Now in its 4th year Oxtravaganza, an off-shoot of the Mardi Gras Festival, is growing in all directions and in addition to the special deals offered by Oxford St retailers, restaurants and bars, this year sees a cabaret component programmed especially for Oxtravaganza, starring some of Australia’s most radical and entertaining underground performance artists.
Two shows FAILING IN LOVE AGAIN and CABARET OXTRAVAGANZA will be headlining at Ginger’s and Stonewall respectively over the weekend of Oxtravaganza (Saturday 22nd February). The Cabaret offering, curated by John Allen, is inspired by the past, and relevant to the now. Failing in Love Again and Cabaret Oxtravaganza guarantee riotous, entertainment and subversive performances. “In honouring Oxford St’s history it was important not just to remember the past, but also to be relevant today,” says Allen. “I invited cabaret veteran Vashti Hughes to choose the best of our queer contemporary performers and the result is the brilliant subversive and confronting Cabaret Oxtravaganza” he said.
MC’d by Vashti the show stars chanteuse glorieuse Christa Hughes, the Queen of Burlesque Imogen Kelly, sex clown Betty Grumble, the hot and hilarious Celia Curtis, and Tim Hanson, political singing marvel. “Sydney's Legends of the Subverted will be bringing you a night of raucous wrongness,” says Vashti “Think sexy, we will celebrate strangeness and absurdity in a night of joy and hilarity led by performing athletic debauchery!”
Allen also invited Jan Cornall and Elizabeth Drake to revisit their hit show Failing In Love Again. “This was a hit show that expressed the zeitgeist of the 70’s and 80’s era and remains just as funny, relevant and insightful today,” said Johnny. It’s a political cabaret for modern times about sex, love, and the whole damn thing!
Singer Jan Cornall and pianist Elizabeth Drake, self-confessed survivors of the sexual revolution, will return to the stage to shock and delight audiences with their eighties cult hit cabaret. Says Allen “All these years on, their anti-normative message is more relevant than ever! In an increasingly identity aligned, post binary, peri-apocalyptic world, one thing is for sure — love’s casualties are still strewn all over the place.” Whatever your age, era or inclination; be prepared to be knocked off your seats with self-recognition.