Review: BERLIN CABARET – ADELAIDE CABARET FRINGE 2025 at Arthur Art Bar

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Sunday 1st June 2025.

Once upon a time, what seems now a very long, long time ago, a production appeared in the Adelaide Fringe that took on a life of its own. The Berlin Cabaret, which took over the premises of the defunct Downtown amusement arcade and renamed it The Weimar Room, became an Adelaide institution. It was an immersive experience. A booth at the entrance exchanged Australian dollars for simply printed German marks, the only currency accepted at the bar.

It became a meeting place for many people, and a regular late-night drop-in centre for tired or jaded critics who were winding down between seeing a performance somewhere in the city, and heading home to write their reviews. It was the brainchild of Torsten Meyer, who backed the show with extensive research into the German Kabarett of the Weimar Republic era. The same core group of performers stayed with the show for a couple of years, performing every Friday night, until the landlords closed them down for the redevelopment of the building.

Unfortunately, some of the original cast were unavailable for this evening, so it was only three of the original cast who came together to serve up some Kabarett. Danielle Gawler, who appeared as Lola, with her highly sought-after pianola, now lives interstate, Matt Gilbertson, who played, and is still playing Hans, at that time dressed in lederhosen, long before adopting his skin-tight sparkling outfits that are made for him by his devoted Mum, is on a cruise ship, and Huw Parham, who created the dim-witted Rudi, apparently declined the invitation to appear.

The MC, Stephen Sheehan, as Klaus, resplendent in top hat and tails, was the first onstage, singing firstly in German, before switching to English with Change the World It Needs It, the Chorus in Bertolt Brecht's The Measures Taken, set to music by Hanns Eisler. He then welcomed the audience, all with the crispest of diction. He was quickly joined in song by Fiona Talbot-Leigh, as Lux, and Catherine Campbell, as his wife, Greta.

The other two left the stage leaving Lux to explain that she loves American songs, launching eventually, after discovering that her voice needed ‘lubricant’, into All of Me, by Gerald Marks and Seymour Simons. Next, Greta gave us songs by Friedrich Hollaender, in German and English: Falling in Love Again, with English lyrics written by Sammy Lerner, and Johnny, both made famous by Marlene Dietrich. With completely different styles, their two wonderful voices and choices of material provided a wonderful contrast between the German and American music of the era.

It hardly needs mentioning that, throughout the evening, there was a lot of humorous interaction with the audience, and much comical banter between the three performers.

Lux was back, making up for the absence of Rudi by singing the song that endeared that character to the audiences two decades ago, using his special way of singing Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off, to plenty of laughter and applause.

With the non-appearance of Lola, Klaus called for somebody to be brought in off the street to replace her. In came a character calling himself ‘The Guru’. I suspect that it might possibly have been an attempt at Dadaism, but it didn’t work. It was, fortunately, soon over, ended by the interruption of Klaus. “We couldn’t have Lola tonight and it might have been better to have had no-one”, he said. We agreed.

The three quickly moved on with, Yes, We Have No Bananas, first in English, then German, and Kurt announced a short interval, but nobody in the audience moved, so they continued without having a break.

Lux came back swinging with a lively rendition of Honeysuckle Rose. Greta, joined by Lux, then sang the feminist anthem, Raus mit den Männern/Chuck All the Men Out of the Reichstag, written by Hollaender in 1926. Greta then turned to Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht, with Bilbao Song, from Happy End, and Lux followed with
Someone to Watch Over Me, that great George Gershwin song from 1926. Everything old is new again, especially in Kabarett. Yes, the audience was singing along to several of the numbers during the evening.

Hollaender’s Illusions segued neatly into The Boys in the Back Room, which he wrote with Frank Loesser, and then came some nonsense chat about what GPS might stand for. I’m Tired, Written by Mel Brooks for the film, Blazing Saddles, fitted in seamlessly with the period songs, and brought forth lots more laughter.

The time flew by and we reached the final number. It was back to 1928 for When You're Smiling, written by Larry Shay, Mark Fisher, and Joe Goodwin. Klaus demanded military precision, Lux wanted to break loose. She won. A great deal of applause from the audience, it was a full house, ended the evening, but many stayed on for another drink and conversation, just like the good old days.

The original Musical Director was the pianist/arranger, Bruce Hancock, a man of great humour who, sadly, is no longer with us. I had the pleasure of filling in from time to time with his jazz group. The trio for this performance, though, was the new Weimar Orkestra, introduced as Jonas, Ezekiel, and Levi, which was actually led by that greatly admired pianist, Dave McEvoy, with Tasha Stevenson on double bass, and Jackson Mack on drums. They provided impeccable backing for the performance.

In the end, those of us who have been following the Berlin Cabaret for over two decades, was extremely happy to be able to relive, once more, those great late-night shows, and those who were newcomers, realised what they had been missing. My guest, who had never seen this performance before, loved every minute. It is such a pity that it was only for one night. Hopefully, there’ll be more revivals in the future.

Australia - Adelaide Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. BONNIE AND CLYDE (The Arts Theatre)

24.3% of votes

2. COME FROM AWAY (The Arts Theatre)

23.1% of votes

3. BILLY ELLIOT (Northern Light Theatre Company)

17.6% of votes

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