Get ready to experience the magic of Adelaide’s Cabaret Fringe Festival once again! For two decades, this open-access performing arts festival has captivated audiences and set the stage for South Australia’s thrilling winter festival season – and 2023 is no exception with the festival’s most impressive program yet!
CabFringe is dedicated to providing an annual platform for emerging and independent talent to perform to live audiences each year. In contrast to the mainstage Adelaide Cabaret Festival (the biggest cabaret festival in the world), CabFringe is an open-access festival where anyone within the cabaret art form can register to participate.
Prepare to be enchanted by the diverse cabaret world as South Australian audiences can immerse themselves in over 30 independently-produced shows. Spread across various venues in the Adelaide CBD and metropolitan suburbs, this year’s CabFringe Festival promises an unforgettable celebration of music, theatre, and all things “cabaret”.
One of the festival’s exciting new venues is the recently redeveloped Piccadilly Cinema in North Adelaide, owned by the esteemed Wallis family. Pop down to The Piccadilly for a special CabFringe Cinema experience – CabCinema!
This magnificent art deco cinema also sets the stage for CabLive, the festival’s vibrant hub where artists and audiences can revel in late-night entertainment. Hosted by the incomparable Dolly Diamond, CabLive will feature guest performances by CabFringe participants and other local cabaret artists each evening throughout the annual open-access arts festival.
Just a taste of the CabLive lineup includes Cab Fringe Frank Ford Award Winner and professional provocateur Jamie Alexandra, regular state opera performer and independent producer Deborah Caddy, and Class of Cabaret alumni Grace Colsey and Joey Haenen.
Also on offer is Burlesque beauties including The Bombshell Blonde, Lyra LaBelle back from her recent tour in Las Vegas, confessional cabaret queen Carla Anita Mattiazzo, and the exuberant and outrageous comedy cabaret queen Tash York.
The 2023 CabFringe program is brimming with many other dazzling highlights that will leave you wanting more…
Take a cool jazz trip through the 50’s and 60’s with The Brendan Fitzgerald Quartet as they recreate the world of iconic jazz musician Dave Brubeck – his genius, relationships, humanity, and popular acclaim – at Diverse-City for two nights only!
Step back to the Golden Age of burlesque with visions of vintage glamour in the 21st century, the fancy feathers, fan dances, elaborate costumes & dazzling characters in The Vintage Showgirl at Nineteen Ten.
Life is a Cabernet Merlot, darlings! Hosted by Annie Schofield, delivering their “world-famous-absolutely-terrible-impression” of Liza Minelli, it’ll be a crazy ride showcasing some of Kaurna Lands’ most talented cabaret stars. Three shows only at My Lover Cindi.
At Prompt Creative Centre on Pirie Street, the forecast is Raining Red Roses. Shelley Dunstone – accompanied by Edward Heddle on piano – pays tribute to the tumultuous life and sublime songs of Hildegard Knef, one of Germany’s most celebrated stage, screen and music artists.
Maybe you’re interested in seeing something strange? Travel up the glass elevator to Nineteen Ten and you will experience a tantalising time of burlesque & tease with Escape into A Tim Burton Burlesque Tribute.
Following their sold-out Adelaide Fringe season for HAIKU FOR YOU, Alex and the Babes take the stage at The Howling Owl with a swashbuckling show inspired by audience suggestions, combining theatre, cabaret, and the best maritime puns. She Shanties is not one to miss this CabFringe season.
The Adelaide Cabaret Fringe Festival “Cab Fringe” boasts 30+ independently produced shows stretching across Adelaide’s CBD and suburbs – continues to 4 June 2023. For more information, visit: www.cabaretfringefestival.com for details.
Image: Adelaide Cabaret Fringe Festival (supplied)