VELVET – Welcome to Wonderland!

Velvet Marcia Hines & Brendan Macelan - photo by Sam OsterThe award winning hit show from the 2015 Adelaide Fringe Festival returns to the Aurora Spiegeltent: Garden Of Unearthly Delights, from 12 February for a strictly limited season, before making its Melbourne premiere at The Coopers Malthouse from 23 March, and a return Brisbane season at the Cremorne Theatre – QPAC from 20 April 2016.

After winning the bankSA Pick Of The Fringe and The Advertiser Best Of The Fringe Awards in 2015, VELVET played sell-out seasons at the Edinburgh Fringe, Brisbane Festival and at the Sydney Opera House.

One of the most anticipated new shows on the global festival circuit, award-winning Smoke & Mirrors director Craig Ilott takes audiences on an electrifying trip to ‘70s disco glamour and abandon. Fuelled by funky beats, Ilott has created a hedonistic world, pitting dazzling acrobatics against disco divas as this sexy, spectacular, sparkling and slightly sadomasochistic show of combustible energy to create a disco inferno channels the original Studio 54 nightclub.

Singer Brendan Maclean again heads the cast in this party like no other, alongside an international ensemble of circus, cabaret and music talent: dreamy muscle man Stephen Williams, hula boy extraordinaire Craig Reid, acrobatic wunderkind Mirko Köckenberger, sizzling aerialist Emma Goh, sassy sirens Chaska Halliday and Rechelle Mansour, musical director and mix master Joe Accaria and the legendary diva Marcia Hines.

When a young ingénue (Brendan Maclean) slips behind the red velvet rope at the glamorous nightclub that is VELVET, he encounters dazzling acrobatics, disco divas, seductive chanteuses and a hot, pulsating atmosphere. It changes him and empowers him! The performance follows his seduction and his transformation.

VELVET shocks, surprises and scintillates at every turn. It’s a party, it’s dangerous, it’s electrifying, and it’s exhilarating disco soundtrack never lets up from the opening moment. Each performance invites the audience into an intoxicating glitterball world where the performers and the audience walk the fine line between the romantic and the audacious.

VELVET completely redefines cabaret as a disco inferno … shocks, surprises and scintillates at every turn. Each and every act had the audience roaring with delight.” – The Advertiser

Director: Craig Ilott  Cast: Marcia Hines, Brendan Maclean, Joe Accaria, Chaska Halliday, Rechelle Mansour, Stephen Williams, Craig Reid, Emma Goh, Mirko Kockenberger  Choreographer: Lucas Newland  Lighting Designer: Matt Marshall  Set and Costume Design: James Browne  Original Producer: Virginia Hyam  Associate Producer: Fiona Boidi  Wardrobe / Assistant Stage Manager: Melanie Nicholls

VELVET
Aurora Spiegeltent – The Garden Of Unearthly Delights, East Terrace, Adelaide
Season: 12 February – 13 March 2016
Bookings: www.adelaidefringe.com.au

The Coopers Malthouse, 113 Sturt Street, Southbank
Season: from 23 March 2016
Bookings: www.ticketmaster.com.au

Cremorne Theatre – QPAC, Cultural Precinct, Southbank (Brisbane)
Season: 20 April – 15 May 2015
Bookings: 13 62 46 or online at: www.qpac.com.au (tickets on sale: 22 February)

For more information, visit: www.velvettheshow.com for details.

Image: Marcia Hines & Brendan Macelan – photo by Sam Oster