Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Saturday 23rd June 2018.
Every year, final years students from high schools around Adelaide audition to be part of a project that culminates in the
Class of Cabaret performances during the Adelaide Cabaret Festival. This year, eighteen young people appeared onstage, nine in each of the two sessions.
This was an initiative of
David Campbell when he was the artistic director of the Festival in 2010, and it has proved itself to be a valuable contribution to the annual programme.
The schools represented this year were Adelaide High School, Blackfriars Priory School, Cedar College, Eynesbury Senior College, Gawler & District B-12, Gleeson College, Glenunga International High School, Heathfield High School, Navigator College, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College, Pembroke School, St Michael's College, Thebarton Senior College, Trinity College Gawler, Tyndale Christian School, and Urrbrae Agricultural High School.
Those fortunate enough to be chosen are mentored by Amelia Ryan and
Michael Griffiths, with vocal training provided by Charmaine Jones. They are directed for the final performances by David Lampard, with musical director, Alex Wignall, at the piano to accompany them. It is wonderful that such professional performers are willing and able to commit their time and energy to assist and encourage these people, who are taking their first steps in the performing arts, and what a thrill it must be for them to perform as part of a major festival.
Both performances began with both groups joining for a choral number,
The New World, from the musical, Songs for a New World, by
Jason Robert Brown, and each ended with the individual groups in chorus on another tune,
This is Me, from The Greatest Showman, by
Benj Pasek and
Justin Paul, who came to the Cabaret Festival a few years ago.
Between those two choral numbers was a diverse collection of introductions, patter, and songs from each of the participants. Anything might happen in a live show, and we now rely heavily on computer controlled lights and sound. Once in a while, something goes wrong and, as the first person in the first show began her song, the lighting desk froze. She sang on, bravely, but Griffiths eventually stopped the show as it was obvious that there was a big problem. Rebooting did not fix it.
Like a seasoned trouper, she ad-libbed to fill the time. As it soon appeared that it was going to take long time to sort out the problem, Griffiths stepped in and took over, keeping the audience entertained. Half an hour after the show was supposed to have begun, he decided to turn up the house lights and working lights and proceed that way. Moments later, a welcome voice came down from a technician in the lighting gantry to say that it was fixed.
Without batting an eyelid, she went right back to the beginning of her performance, slightly modifying her spoken section to reflect the fact that we had already heard it. There should be some sort of medal for her. There are some professionals who would not have coped and responded half as well as Olivia Giameos did, and she followed it up with a fine performance of a medley of
Astonishing, from Little Women, and
Don't Want to Be Here. I don't intend to offer a detailed review of every performer, as that would run into thousands of words and hours of writing, but her extra efforts do indeed deserve special mention for going far above and beyond what was expected of her.
One thing that stood out this year was that Australia's establishment of a multicultural community is of immense value, with artists from a wide range of backgrounds, including Greek, Italian, Filipino, Indian, Vietnamese, Burmese, and one young lady, Claudine Kwizera who was a refugee from Burundi, arriving here only a couple of years ago, whose story of her first fifteen years living in poverty and hunger in that country brought tears to many eyes, redoubled with her joyous expression of gratitude for the change in her circumstances. She opened with a short a cappella piece in her own language, and then gave a stunning performance on her main numbers, a medley of
I Don't Deserve You and
You Raise Me Up.
Olivia Giameos, Lorenzo Ravida, Pria Rusby, Erin Sowerby, Matthew Monti, Eliza Mortimer-Royle, Tascha Jordison, Angelo Ningthangom Swebeth, Estee Kittingan, Svetlana Dias, Mina Nguyen, Zali Sedgman, Walter Buckley, Maybelline San Juan, Billy Beger, Martha Chew, Chelsea Pyman, and Claudine Kwizera have all worked very hard and they can all be proud of their efforts.
As usual, the level of talent was high, and their abilities went beyond the patter and the songs, with a couple, Angelo Ningthangom Swebeth and Estee Kittingan, accompanying themselves on guitar, another, Walter Buckley, on piano, and yet another, Billy Beger, opening his segment on trumpet. There was comedy, poignant moments, serious and light-hearted songs, parodies, and more, in a greatly varied pair of productions. Be sure to put the Class of Cabaret on your list when you are booking shows next year.
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