AUSTRALIAN AND WORLD STARS TO
BE SHOWCASED AT INAUGURAL
SYDNEY CABARET FESTIVAL
JULY 2019 will herald the inaugural Sydney Cabaret Festival, celebrating both international and Australian cabaret stars.
The 2019 Sydney Cabaret Festival features the legendary Tony Award-winning Jennifer Holliday, appearing for the first time on Australian soil, alongside local legends like Phil Scott and Jonathan Biggins, to New York downtown darling Natalie Joy Johnson.
UK’s most famous duo Frisky and Mannish return after a 10-year hiatus, as does the thrilling diva Alison Jiear, described as having a “bring down the house voice” by the New York Times.
Sydney favourite Tim Draxl will appear in a world premiere of his new show, along with Kim David Smith, Reuben Kaye and Brian Nash, plus circus and variety show Cheeky Cabaret, direct from their home in Brunswick Heads.
Australian pop culture fan Tim Benzie returns to Sydney with the hilarious Solve-Along-A-Murder-She-Wrote.
The Festival also includes a cabaret for children, Petit Cabaret, and masterclasses with Jennifer Holliday and Alison Jiear, as well as the Grand Final of the restored Sydney Cabaret Competition.
Festival Artistic Director Trevor Ashley is thrilled with the program he has assembled.
“I have loved Cabaret as long as I can remember. As a confused child growing up I discovered this incredible artform that celebrated unique personalities, and more than that, an irreplaceable bond between artist and audience.
"Seeing artists like Lorrae Desmond, Julie Anthony and Geraldine Turner live, made me believe I could be anyone I wanted to be. It changed my life.
“I have long dreamed that we could bring cabaret home to Sydney so I am immensely proud to present the inaugural Sydney Cabaret Festival, which in its first outing brings together some of my favourite artists from around Australia and the globe.
"From our headliner, the legendary Jennifer Holliday, through to Alison Jiear, Kim David Smith and Reuben Kaye - three artists at the top of their game, who were born here, but now call London and New York home, there is something for everyone.
"Variety, comedy, jazz, and more belting than you could poke a stick at, we are coming out with a bang.
“I invite you to celebrate this truly life changing artform, and hope that you’ll join not only artists you know and love, but take a chance on someone you’ve never heard of before.
"Every single one of these acts is at the top of their game, and I can’t believe we will have them all in one place at the same time.”
In the immortal words of Fred Ebb: What good is sitting alone in your room? Come to the Cabaret.
Tickets for the Sydney Cabaret Festival to be held from July 5 to 14 will go on sale from March 18, 2019.
SYDNEY CABARET FESTIVAL PROGRAM
ALL-STAR GALA
Friday July 5, City Recital Hall:
Hosted by Festival Director Trevor Ashley, the All-Star Gala is the most glamorous amuse bouche anyone could hope for, with a taste of what’s to come across the festival.
Surprise guest artists, big laughs and sequinned glamour await you ... so step up and step out, for this one-night-only opening event.
This is your chance to be at the opening night, rubbing shoulders with the festival glitterati at this gala event as Cabaret finally comes home to Sydney.
JENNIFER HOLLIDAY
Saturday July 6 and Sunday July 7, Sydney Town Hall:
Tony and Grammy Award winning Broadway icon Jennifer Holliday makes her Australian Debut, exclusively for Sydney Cabaret.
Jennifer Holliday
With two Grammy Awards, nine studio albums and five Top 10 singles on the R&B and Dance Charts to her credit, Jennifer will dazzle with her powerhouse vocals in an electrifying evening of Broadway, jazz standards, originals and soulful pop.
Her show stopping, heart-wrenching performance of And I Am Telling You, I’m Not Going in the original production of Dreamgirls is considered one of the all-time great performances in a Broadway musical.
She recently returned to Broadway in the role of sexy cabaret singer Shug Avery in the Tony-winning revival of The Color Purple.
She has been proclaimed a Broadway legend by critics and fans alike.
CHEEKY CABARET
Friday July 5 – Sunday July 14, Valhalla, Seymour Centre:
Who knew that the sleepy picturesque village of Brunswick Heads on the north coast of NSW would become the cultural hotspot that has most of the country talking?
Stumbling across an unloved theatre on the beach that had been closed for 30 years, the creators of international, award-winning smash hits La Soirée and Club Swizzle had an immediate life-changing epiphany and after much blood, sweat and tears, the Brunswick Picture House was born.
The signature show of this charming little venue, the Cheeky Cabaret, has grown up quickly and is now venturing out and stretching its legs in the big smoke at the Sydney Cabaret Festival in July.
The black sheep of the La Soirée cabaret family and very naughty younger brother, the Cheeky Cabaret is an irreverent, saucy and highly mischievous mash of circus, vaudeville, comedy, new burlesque and everything in between, and has been a runaway success.
With three years of sold out shows under its belt, the Cheeky Cabaret's reputation has rippled up and down the coast, with its tongue placed firmly in cheek.
If you’re a fan of flavours other than vanilla, then open up wide ... the Cheeky Cabaret is just for you.
A CENTENARY CELEBRATION OF ELLA FITZGERALD - ALISON JIEAR
Friday July 12 and Saturday July 13, Chequers, Seymour Centre":
Following sell-out shows in London, Laurence Olivier Award-nominated vocalist Alison Jiear returns to her home country with her phenomenal jazz quartet to perform music made famous by the "First Lady of Song" with a show packed full of iconic standards such as A Tisket A Tasket, Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye, Lady be Good, Hernando's Hideaway and That 'Ol Black Magic.
One of the greatest voices in cabaret you’ll ever hear, Alison is a class act, and will move you to tears.
NO CABARET FOR OLD MEN - PHIL SCOTT AND JONATHAN BIGGINS
Friday July 5, Saturday July 6 and Sunday July 7 – Tilbury Room, Seymour Centre:
Direct from the Tilbury Hotel (via 46 years in the Wharf Revue), the Tilbury Room at Sydney Cabaret proudly resents Jonathan Biggins and Phil Scott giving a veritable masterclass in cabaret – with neither the mastery nor class.
Together, these lightly-seasoned performers examine the many strands of the cabaret art form – Audition Cabaret, Name-Drop Cabaret, Weimar, Broadway, Political and the ever-popular “No Other Avenue is Available to Me” cabaret stylings of the under-employed.
No Cabaret for Old Men – the show that finally gives mature white men the voice they’ve never had.
LOVE IS A DRAG - TIM DRAXL
Wednesday July 10 and Thursday July 11, Tilbury Room, Seymour Centre:
Actor and singer Tim Draxl returns to the cabaret stage with an exciting project that re-creates the 1960s cult album of male-to-male love songs Love Is A Drag.
The melodic, haunting work comprises American standards previously recorded only by women yet here interpreted by a male crooner whose identity was deliberately shrouded in secrecy. Songs include My Man, The Man I Love, He’s Funny That Way, Bewitched and Mad About The Boy.
Love is a Drag is a vibrant, truthful and intimate exploration which reveals the repression, hostility, deceits and life-and-death sacrifices of the ‘40s, ‘50s and ’60s as well as a celebration of Tim Draxl’s own personal story of artistic freedom, individual and collective pride, and how 50 years ago the very notion of marriage equality would have been dismissed as pure fantasy.
Ultimately, Love Is A Drug is deeply-romantic, life-affirming and liberating, as achingly conveyed in Billie Holliday’s The Man I Love.
POPLAB - FRISKY AND MANNISH
Saturday July 6 and Sunday July 7, Chequers, Seymour Centre:
Ten years since they burst onto the scene with their wildly popular brand of musical infotainment, Frisky and Mannish are officially Pop PhDs, fully qualified to conduct scientific analyses of the molecular intersections between every pop song ever.
For the first time, you are invited into their PopLab to peek down the microscope at all their latest research projects.
Have they found an effective vaccine for the contagious Tropical House virus sweeping through the pop world? Who is the latest to benefit from their 80s RnB Conservation Program?
Brush up on your Pop Periodic Table with the mad scientists themselves, and perhaps you too will be able to address problematic equations, like just how can Coldplay be so popular even though everyone you ask says they hate them? Science, people. Science.
Award-winners at Adelaide Fringe, sell-outs at Perth Fringe, specially invited artists at Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and long-overdue a return to Sydney since their acclaimed debut at the Opera House in 2009, the British sensations are finally back to bring you their unique brand of popmusicy-seriocomic-mashparodic-stereophonic-LOUD-vaudevillian-sketchcabaret-throwbackcurrent-oldfangled-newfashioned-bapsbotty-infotainment.
KIM SINGS KYLIE - KIM DAVID SMITH
Friday July 12, Saturday July 13 and Sunday July 14, Tilbury Room, Seymour Centre:
New York based cabaret performer Kim David Smith salutes perennial pop goddess, Kylie Minogue, with an intimately fabulous cabaret-fantasia, celebrating Kylie’s catalogue of gargantuan hits and glittering deep cuts, from 1987’s Locomotion all the way through to 2018’s Golden.
Labelled the “male Marlene Dietrich” by the New York Times, Smith deconstructs three decades of Minogue dance anthems, with music direction by the multi-Award winning Brian Nash, and with costumes by Miodrag Guberinic (Katy Perry, Madonna, Nicki Minaj).
RELENTLESS - NATALIE JOY JOHNSON
Thursday July 11, Friday July 12 and Saturday July 13 – Tilbury Room, Seymour Centre:
Get into it, kweens! New York City goddess and diva Natalie Joy Johnson bursts into Sydney for the very first time ever.
Her unique brand of outrageous stories coupled with her sensational voice makes her an unmissable event, as she guides you through everything from her experiences at her first ever swingers party to Marie Kondo.
Joined by Brian Nash on the piano and a rocking band, expect everything from showtunes to Jim Steinman. She’s loud, she’s trashy, she’s relentless.
REUBEN KAYE
Friday July 12, Saturday July 13 and Sunday July 14 – Capriccio’s, Seymour Centre:
Imagine if Joan Collins, Tim Curry and Meow Meow all dropped a stack of narcotics and had an orgy... now roll it in jewels and a bathtub of gin and you’re halfway there.
In an explosion of energy, high camp, big notes and filthy humour, Reuben Kaye dominates the stage and devours his audience.
With an acid wit and casual sensationalism that is simply delicious, he is a dazzling phantasm of anachronistic showbiz – an explosion of sequins, lashes and teeth.
Kaye’s delivery is flawless as he seamlessly blends lavish storytelling into gilded song, incorporating an impressive repertoire that ranges from Kurt Weill to Kate Bush, regularly punctuating his monologue with rich cultural critique.
THE ART OF THE MASHUP - BRIAN NASH
Thursday July 11, Capriccio’s, Seymour Centre:
Direct from the Duplex, award-winning New York City pianist, singer and musical director Brian Nash returns to Sydney with The Art of the Mashup.
Brian has become renowned for his ability to combine songs into hilarious, creative storytelling medleys, and is debuting a full evening of his greatest hits, along with the stories of their creation.
If you’ve wanted to know what Stewie Griffin would sound like singing Beyoncé, or wondered where Bette Midler and Whitney Houston overlap, this is your chance. An evening with a true king of the keys!
SOLVE-ALONG-A-MURDER-SHE-WROTE
Friday July 5, Saturday July 6 and Sunday July 7 – Capriccio’s, Seymour Centre:
Direct from London, Solve-Along-A-Murder-She-Wrote is a hosted screening of an episode of Murder, She Wrote, featuring hilarious games and audience participation.
Hosted by superfan Tim Benzie, our most interactive event includes a singalong to the theme tune with new lyrics, Cabot Cove Bingo, and a JB Fletcher Epiphany Race! With campy guest stars and 80s trivia, what more could you ask for? Jessica Fletcher always works it out, will you solve the murder?
PETIT CABARET - Just for kids!
Thursday July 11, Friday July 12 and Saturday July 13, Valhalla, Seymour Centre:
Brought to you by the crazies at Cheeky Cabaret, join us for a kid’s cabaret especially for the little ones.
Kids will love this circus variety show which is just a little bit less cheeky that its evening counterpart.
Mums and Dads bring the little ones along to witness the skill and danger of these brilliant variety performers. Recommended for ages 5+
SYDNEY CABARET COMPETITION GRAND FINAL
Wednesday July 10, Capriccio’s, Seymour Centre:
Australia's next generation of cabaret superstars will launch their careers at The Sydney Cabaret Competition: Grand Final hosted by ‘International Queen of Cabaret’ Trevor Ashley.
On the night, one lucky winner will receive a career changing prize and the chance to perform at the festival’s closing night.
A judging panel of distinguished international entertainers will also select a runners up and the audience will choose their favourite to receive an award from a total prize pool valued at over $5000.
With a diverse range of experience, styles and sounds, the competition finalists will already have impressed a panel of judges to progress to this final, including Helpmann Award winner Matt Lee, Broadway World Award winner Catherine Alcorn, Australian cabaret treasures Phil Scott and Margi De Ferranti, and producers Mark Sutcliffe and Les Solomon.
JENNIFER HOLLIDAY MASTERCLASS With Brian Nash
Wednesday July 10, Chequers, Seymour Centre:
In a special one-off event, join two time Grammy and Tony award-winning artist Jennifer Holliday as she mentors four emerging Australian performers in an open Masterclass.
Having been mentored herself by the legendary Michael Bennett, you’ll experience her incredible process and gain insights into acting through song and song interpretation.
ALISON JIEAR MASTERCLASS With Michael Tyack
Thursday July 11, Capriccio’s, Seymour Centre:
Olivier award nominated songstress Alison Jiear joins with musical director Michael Tyack to present their insights into creating and crafting a cabaret show.
Working with two emerging Australian cabaret artists on their act and interpretation of material and patter, this is a behind-the-scenes look at how cabaret is created.
Ali’s warm and wonderful sense of humour will shine as she nurtures and inspires the next generation.
ABOUT THE PERFORMERS
TREVOR ASHLEY
Trevor Ashley is one of Australia’s most sought-after and successful performers. He has built a career and following as an actor, writer, director and international queen of cabaret - but not necessarily in that order.
In musical theatre, Trevor starred as Thenardier in Cameron Mackintosh’s Les Miserables across Australia for which he was nominated for his third Helpmann Award. He has also appeared as Herod in Jesus Christ Superstar, Edna Turnblad in Hairspray and created the role of Miss Understanding in Priscilla Queen Of the Desert: The Musical.
Last year he appeared as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House.
He recently completed a national symphony tour of Diamonds Are For Trevor, a tribute to Shirley Bassey which was also recorded as a special for Foxtel Arts.
Trevor has previously starred in Liza (on and E), Liza’s Back! (is broken), I’m Every Woman and TWINS with Rhonda Burchmore.
His new adults-only panto The Bodybag toured to great acclaim throughout 2018, completing the trilogy of Fat Swan and Little Orphan TrAshley.
In 2015, Trevor made his directorial debut with Heathers: the Musical, a cult hit that began life at the Hayes Theatre Co, and transferred to QPAC, Arts Centre Melbourne and the Sydney Opera House.
In 2016 he also directed, again for the Hayes, Mack and Mabel. He also conceived and directed Hear Me Roar, starring six of Australia’s great female vocalists.
JENNIFER HOLLIDAY
Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Holliday went straight from the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church Choir to the Broadway stage in the Big Apple.
One Sunday, while singing in the church choir, she was discovered by dancer Jamie Patterson who was touring in the national company of A Chorus Line.
Jamie not only set up an audition for Jennifer in New York for the show Your Arms Are Too Short To Box With God, but he also bought her an airline ticket and made arrangements for her to stay with his aunt.
During the audition with the show’s creator and director, Vinnette Carroll, Jennifer sang her favourite hymn, God Will Take Care Of You. And that He did - She was hired for the show that same day.
Jennifer toured with Your Arms Are Too Short To Box With God for five months and then made her Broadway debut with the show as Jennifer-Yvette Holliday.
While on Broadway, Jennifer’s talent was noticed by the renowned Broadway director and choreographer Michael Bennett, the creator of A Chorus Line. He invited her to participate in an untitled project that he was producing.
Even though Jennifer was still performing in Your Arms Are Too Short To Box With God, Bennett’s project sounded too good to pass up. The project turned out to be Dreamgirls. At this early stage of the workshop process however the role of Effie was not fully developed and even the signature song And I’m Telling You ... had not been written yet.
During workshops for the show, Jennifer began shaping and changing the storyline of Effie’s character to be what she felt would be a more truth portrayal. And around this time Bennett suggested that it would be better if Jennifer dropped the hyphen and go by Jennifer Holliday, which she did.
After previews in Boston, Dreamgirls had opened on Broadway on December 21, 1981 at the Imperial Theatre, and the rest (as they say) is history. The show ran for five years and won universal acclaim.
Holliday’s other theatre credits include Sing Mahalia Sing: The Mahalia Jackson Story, Downhearted Blues: The Bessie Smith Story, Harlem Suite (with Aretha Franklin), Chicago (starring as Mama Morton), Grease (starring as Teen Angel) and Black Nativity (starring as the Angel of God). Jennifer also reprised her role as Effie to sold-out crowds in 2007.
Holliday’s recording career has been moderately successful with the release of five albums beginning in 1983. Her second album, Say You Love Me, won her a second Grammy for her rendition of Duke Ellington’s classic, Come Sunday.
Jennifer has carried on a parallel career as a recording artist. And I’m Telling You, I’m Not Going remains her biggest chart-topping success to date. The song was #1 on the R&B Charts for four consecutive weeks and a Top 40 hit on the Pop Charts.
From 1985 to 1992 she enjoyed five Top 10 singles on the R&B and Dance Charts such as I’m On Your Side and No Frills Love.
Over the years Jennifer has worked with and recorded with many other major artists including Barbra Streisand, Luther Vandross, David Foster, Paul Simon, Michael Jackson, and Foreigner on a special version of I Want To Know What Love Is.
Jennifer, the actress, paved a new path in her career when TV producer David E. Kelley saw her on the Rosie O’Donnell show and gave her a call about making a guest appearance on Ally McBeal, the Fox TV series that starred Calista Flockhart.
The response to her version of Randy Newman’s Short People was so overwhelming that Kelley wrote her character, Lisa Knowles, into the series as a regular. As the outspoken, quirky choir director and lead soloist at McBeal’s church, Jennifer’s character appeared on the series for five seasons.
Over the years, she has also appeared on other TV series such as Touched By An Angel, Hang Time, Happily Ever After, The Love Boat and Ellen.
Holliday continues to perform all over the world with leading symphonies such as the Boston Pops, the National Symphony Orchestra and the Cincinnati Pops. She’s performed for both Democratic and Republican US Presidents.
In 2000 she received an Honorary Doctorate of Music from the Berklee College of Music for her work on behalf of mental health awareness, depression and suicide prevention.
Jennifer continues to believe that music has a healing power and she also strongly believes that her music and her story are her gift to her audiences.
ALISON JIEAR
Classically trained at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, Alison moved to the United Kingdom 30 years ago.
Alison has been singing professionally for 34 years and is known world-wide as a versatile musical theatre and concert performer and recording artist.
A Laurence Olivier Award nominated actress, she has appeared in numerous West End shows such as Les Miserables, Jerry Springer the Opera (Royal National Theatre) and On the Town for the English National Opera at the Coliseum and at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris.
She is as much at ease paying homage to Ella Fitzgerald at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club as she is fronting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at The Royal Albert Hall. She has an eclectic taste in music and resists being "pigeon-holed".
Alison is a highly regarded concert artist performing with many of the UK's leading orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic, the Halle, the BBC Concert Orchestra, the Liverpool Philharmonic, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra to name a few.
Alison works regularly as a session vocalist, lending her voice to television shows such as X Factor, TV theme tunes, film soundtracks and commercials.
As a vocalist, Alison is most regarded for her versatility and natural ability to embrace a wide variety of styles.
Alison has recorded four solo albums, the most recent of which, Inspirational, was inspired by her father's battle with Alzheimer's and his passing in 2014.
Inspirational features the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, gospel choir, classical choir and an impressive creative team of arrangers, musicians and one of the industry's top producers.
JONATHAN BIGGINS AND PHIL SCOTT
Aside from their Wharf Revue fame, which has made them a household word from Casula to Nunawading, Jonathan Biggins is well known as a performer, playwright, director, host and satirist, and is currently touring his one-man Paul Keating show, The Gospel According to Paul.
Phil Scott is a writer, actor, pianist and composer, who won awards for his solo cabaret performance in Reviewing the Situation, and co-wrote many shows with Trevor Ashley, including Fat Swan and The Bodybag.
TIM DRAXL
Tim Draxl is one of Australia’s premier cabaret artists performing both in Australia and internationally as well as a successful actor whose career spans almost two decades.
At the age of 16, Draxl signed a recording contract with Sony Music Australia and performed on the New York Cabaret circuit at famed venues such as Eighty Eights, The Firebird Cafe, Don’t Tell Mamma, the Algonquin Oak Room and New York Town Hall.
In 2000 Draxl won the MAC Award (Manhattan Association Of Cabaret) for male debut subsequently being invited to perform on The Rosie O’Donnell Show and has received both a Glug and Sydney Theatre award for his cabaret performances.
Tim’s extensive television credits include Logie Award winning A Place to Call Home as series regular Henry Fox, the Molly Meldrum telemovie Molly, the critically acclaimed series Serangoon Road, Mrs Biggs, Home & Away, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, Crownies, Day One, Tangle, Headland, Supernova, Dynasty: The Making of a Guilty Pleasure and The Shark Net.
His film work includes Nest directed by Kimble Rendall, A Few Best Men, Undocumented, Ivory, In My Sleep, Red Canyon, Right Here Right Now, Travelling Light, Swimming Upstream and Dirty Deeds.
Tim recently finished a critically acclaimed season of Torch Song Trilogy for which he won the Glugs Award for best supporting actor and Evie May, an original Australian musical at the Hayes Theatre Co.
His other theatre credits include Only Heaven Knows (Hayes Theatre), Lip Service (Ensemble), Freeway - The Chet Baker Journey (Sydney Opera House, Melbourne Festival, Brisbane Festival), Mothers and Sons (Ensemble), Nailed (Griffin), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Belvoir), The Sound Of Music (GFO) and She Loves Me (The Production Company).
Tim received an ASTRA Award Nomination for Most Outstanding Performance by an Actor for Supernova and a TV Week Logie Award Nomination for Most Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series for The Shark Net.
He has released four solo albums, Ordinary Miracles and Insongniac for Sony Music Australia, the independently released Tim Draxl Live At The Supper Club and My Funny Valentine released through Ambition Entertainment which went to number two on the iTunes jazz charts.
FRISKY AND MANNISH
Laura Corcoran is a writer, director and performer best known as Miss Frisky, one half of Frisky & Mannish and also resident diva with some of the finest cabaret shows in the world, including La Soiree (Denmark, London, Perth, Auckland), Palazzo (Berlin, Austria), Black Cat Cabaret (London) and Briefs present: Sweatshop (Edinburgh).
After studying English at Oxford University and musical theatre at the Royal Academy of Music, she teamed up with Matthew Floyd Jones to create Frisky & Mannish.
They have enjoyed huge critical acclaim, multiple Edinburgh Fringe sell-out shows, international touring, regular appearances on BBC radio and most recently a UK Top Ten Comedy podcast.
Laura has also directed multiple acclaimed cabaret shows at The London Wonderground, and is a sought-after MC in Europe, working in German and French as well as her native English.
MATTHEW FLOYD JONES is a musician, writer and performer, best known as the keyboard-playing half of internationally-beloved musical comedy duo Frisky & Mannish, and the creator of acclaimed solo show Richard Carpenter is Close to You.
He won a Fringe First and a Musical Theatre Review Award for co-writing the hit play A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad).
He played George in the West End première of Miss Nightingale, and has acted at the National Theatre, Sadler’s Wells, Trafalgar Studios and the Barbican. His alt-drag character act Ruth Less was crowned Miss Twin Peaks 2013.
Matthew has musically directed shows for the Young Vic, Jermyn Street Theatre and the Oxford Playhouse, and regularly works as a featured entertainer for Royal Caribbean International. He has also written a number of articles and interviews for Exeunt Magazine.
Matthew graduated from Oxford with a scholarship, a Full Blue award and a joint honours degree in Classics and English literature. He holds a diploma in piano from Trinity College London. He is an alumnus of the National Youth Music Theatre of Great Britain.
KIM DAVID SMITH
Kim David Smith is a Helpmann Award nominated singer and cabaret performer, known for his Weimar-era inspired works that juxtapose authentic musical material with stylistic takes on current popular tunes. His electro-pop albums Nova, Supernova, and cabaret EP, The Tease, are available worldwide on iTunes and Amazon.
His cabaret programs, Nova Noir, Misfit and Morphium have performed regularly in New York City at Café Sabarsky at the Neue Galerie, Joe’s Pub at the Public Theatre, the Laurie Beechman Theatre, the Due Theatre at DMAC and Bard Spiegeltent at Bard College, while also touring Australia, presented at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, the Festival of Voices, Brisbane Cabaret Festival, Slide Cabaret Festival, Ballarat Cabaret Festival, Chapel Off Chapel, the National Gallery of Victoria, and Smith’s cabaret birthplace, Melbourne’s Butterfly Club.
2009 saw Smith presented with the Back Stage Magazine Bistro Award for Special Achievement as an Outstanding Performer (honoured alongside Liza Minnelli and Charles Aznavour).
He was also nominated for 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2018 Manhattan Association of Cabaret (MAC) Awards in the Outstanding Male Vocalist category. He is a recipient of the American Australian Association’s Dame Joan Sutherland Award for aspiring artists (2008), and is a member of the Kabarett Kollektif, a troupe of New York-based artists dedicated to preserving the European cabaret tradition.
Mr Smith studied at the Ballarat Arts Academy in Australia (BA, Music Theatre), and resides in New York City.
NATALIE JOY JOHNSON
Natalie Joy Johnson can currently be seen on Broadway eight times a week as Pat in the 2013 Tony Award Winning musical, Kinky Boots.
Her other theatre credits include both Paulette Buonofante (National Tour) and Enid Hoopes (Original Broadway cast) in Legally Blonde: the Musical, as well as bare: a pop opera (Nadia), Southern Comfort (Cori) and Silence! The Musical.
Natalie is an accomplished cabaret artist, selling out shows at Joe's Pub, 54 Below, Feinstein's at Lowe's Regency, and Ars Nova.
For over four years alongside musical director Brian Nash, she rocked out a hit weekly show Co-Dependent at gay midtown hot spot Therapy Bar & Grille.
Natalie recently teamed up with her brilliant collaborators, John Hill and Brian Nash, to unleash their latest creation NJJ & The Raging Case to a sold out audience at Joe’s Pub.
The other titles in their fully scripted one woman show trilogy include Natalie Joy Johnson is RELENTLESS (lauded as one of Time Out New York's 10 Best Cabarets of 2011) and Natalie Joy Johnson: Full Bush (NYMF 2013 Outstanding Individual Performance Award).
REUBEN KAYE
Reuben has enjoyed residencies at London's historic Savoy Hotel, The Rosewood Hotel and at London's West End home of cabaret, the famous Cafe de Paris as their regular host and performer, while still travelling to perform in Berlin's Wintergarten, Tipi Am Kanzleramt, Ohh La La Cherie in Zurich, Cabaret Lune Noir in Bern, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Hamburg State Opera, the Royal Albert Hall in London, the Savoy Theatre in Helsinki and the famous Södra Theatre in Stockholm, to name a few.
BRIAN NASH
Brian Nash has travelled the world, music directing for artists such as Jennifer Holliday, Alan Cumming, Lena Hall, Courtney Act, Deborah Cox, Shoshana Bean, Andy Bell of Erasure, Natalie Joy Johnson and many others.
His theatrical credits include Beaches, Mother Courage and her Children, The Last Five Years and SILENCE! The Musical. His solo album, Forever/After, is available on iTunes.
TIM BENZIE
Tim Benzie is a superfan of Murder, She Wrote, having watched the original series live when it was first broadcast, and now relishing the repeats on British TV.
The co-producer of cabaret club night PopHorror, Tim is also the co-writer of the Royal Vauxhall Tavern 2017 panto Goosed, and an award-winning playwright and writer.
In addition to PopHorror nights I Still Know What You Did Donna Summer and The Cher Witch Project, Tim has co-produced and starred in PopHorror immersive events Horror Prom and Camp Friday 13th.
ABOUT THE VENUES
Sydney Town Hall, City Recital Hall and the Festival Hub at the Seymour Centre.
The Seymour Centre is the home to the majority of the program with five fabulous spaces to enjoy the incredible lineup. All the theatres have been renamed after legendary Sydney cabaret venues, turning the entire venue into a Cabaret Wonderland.
VALHALLA
The largest venue, named after the famous cinema/ performance space in Glebe is the home to Cheeky Cabaret, and the Petit Cabaret for the kids.
Valhalla was the place audiences first saw the legend that became Reg Livermore when he starred as Frank N’ Furter in The Rocky Horror Show in the original Australian production.
CHEQUERS
Chequers will be home to some of our favourite cabaret superstars, transporting you back to the legendary nightclub of the 1960s.
Chequers on Goulburn Street, was the hottest nightspot in Sydney for years, with star acts like Shirley Bassey, Liza Minnelli and Sammy Davis Jr!
THE TILBURY ROOM
Tilbury legends Jonathan Biggins and Phil Scott will headline the room named after the renowned Sydney pub in Woolloomooloo.
Owned by Geoffrey Williams and Michael Freundt, the Tilbury was the place to go for cabaret for most of the 90s. Here icons like Tony Sheldon, Genevieve Lemon, Jeanne Little and many more trod the boards, especially in the famous Tilbury Pantos.
CAPRICCIO’S
Named after one of the greatest drag revue bars on Oxford Street, Capriccios is the smallest room in which to get properly up close and personal.
Capriccio’s was owned by Dawn O’Donnell and featured high-end production shows in its upstairs theatre where you could see celebrities like Debbie Reynolds mixing with star performer Rose Jackson!
THE PIANO BAR
Upstairs at the Seymour, come on down where the gin is cold and the piano’s hot! The nightly piano bar operates across the festival, with special late shows on weekends.
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March 14, 2019
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