REVIEW: JUICY RIOT A high-femme variety riot that closed Pride Fest with full-throttle joy.

JUICY RIOT

A high-femme variety riot that closed Pride Fest with heart, voice and full-throttle joy.

JUICY RIOT brought down the curtain on Qtopia Sydney's Pride Fest, and as a closing night, it could not have been better chosen. A month of queer arts and culture across the Oxford Street precinct found its perfect final note in this one-night variety extravaganza, dreamed up and hosted by Victoria Falconer and Kala Gare.

Victoria Falconer commands the room as host with sharp, cheeky energy that is pitched exactly right for this community, and her ability to ad-lib on a dime points to a performer fully in command of her craft Her  theremin solo mid "Ballroom Blitz" is a genuinely unhinged, joyous piece of stagecraft.

Kala Gare proves herself Falconer's equal and sparring partner across the night with her voice, her instrumental work and her opening number, "Shadows of the Night," sets the tone for the evening, and her later love song lands as one of the night's more sincere moments.

 Nancy De Ne is a standout — funny, soulful, and genuinely transformative in performance and voice.  With "Big Ass Beautiful" landing as one of the night's biggest moments.

Adam Noviello draws from his own show House of Rock, offering "I Love Myself," and the original "Touch My Heart," and "Heretic," each delivered with real heart and intent behind the spectacle. A glorious voice.

Guest performer Alessandra delivers an original song about her own coming out that hits with unexpected force for a guest slot.

The cast of Nails the Musical turn up for "Yeah the Girls" and instantly make it feel like a party within the party.

Betty Bombshell's burlesque, built around love and connection, brings glitter and nerve in equal measure.

The finale, "Heaven Is a Place on Earth," is the right closing choice — pure, unfiltered joy, the whole room in it together.

What stays with you isn't any single act, it's the throughline: self-love, relationships, queerness in all its messy, joyful forms, performed by a stage full of aware souls putting heartfelt intent into every beat and note.

It's worth saying plainly: Australian theatre is doing it tough right now, with productions and venues closing at a rate that should worry anyone who loves live performance. A night like this — sold out, electric, unapologetically queer — is exactly why these spaces matter, and exactly why the love and joy in that room was so palpable.

Qtopia built something real with Pride Fest this year, and Juicy Riot was the proof that when community shows up for itself, it is unstoppable.

A riot indeed. A Juicy Beast.

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