Memories of Divas past and present brought to life by the chameleonic Bernadette Robinson
Presented by: Adelaide Cabaret Festival and Adelaide Festival Centre
Reviewed: 13 June 2025
Bernadette Robinson is a chameleonic singer who has toured the country for a number of decades bringing to life famous voices of the past, and now present musical landscape. Her one-woman-show Songs for Nobodies was a hit in the Cabaret Festival back in 2012 and a revelation of solo performance and storytelling.
Robinson returns with a somewhat updated list of impersonations in the form of the Divas, including icons like Piaf, Parton, Bassey, Streisand and Garland, to the less top-of-mind Karen Carpenter, Miley Cyrus, Kate Bush and Amy Winehouse. Even an opera diva (Maria Callas) makes an appearance. It is an epic undertaking. With the support of a 4-piece band under musical direction by Mark Jones, Robinson proves she is able to jump from one style to the next in the blink of an eye… from Miley’s Wrecking Ball to Bush’s Running Up That Hill to Callas’ operatic arias. She is dynamic energy and diversity in one person; thrilling audiences in awe of the tonal shifts, and enjoying the nostalgia as Robinson navigates the stories of ten divas across nearly two hours.
The structure of this show, devised by Robinson along with her longtime director and collaborator, Simon Phillips is a little different. Where in Songs for Nobodies the iconic music was punctuated by monologues of witnesses to the stars (a door person, a theatre dresser and so on), in Divas, Robinson attempts to impersonate the actual stars themselves, talking about their lives in the first person. Although it is intended to add substance to the music, the dialogue impersonations do bleed into each other and some are less comfortable than others for a 2025 audience (for example, Shirley Bassey’s Welsh/Nigerian lilt seems appropriated more than honoured). However, any uncomfortable or slightly off impersonation is soon forgotten when Robinson begins singing, and the more recognisable characters shine through.
This is a powerhouse performance by an icon in her own right, bringing her special brand of impersonations to audiences both sentimental and new.
Reviewed by Hayley Horton
Photo credit: Naomi Jellicoe
Venue: Her Majesty’s Theatre
Season: ended
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