What do Edith Piaf, Kylie Minogue, Judy Garland, Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Sabrina Carpenter and Dolly Parton all have in common, apart from their incredible vocals? They are, you might say, ‘vertically challenged’.
Adelaide Cabaret Icon Libby O’Donovan OAM and award-winning performer Michaela Burger stand at three meters tall, collectively. After decades of being called vertically challenged pocket rockets, these two join forces to show that there’s more to shorties than meets the eye.
Libby is no stranger to the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, having performed in just about every Festival. Besides the Cabaret Festival, she has performed at the Adelaide Festival of Arts, Edinburgh Fringe, Sydney Spring Festival, Perth International Arts Festival, the International Jazz Educators Convention, Melbourne Fringe, Adelaide Fringe, Feast Festival and has performed in India as part of the Hindu Festival. Libby is also highly in demand as a composer, arranger and musical director, for which she has won a Green Room Award.
Libby and Michaela’s show at this year’s Cabaret Festival, Short, is full of musical megahits, great tales of shortness and proof that good things really do come in small packages.
Libby spoke to Glam Adelaide about Short, her Cabaret Festival Icon Award and shared what the Adelaide Cabaret Festival means to her.
“I’ve been in every single Cabaret Festival except for one when I was touring somewhere else at the time and wasn’t in Adelaide. I think the Festival itself is one of the best festivals in the world, and I’m not just saying that because I get to be a part of it. I’ve spoken to a lot of other cabaret performers nationally and internationally, and they all know about the Adelaide Cabaret Festival. It is the premier cabaret festival in the world. To me it means that winter is coming alive and Adelaide is really showing its colours. International and national acts come together and everyone really enjoys this time celebrating the art of cabaret. It’s like one big, happy family. The festival is always carefully curated each year by whichever artistic director is in charge and they each bring a wonderful flavour that is different, unique and entertaining.”
In 2022, Libby was awarded the Cabaret Festival Icon award.
“I remember when Alex Sinclair, who was the executive producer of the Cabaret Festival at that time, rang me to say I was being awarded the Cabaret Icon Award. I was absolutely blown away, I was so incredibly happy and honoured. It’s my preferred genre. The fact that you can express who you are, you can speak to the truth of what’s happening right now in the world, you can present works that are really engaging, entertaining, brave, funny—it’s a real representation of the human existence. To be honoured for that, for something that I love so much, I really felt so special and was very grateful for that.”
Despite working in the same circles and being good friends off stage, Short is the first time Libby and Michaela have worked together on a project.
“I have been wanting to perform with Michaela Burger for years and years. We are always in the same circles, we’re always doing things at Cabaret Festival, we see each other at other festivals and other performance opportunities, but we have strangely never worked together…and we’re friends as well. But we’ve never worked together. A very, very long time ago, I wanted to do a show with her called Short, Fat and Ugly, but it was just like a joke. I said to her, we should do a show called Short, Fat and Ugly, and do all songs and material that just represent that as we were laughing about what it takes to be a performer and what expectations are like in this industry. For a lot of women, it’s about looking your best and trying to be glamorous and I was wanting to try to flip that on the head.
“When it came to this Cabaret Festival, I said to her, why don’t we do a show called Short? Because we’re both really short – we are both under 5 feet tall. We have the same things said to us time and time again when we come off stage: “Oh my God, I can’t believe how short you are in real life. You look bigger on stage, and such a big voice coming out of such a little person,” and all of those things that people say. We have that same experience because we’re both so little and I just thought it would be really fun to explore that. I think at the moment in the world with so many people finding so many aspects of life tricky or confronting, with all sorts of global catastrophes happening, I just wanted to present a show that was fun and entertaining. It does tap into what a lot of people experience on an everyday level being short, but it’s just going to be a really fabulous opportunity for people to come forget their worries and their cares and just have a sensationally fun time.”
We asked Libby what the creative process has been like when it came to writing Short.
“We have been and are still collaborating on everything. We collaborate on all aspects of how the show is going to run: the script, the arrangements, which songs, the band, how we’re going to present the show, the lighting—everything. We are working so well together. We just can’t believe we haven’t done this sooner.”
Short will be performed at the 2026 Cabaret Festival for three performances between 11th – 13th of June.
Short – Libby O’Donovan & Michaela Burger
Space Theatre – Adelaide Festival Centre
11th – 13th June 2026
https://cabaret.adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au/whats-on/libby-odonovan-michaela-burger-short
Photo credit: Claudio Raschella
