Presented by Adelaide Festival Centre
Reviewed 17 June 2022
Rumble! is a game show like no other… be prepared for a sexy on-stage performance battle between Australian stars of drag, burlesque, cabaret, and theatre in a Rue Paul Drag Race-like battle for the trophy.
You know it’s going to be a sexy, sassy and surprising cabaret romp when the show begins with the show’s host, Clara Cupcakes, parading around dressed as a glamorous cow in a full-body, black and white skin-tight bodysuit, black and white patterned cowboy boots, gold sparkly horns, and a large set of pink udders to Doja Cat’s sultry tune Mooo!. As the lyrics fill the room (think “B***h I’m a cow” and “these heifers got nothing on me”), alongside the Kelis classic Milkshake, Clara also has a moment of great bovine strain in extracting milk and cream from her rather full udders in a truly unique cabaret moment.
The night began with previously choreographed and rehearsed routines from the very colourful burlesque performer, Moisty Magic, and the energetic and fabulous drag queen, Xai. These two local talents slay, with pretty-in-pink Moisty Magic enticing the audience with a basic boy hand puppet and comedic routine to the feisty tune Boyfriend (Repeat) by CONFIDENCE, while energetic Xia, dressed in a slinky little black dress and futuristic hair, gives her all to Anastacia’s powerful I’m Outta Love while working the entire stage.
These were followed by an assigning of songs and props and off they went to create a new routine (the music theme was ‘bicycles’). The final dramatic cabaret battle for the winner of a tiny plastic gold trophy almost felt like an adaption of Rue Paul’s famous Drag Race show, with overly fabulous competitors fighting it out on stage in spontaneous and improvised routines with weird and unusual challenges. It would have lived up to the Drag Race experience a bit more if these two performers had brought all their confidence to the stage and gone extra hard in their performance challenge, but unfortunately this didn’t feel like the case.
Throughout the night, host Clara Cupcakes is unshakeable on-stage – one who was truly born to be the centre of attention and oozes an endearing passive-aggressive sassiness. She shows quick wit in response to her co-performers and intoxicated yells from the audience, so much so that it’s most likely not possible to ever catch her off guard.
While the competitors are creating their new routines for the final performance-off, legends of cabaret and drag entertain the audience, and they are probably the highlights of the night. Tina Bikki owns the stage with her glamorous and also concurrently hilarious routine to Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On (think dramatic facial expressions, exaggerated tongue movements, enthusiastic pale thigh slapping, and some good old-fashioned nudity). Ruby Slippers (who had just flown in from performing in Las Vegas at the Cabaret Hall of Fame) graced the stage with an eye-catching routine to the Divinyl’s raunchy tune I Touch Myself, which has the audience viewing mannequins in a totally new (and possibly questionable) way.
A variety show that encompasses talent across many fields of performance, Rumble! is a tempting taste of many varying genres, performers, routines and glamorous outfits, and hopefully future shows produce even more entertaining improvised routines.
Reviewed by Georgina Smerd
Venue: Banquet Room, Adelaide Festival Centre, 5000
Season: 17 June – 18 June 2022
Duration: 60 mins
Tickets: $30 – $44
Bookings: https://www.adelaidecabaretfestival.com.au/events/rumble/
Rating out of 5: 3.5
Photo Credit: Claudio Raschella
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