Strange Bedfellows: Under The Covers and In Your Face – Adelaide Cabaret Festival Review

ArtSpace, Fri 6 Jun Accomplished opera singers Jacqui Dark and Kanen Breen have hooked up to produce an extravagant and raunchy performance for the Adelaide Cabaret Festival. Tonight there was a dichotomy of beautiful soft emotive moments and pure debauched riot that either had the audience horrified with laughter or stunned expressions. We will never think of scat singing the same way. Jacqui Dark and Kanen Breen executed their characters individually with depth and glamour. Dark was the kinky, busty Mother and Breen the camp, witty diva. They certainly are strange bedfellows, but why they came to be together remained a mystery. Both were scantily dressed in fishnets, corsets, and black laced underwear, which added to the dark and sultry atmosphere they had created. The music, under the direction of Daryl Wallis, varied from originals to new arrangements of musical theatre, rock and pop music. Highlights included Kanen Breen’s stunning version of Is That All There Is? made famous by Peggy Lee, and Jacqui Dark’s random, but hilarious German operatic version of Tainted Love. Amanda Palmer’s Sing was another fantastic moment between the two. Dark and Breen demonstrated skill and experience in not only their incredible voices, but in their ability to cope with and make jokes about the continuous lighting problems throughout the show. Two stars of the world of opera like you have never seen them before. A filthy, dark, pleasure-filled night of cabaret. Bobby Goudie Strange Bedfellows perform Under The Covers at ArtSpace, Adelaide Festival Centre, at various times until Sun 7 Jun. Book at BASS on 131 241 or bass.net.au. Click HERE to book your tickets. Image courtesy of Kurt Sneddon Blueprint Studios