After a three year hiatus Auckland’s Cabaret Festival is back and judging from the two shows that opened the season it has been sorely missing from our city’s entertainment line up.
All the Glitters: The Gala Night
Hosted by the marvellous and cheeky Luke Bird, a man who needs several introductions, the show featured a line up of talented singers and kicked off with Rutene Spooner singing the Sinatra classic Luck Be a Lady followed by a hauntingly touching rendition of Stevie Wonder’s For Once in My Life. Spooner’s voice is delightful with an amazing range and great emotions.
Next up was Nikau Grace with a song she penned herself called Lost Memories. She followed that up with a cover of Natural Woman which she absolutely smashed. Grace at 17 years old has a beautiful voice and a gentle stage presence that evokes maturity and also a cool natural charm.
A very different energy came in the form Aussie cabaret star Catherine Alcorn aka The Divine Miss Bette who sizzled on stage, and amongst the audience channeling an irrepressible version of Bette Midler. Truly a seductive and flirtatious bombshell, this diva delivered a very funny, sexy, and energetic tribute to Miss M.
Last up were The Tīwhas, four sassy takataapui sistas with plenty of energy and a lot of pizazz. Their tribute to Matariki was electrifying and the singing fantastic, they followed that up with a superb lip synch dance routine to Katy Perry’s Walking on Air.
All That Glitters was the perfect kick off to two weeks of cabaret goodness!
La Clique
There’s something about cirque/burlesque to show us the incredible physical prowess of the human body and spirit and La Clique delivered a commanding, sexy, and sometimes delightedly zany 70 minutes of performance art.
It started off with Tuedon Ariri from Canada on the aerial straps demonstrating some exciting and delightful acrobatic movements and literally creating a splash with a bathtub of water below her. Heather Holliday from the US created two very spectacular moments – the first involved sword swallowing, the second some fire breathing that that was simply mesmerising.
There were so many other wonderful moments – David Pereira gave a moving routine in the aerial silks accompanied by the haunting aria E lucevan le stelle. He appeared again later in a very cheeky routine that involved him being naked and using a huge amount of shaving cream and a razor. LJ Marles giving a high energy performance in the aerial straps and Ursula Martinez pulling a red hankie out of various places on her body.
By far the whackiest but hilarious moment was provide by Australia’s Tara Boom who’s ‘popcorn’ routine involved a popcorn maker strapped to her head, several hula hoops, and a lot of Olivani spread on her partially naked body. Later in the show, she demonstrated her versatility with a beautifully whimsical set involving several umbrellas and moving them gently with just her feet – magic!
All up La Clique was an edgy, funny, gloriously crazy and masterful show.
LA CLIQUE
3 – 14 June 2025
Civic Theatre, Auckland
