Auckland Live Reveals Its 2016 International Cabaret Season
The more fabulous sibling of boring old theatre comes alive.
Cabaret; the age-old method of entertainment and more fabulous member of the performing arts family will come alive this month as Auckland Live's International Cabaret Season roars into its third annual season. This year's programme welcomes an eclectic lineup of international and local artists that will give audiences a chance to experience the discipline in all its dazzling forms.
Alongside a run of events at the Auckland Town Hall Concert Chamber, the season will swell across the road to the Basement Theatre and Grey Lynn local Frieda Margolis, which is forecast to transform into a pop-up piano bar.
Renowned musical Songs for the Fallen will open the festival with Sydney actor Sheridan Harbridge tackling the role of Paris' original party girl: Marie Duplessis. The story of this peasant-girl-turned-courtesan famously inspired the character Satin in Moulin Rouge.
Furthermore, Wellington-born Sheba Williams will present a Tribute to Nina Simone in a high energy show full of audience interaction, glamour and stories about the High Priestess of Soul; cabaret veteran Tim Draxl will be joined by jazz stalwarts Ray Alldridge and Dave Ellis for the jazz biography Freeway: The Chet Baker Journey; UK comedy duo Frisky and Mannish are making the trip to perform their wild vaudevillian-pop musical Cabariot; and Auckland's own Blackbird Ensemble will reprise their entrancing theatrical performance Dreams - an exploration of bedroom rituals and revelations of our own subconscious through song.
The Basement's lineup features a biographical piece by Last Tapes Theatre Company, all female comedy Suits, and the cabaret-infused drag show Dragons - Cabtastical. Grey Lynn local Freida Margolis will be transformed into a piano bar for the season, hosting so-called "operetta for the Tinder generation", Love Me Tinder.
Auckland Live International Cabaret Season runs from Wednesday 28 September – Sunday 2 October. Visit the festival's website for more information.
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