Adelaide Cabaret Festival

34°55′43″S 138°36′03″E

The Adelaide Cabaret Festival is an annual arts festival featuring cabaret held in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. It has been held in June each year since 2001, with the exception of 2020 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, when an online event was presented on Facebook.

History

Adelaide Cabaret Festival emerged during a period of change and uncertainty. During the late 1990s, the number of big stage musicals was in decline across the country. Frank Ford approached then Arts Minister, Diana Laidlaw, who committed funding to establish the first cabaret festival at the Adelaide Festival Centre.^{[citation needed]}

The first festival took place in May 2001 and featured Australian jazz musician James Morrison, musical satirist Phil Scott, and Australian musical theatre star Caroline O’Connor (a late replacement for Nina Simone). The festival proved successful, both critically and commercially, and the state government committed to a further three years of funding. The inaugural festival director was Julia Holt.^{[citation needed]}

Description

The festival starts on the Friday of the Queen's Birthday long weekend each June and runs for about two weeks, hosted by the Adelaide Festival Centre. It is the biggest cabaret festival in the world.^[1][2]

Festival directors

• Julia Holt (2001–2008)^{[citation needed]}
• David Campbell (2009–2011)^{[citation needed]}
• Kate Ceberano (2012–2014)^{[citation needed]}
• Barry Humphries (2015)^{[citation needed]}
• Ali McGregor and Eddie Perfect (2016–2017)^{[citation needed]}
• Ali McGregor (2018)^{[citation needed]}
• Julia Zemiro (2019–2020)^{[citation needed]}
• Alan Cumming (2021)^[3]
• Tina Arena (2022)^[4]
• Alex Sinclair (2023)^[5]
• Virginia Gay (2024–5)^[6][7]
• Reuben Kaye (2026)^[8]

Festival dates

• 2002: 7 – 23 June
• 2003: 6 – 22 June
• 2004: 11 – 26 June
• 2005: 10 – 25 June
• 2006: 9 – 24 June
• 2007: 8 – 23 June
• 2008: 6 – 14 June
• 2009: 5 – 20 June
• 2010: 11 – 26 June
• 2011: 11 – 25 June
• 2012: 8 – 23 June
• 2013: 7 – 22 June
• 2014: 5 – 20 June
• 2015: 5 – 20 June
• 2016: 10 – 25 June
• 2017: 9 – 24 June
• 2018: 8 – 23 June
• 2019: 7 – 22 June
• 2020: 5 – 20 June 2020 (delivered via Facebook, dubbed Bite-Sized & Home Delivered^[9][10])
• 2021: 11 – 26 June
• 2022: 10 – 25 June
• 2023: 9 – 24 June

Past acts

Artists featured in past festivals include: Dame Edna Everage (AUS), Kristin Chenoweth (USA), Alan Cumming (SCT), Idina Menzel (USA), Dita Von Teese (USA), Megan Hilty (USA) Lea Salonga (PHI), Cassandra Wilson (USA), Olivia Newton-John (AUS), Molly Ringwald (USA), Lenny Henry (UK), Ben Vereen (USA), Mary Wilson (USA), Tim Minchin (AUS), Natalie Cole (USA), Camille O’Sullivan (IRE), Paul Kelly (AUS), Bernadette Peters (USA), Stephen Schwartz (USA), Eddie Perfect (AUS), Rhonda Burchmore (AUS), Micheline Van Hautem (BEL), iOTA (AUS), Lanie Lane (AUS), Caroline Nin (FRA), Michael Feinstein (USA), Mandy Patinkin (USA) and Anthony Warlow (AUS).