The Adelaide Cabaret Festival is always a major highlight of the year, bringing some of the world’s best cabaret artists to Adelaide for three weeks of high quality entertainment.
In 2023, it has been announced that instead of a single artistic director, there will be a team of artistic directors, each bringing a wealth of cabaret knowledge to curate a sensational program. The Artistic Directors for 2023 are Julia Holt, David Campbell and Lisa Campbell, Kate Ceberano, Eddie Perfect, Julia Zemiro, Alan Cumming, Tina Arena and Ali McGregor.
Ali McGregor is a Melbourne-based singer and producer. She started her career as a principal soprano with Opera Australia then joined the circus, performing on the hit show, La Clique (La Soiree). She is now an award-winning cabaret performer who has performed everywhere from Glastonbury to Carnegie Hall and is one of the most in-demand performers on the international festival circuit. She was nominated for an ARIA award in 2014 and in 2015 was awarded a Green Room Award for her contribution to cabaret, and, most recently, she has won a coveted Helpmann Award for her cabaret show Yma Sumac – The Peruvian Songbird after successful seasons at Adelaide Cabaret Festival and the Sydney Opera House.
Ali recently caught up with me to discuss the 2023 Cabaret Festival, and what drew her into the world of performing and cabaret.
“From the outset, I have been very fortunate to have had great music and theatre programs when I was at school. It really sparked that interest really early on. My parents weren’t natural theatre goers. They did go and see things, but it was an occasional thing. Music and theatre at school became integral for me, which is why I’m really passionate about arts education in early years now. I had a wonderful jazz teacher who was very inspiring for me, as well as a wonderful soprano singing teacher. I had never really heard of opera before having lessons with her. When it got to my last few years of high school I worked out I could do music as a subject, so focused on my singing and really got taken by the fact opera can tell a story on such a visual and aural level. I was drawn right into opera because it felt so real and raw, so then I went and studied professionally after school. Many years later, while I was working with Opera Australia, I started to discover the world of cabaret as well and it opened my eyes even more to how you can communicate with an audience in such an intimate and wonderful way that you just don’t get to do in any other art form. You can really find your true self.”
Over the years, Ali has written and performed numerous cabaret shows. I was keen to hear where she draws her inspiration.
“Every show I’ve done has been a different process. With my show Alchemy, I found myself gravitating to creating mashups or finding songs that I loved. Because I was working with a jazz band on this, I was wanting to take songs that I loved in the 80s and turn them into 1940s torch songs. I took songs that people would think were trashy, stripped them back to their raw goodness and built them up again. I love doing that. I think a good song is a good song no matter what genre it’s in and stripping it back to its bare bones and then dressing it up often transforms it into something completely different. Other shows I’ve done I get absorbed into other people’s lives as I research them, and the show writes itself around that. I do a lot of mentoring of emerging cabaret artists now, and I’m always telling them to find things that they are super passionate about and then expand from that. Really great cabaret comes from a place of deep passion and finding something that really speaks to you.”
Next year, Ali is joining forces with some incredible artists to curate the 2023 Cabaret Festival.
“It is so exciting. I cannot wait to get back to the Adelaide Cabaret Festival next year. It really did feel like all of us are superheroes when we got that call, like in a Marvel movie when we get a call to band together. When we did the photo shoot for the launch, we all worked out how well we know each other and we have very similar views on what makes a great cabaret. It really felt wonderful. The 2023 Cabaret Festival is going to be really wonderful, because with all our diverse backgrounds it means we will be casting the cabaret net far and wide to bring in a wonderful selection of shows.”
Ali explained to me the process they undertook to select the line up, which has resulted in such a diverse team to drive the 2023 Cabaret Festival.
“Alex Sinclair, the Executive Producer of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, has been really incredible with herding all of our ideas. It was a little bit like a Jackson Pollock painting where we threw all of these colours at the canvas and Alex has then been able to help us create a wonderful selection of artists for the program. She has done an amazing job at navigating all of our crazy ideas. Everyone has put their ideas forward and the program has been moulded from that.”
Ali cannot wait to get back to Adelaide in 2023 for what is promising to be another phenomenal line up.
“I love how the Cabaret Festival is in and around the Festival Centre complex, or a short walk from it. You can go there and fully immerse yourself in the world of cabaret. You can see a show, grab a drink or some food then go see something else. It has such a great vibe. The audiences are also so loyal. They are so open to ideas and trying something new and different.”
The 2023 Adelaide Cabaret Festival opens on June 9 and runs until June 24. Tickets for The 2023 Variety Gala are already on sale and further information can be found at https://cabaret.adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au/ .
Interviewed by: Ben Stefanoff
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