Soak in this year’s Adelaide Cabaret Festival, with mischief making, contemporary and sensational stars.

Headline acts for this year’s Adelaide Cabaret Festival include:

Three-time Tony Award winner Patti LuPone performing the Australian debut of her new concert, A LIFE IN NOTES at Adelaide Festival Centre’s Festival Theatre on June 19. And in an Adelaide exclusive, the incomparable Dame Lisa Simone will present Keeper of the Flame and perform iconic classics of her mother, Dr. Nina Simone, as only she can, for one night only at Festival Theatre on Saturday, June 22.

Patti LuPone - photo credit Douglas Friedman

Lisa Simone - Photo by Rick Delgado

Not to be missed, a celebration of the decades-long legacy of the late luminary, Dame Olivia Newton-John, will be presented in a special concert at Festival Theatre in Hopelessly Devoted. Former Adelaide Cabaret Festival Artistic Director David Campbell (who performed with Olivia Newton-John at Adelaide Cabaret Festival in 2011) along with Jess Hitchcock, Georgina Hopson and Christie Whelan Browne will sing iconic hits from Grease, Xanadu and Newton-John’s best-selling records, alongside Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.

Jess Hitchcock, David Campbell, Christie Whelan Browne and Georgina Hopson - Hopelessly Devoted to You - Photo by Nico Keenan 

South Australia’s darling Annabel Crabb and her more-famous-but-from-Queensland colleague Leigh Sales will present a special cabaret edition of their popular podcast Chat 10 Looks 3 Live on the Festival Theatre stage, joined by the cream of the cabaret crop, during the second week of the festival.

Annabel Crabb and Leigh Sales - photo by Stephen Blake Photographic 

Making her Adelaide Cabaret Festival debut, Australian singer-songwriter and musician Missy Higgins celebrates the 20th anniversary of her ARIA award winning album The Sound Of White, in a special two-part show at Festival Theatre on Friday, June 21.

Missy Higgins - photo by Tajette O'Halloran

Spearheading a new era of contemporary cabaret with many making their festival debuts (miss them and you’ll get serious FOMO):

Multi-award-winning comedy duo, Mel & Sam will present the world premiere of their show The Best Of in a raucous, bratty and proudly queer performance. And storyteller, songwriter and performer Darby James will ask audiences to come aboard as he sets sail into the unchartered waters of sperm donation, in the award-winning show, Little Squirt. Nominated for six Green Room Awards and winner of Best Cabaret and the Edinburgh Touring Award at Melbourne Fringe 2023, Little Squirt is on at Adelaide Festival Centre’s Quartet Bar by Corryton Burge from June 14-15.

Sam Andrew and Mel O'Brien - High Pony - Photo by Evangeline Kepler Studios

In an in-development showcase commissioned by the festival, writer and performer Cassie Hamilton will present part of her latest work, A Transgender Woman on the Internet, Crying, colourfully colliding love, identity, and the power of the trans community in a techno pop joy explosion. Adelaide Cabaret Festival has proudly supported previous in-development works, including Gillian Cosgriff’s The Fig Tree last year as well as Eddie Perfect’s Shane Warne: The Musical and Yve Blake’s Fangirls, which have both gone on to great acclaim. This year Gillian Cosgriff returns to the festival during the first weekend, with her heartwarming and hilarious show, Actually, Good - winner of Most Outstanding Show at the 2023 Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Cassie Hamilton - Photo by Marty Theobald

World class First Nations singer Jess Hitchcock is not to be missed when she presents A Fine Romance - Songs That Made Me. Merging her magnificent operatic voice with soaring pop moods in homage to the jazz, blues, opera and rock that have shaped her truly unique sound and genre-defying voice, for one night only at Space Theatre on June 13.

Jess Hitchcock - Photo by Tessa Thames

In a never-before-seen (and never to be seen again) live theatre spectacular, Musical Bang Bang will see actor-comedians Jane Watt (Godspell) and Rob Johnson (Calamity Jane) lead an extremely brave and slightly chaotic ensemble including the illustrious Julia Zemiro and Tom Cardy. Collectively they will come up with a brand-new musical every night, entirely on the spot… no two shows are the same, with a rotating cast of special guest stars.

Rob Johnson and Jane Watt - Musical Bang Bang - Photo by Robert Catto

Australian performer Christie Whelan Browne’s brand-new bubblegum pop cabaret, Life in Plastic, will see her team up with contemporary award-winning comedian Lou Wall - who is known for their genre-bending, politically savvy comedy – in a sparkly celebration of sisterhood and an exploration into whether her ‘perfect’ plastic life is shiny or suffocating.

Christie Whelan Browne

Further festival highlights include:

Kate Miller-Heidke presents Catching Diamonds at Dunstan Playhouse for two nights only (June 8 -9). From Coachella to Eurovision, audiences will see Kate sparkle alongside collaborator Keir Nuttall in a riveting showcase of original hits, musical numbers, unexpected covers, and debut material from her forthcoming sixth studio album.

Kate Miller Heidke - Photo by Jo Duck 

Rock runs in her blood, blues roars from her lungs, get ready for Mahalia Barnes & The Soulmates to rip the lid off Adelaide Festival Centre’s Banquet Room in a funk soul frenzy, and they’re even taking spontaneous audience song requests!

Mahalia Barnes - Photo by Pierre Baroni

Noongar and Gumbaynggirr woman, Emma Donovan (The Donovans, Black Arm Band, The Putbacks) will launch her new album, Til My Song is Done and command the stage in her supreme solo glory to sing stories of Country and community at Dunstan Playhouse on June 20.

Emma Donovan - Photo by Ian Laidlaw 

And direct from the UK and in an Australian Premiere and Adelaide exclusive, iconic trio Fascinating Aïda will present The 40th Anniversary Show with the diamond-sharp satire, lyrical wit and belligerent sass that they’ve proven only gets better with age. Three performances at Dunstan Playhouse from June 7 – 9.  Other international acts include New Zealand’s A Slightly Isolated Dog presenting their raucous and absurd take on Jekyll & Hyde during the first festival weekend.

Adele Anderson, Dillie Keane and Liza Pulman - Photo by Geraint Lewis

With their unique deadpan charm, the UK’s singing sisters Flo & Joan will make their festival debut with Now Playing at Space Theatre during the second week of the festival and have you crying with laughter at their electric delivery. And ‘the woman of a thousand voices,’ Christina Bianco will perform In Divine Company in an Australian Premiere – celebrating iconic musical heroines with her uncanny impressions, from Dion to Bassey.

Flo & Joan - Photo by Matt Crocker

Those wanting to party on can revel in the divine and delicious chaos of the Festival Late Nights, which will be hosted by a different artist each week, including piano-pounding New Yorker Mark Nadler, Adelaide’s own Victoria Falconer and cabaret favourite Reuben Kaye who will sing songs for the end of the world (and the festival!) on the last weekend. Join us afterwards in the foyer for the party to end all parties!

Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2022 - Photo by Claudio Raschella

Classic cabaret fans will delight in the return of Australian musical theatre royalty, Rhonda Burchmore when she tells her Tall Tales and wicked and wonderful stories of the rich and famous, from Presidents to Hollywood stars. And Australia’s leading kings of swing, Swing on This, will celebrate a decade on the stage with a new show that’s suave, slick and oh-so-swoon-worthy.

Rhonda Burchmore - Photo by Richard De Chazal

This year’s Frank Ford Commission has been awarded to South Australian artist Michelle Pearson whose show Skinny is an empowering fusion of pop, power ballads and biting comedy that encourages us to face the mirror and embrace our bodies for all they are. The award by Adelaide Cabaret Festival’s late founding father, provides $20,000 a year towards the creation of new works by South Australian artists.

Michelle Pearson - Photo by Brent Leideritz

The inspiring Class of Cabaret program, introduced to the festival in 2009 by David and Lisa Campbell, will celebrate its 15th year, shining a light on the cabaret stars of tomorrow and proudly supported by Department for Education and Adelaide Festival Centre Foundation through the Nathaniel O’Brien Scholarship, which supports one student from regional South Australia to participate in the program.

Class of Cabaret 2023 - Photo by Claudio Raschella

Produced and presented by Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide Cabaret Festival has grown from modest beginnings in 2001 to become one of Australia’s major winter events and the largest cabaret festival of its kind in the world. The festival has been a platform for shows and performers who have achieved critical acclaim and featured world-renowned artists including Ms Lisa Fischer, Kristin Chenoweth, Idina Menzel, Dita Von Teese, Eddie Perfect and Tim Minchin to name a few.

More information from the 2024 Adelaide Cabaret Festival edition of WeekendPlus: