurth perform with a band who have it down pat; Esther Henderson, Clio Renner, Warren Bloomer and Marty Brown all add to the adventure. It’s all rounded out with a rousing rendition audience participation version of River Deep, Mountain High as it’s pointed out the show has gone overtime and we have to go!
As always, a highly entreating show, and an excellent cabaret addition in this 25th year.
Arna Eyers-White
When: 6 to 7 Jun
Where: The Banquet Room
Bookings: cabaret.adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au
Cabaret Festival. Her Majesty’s Theatre. 5 Jun 2025
Virginia Gay, Artistic Director of the 25th Adelaide Cabaret Festival, told us in no uncertain terms her theme for this anniversary festival: an acknowledgement of the past, a celebration of the present, and an exciting look at the future. In this, she has succeeded in spades.
The Gala gave us a peek, albeit a limited one, of what to expect this season. From the spikey Louisiana horns and lusty keyboard work of Davina & The Vagabonds; to Vika and Linda Bull, who have never been seen to give less than a stellar performance; from smut violinist Victoria Falconer to the supple and prancing Tomas Kantor in his hot pink pant suit, they gave it their all. Virginia Gay gave at least that much and more in sheer exuberance and costumery, including the opening number Let’s Get This Party Started, but in the end the Adelaide Cabaret Festival’s 25th Gala performance was a story of two names.
What came before the interval was then a warmup, concluding as it did with Rizo’s Song Of Freedom, a pocket rocket of a singer who spoke of ingesting psilocybin mushrooms and appeared to have chosen her costume as a direct outcome of this act. She was – boisterous.
Act Two then began with the aforementioned Vika & Linda. These powerhouses of the Australian music scene never fail to deliver and their rousing rendition of Nina Simone’s New Day was just a taster of their upcoming show.
I promised you two names to remember and here is the first. Carlotta. Carlotta is 82 years of age and proudly celebrates that fact. She is powerful, forthright and ribald, and had the audience eating out of her hand. In four minutes, she showed us exactly what heights cabaret had reached (past tense) and how it might be restored to that position. She dominated the stage by presence alone.
The second name then is Noah Byrne. Noah is 18 years of age, has just finished his intensive music course at Marryatville High School, and is going to be a worldwide star. Nothing is more certain. From the moment the spotlight caught him in repose at the lap of the stage he showed he was in a class of his own. His voice work, his timing, his sense of what works marks him as pure talent. From virtually nothing (a story of how he, a boy with learning difficulties had ended up on this stage) he crafted a theatrical performance which should be talked about for years to come.
Mark his name; remember when you heard of him first: Noah Byrne. With an unruly mop of hair, a conservatively cut waistcoat suit and two-tone shoes, he took less than five minutes to propel the audience into the future with him. He spoke in rapid-fire syllables, bounded across the stage, established himself at the piano and cemented his reputation.
I mean no disrespect in not mentioning other performers; we have witnessed the beginning of a legend in the beginning of a career, and we will be reading the name Noah Byrne for years to come.
As a side note: all reviewers and critics wait for a time such as this, to proclaim “I saw it!”. I am no different in that this is only the second time I have known with such certainty what I have witnessed. The last time was when a friend and I (he an internationally known musician) first heard a band named Innocent Criminals win Triple J’s demo contest with their song Pure Massacre. That band was Silverchair. And believe me - Noah Byrne is in a class of his own making.
With all this in mind you might think the Adelaide Cabaret Festival is in good hands as it embarks upon the next 25 years, and you would be right. The program is strong, there is a solid mix of local and international performers, and it promises much more than late night assignations and innuendo, though there is that. In fact, Carlotta made sure we knew her show was on a Sunday afternoon, a wry comment on the age of her fans. In 2025 it is fair to say the Adelaide Cabaret Festival has something for everyone.
Alex Wheaton
When: 5 Jun
Where: Her Majesty’s Theatre
Bookings: Closed
Pulteney Grammar School. Futures Theatre, Paradise. 30 May 2025
Pulteney Grammar’s production of Greg Kotis’ Urinetown- The Musical is an outstanding example of what can be achieved with a secondary school musical when the happy combination of talent, time and significant resources are brought together by a school community.
It is clear the efforts of the substantial production team to provide a strong foundation for the talented cast paid off!
A ten times Tony Award nominated, triple winner, the musical opened on Broadway in 2000. Despite that, it’s comically satirized comment on a socially two-tiered world, beset by water shortages controlled by a corrupt system under the regime of the despotic Caldwell B. Cladwell (Billy Rowan) could not be more pertinent! In this dog-eat-dog world, citizens must use public, pay-per-use, amenities controlled by the despot’s company. The underclass hero of the piece, Bobby Strong, (Patrick Longden) leads a revolution against Cladwell’s socially irresponsible, avaricious corporation, and the legal system as well as unwittingly falling in love with Hope Cladwell (Polly Schubert).
Kotis’s Urinetown is a sophisticated exploration of corporate greed, environmental catastrophe, and the resilience of a community pushing back despotism, cleverly tempered by crackling satire, and intentionally self-conscious “meta” commentary.
Under Jo Casson’s capable direction, this youthful cast manages the themes and pace of the show with great insight and impeccable timing.
Credit must be given to the ensemble, the seething, writhing, gloriously grotty mob of citizens, crooks, and sanitation martyrs. Variously huddled in protest or jazz-handing for justice, every single performer gives Broadway-level commitment such that one wanted to give them each their own curtain call.
Wardrobe is, quite simply, spectacular and testimony to the resourcefulness of Costume Coordinator, Madi Schubert, assistants, Jordan Bender and Jess Bohmer and an expansive Costume Preparation Team.
Choreographers Casson and Rosy Dobre prove to be a dynamic duo, their iterations of Look at The Sky, Snuff That Girl, Run Freedom, Run and I See A River are ensemble showstoppers one won’t forget in a hurry! And the Commedia style lazzi throughout is hilarious!
Pulteney’s Head of Performing Arts and Musical Director, Jonathan Rice, conducted Mark Hollmann’s score with professional precision, its harmonies tight, cues on point, and musical shifts, from comic to tragic and back again, seamless.
Clearly well supported by the work of Vocal Director Katia Labozzetta and repetiteur Meredith Wilson, the Principal Cast is simply superb! Henry Green as Officer Lockstock, accompanied by his faithful sidekick Officer Barrel (Sebastian Gollan – a thirteen-year-old with a great future!) is immediately likeable- despite being something of a rascal- and engaging in his finely balanced roles of narrator and corrupt cop. Similarly, Little Sally (Emily Puah) connects with personable charm and great comic timing. Pocket rocket Maggie Bridges as the rough around the edges, streetwise, crafty, Penelope Pennywise simply shines in every aspect of her performance and Billy Rowan is superbly despicable as Cladwell; I would have liked to have seen stronger attempts by the makeup team to age these two. Polly Schubert as Hope and Patrick Longden as Bobby, crackle with romantic tension and both possess great presence. Did I mention the singing is simply superb? Unbelievably so! I hope these great young performers, along with many of the ensemble are given (and take) the opportunity to pursue arts training and a career when they finish school. To this end, perhaps the SA Government could provide similar funding to the Arts as they do to bailing out basketball teams abandoned by their owners!
Along with Pelican Productions, Pulteney Grammar’s Musical Theatre course seems on a trajectory to produce the next of generation musical theatre stars!
Pulteney Grammar turned toilet humour into theatrical high art. It was witty, bold, deeply relevant, and just the right amount of absurd.
Theatre is supposed to provoke and entertain, and this production of Urinetown - The Musical does it with style.
Go! See it!!!
John Doherty
When: 29 to 31 May
Where: Futures Theatre, Paradise
Bookings: humanitix.com
Zest Theatre Group. Victor Harbor Town Hall. 23 May 2025
It’s not like the old days when community theatre was a bit of a joke. These days, it’s quite serious business with seasoned performers underscoring the zeal and potential of the up-and-comers in, as it happens at Victor Harbor right now, truly ambitious major productions.
Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is not a work for the faint-hearted.
It is a big show. Not only does it need a cast of the proverbial thousands but also it needs a zillion costumes and set changes, special effects and bold professional sound.
Zest’s brave production ticks most of these boxes within the limitations of the old Town Hall. It is a crime that Victor still does not have a proper theatre. It certainly has lots of thespians with talent and devotion.
This work has been produced by the indefatigable Terry Mountstephen and directed by mother and daughter team, Aria and Natalie Stevenson with choreography from Leila Britton. It has all the big backing sound of the Marc Shaiman score and the beloved Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley movie songs.
Singers are body-miked and, at times, Zest’s multifunction tech, Greg Rossiter’s volume zeal enables a bit of distortion. Young Robert Walker still has trainer wheels on in the acting department but the kid can sure belt out a song as Charlie Bucket.
Joshua Coldwell is an award-winning old hand, so to speak, and a versatile actor, last seen by this critic as a brutally corporate Rupert Murdoch in the Theatre Guild’s Ink. The role of Willie Wonka could not be in more challenging contrast, but Coldwell captures the character, sings in tune and carries the show, albeit in oddly unfitting trousers.
The costumes for a show of this scale are daunting and Zest has a huge, clever crew behind them. Generally, they are excellent and the OompaLoompa outfits bring the house down.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a good vehicle for talent spotting and Zest has a wealth of diverse talent from which ballet dancer Eliza Altamura shines forth as the obnoxious Veruca Salt. She’s star material. Vivacious Tia Stevenson is up there, too, in the role of precocious Violet Beauregarde and the production does a very good job of having her blow up as an overjuiced blueberry. Alice Riggs, on the other hand, fat-suited as Augustus Gloop, charms with her stage presence alone, unlike Yasha Button playing Mrs Teavee who simply stuns when she lets loose her big Broadway hot mama voice. Riley Hubbard hones in nicely on the media-sodden character of Mike Teavee. The audience loves him.
Then again, the audience has a lot to love in a diligent cast each carving out a classic Dahl character: John Hogg, Leila Hollingworth, Lucas Irvin, Daniel Cooper, Rachel Coghlan, and Kaitlyn Tanner.
The bedridden grandparents are delicious caricatures and the big dance numbers are exuberant good fun with an ensemble which embraces trained dancers and as well as assorted extras of young and even younger. And did I mention that they yodel?
It’s quite a long night and the seats are hard, but this Fleurieu mob knows its stuff and clearly is a company which enjoys working really hard and giving its community a vitality of value for money.
Samela Harris
When: 23 May to 1 Jun
Where: Victor Harbor Town Hall
Bookings: trybooking.com