Reuben Kaye, the new Artistic Director of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, has chosen the theme of Delicious Revolution for his inaugural program. (Read our interview with him on page 65.) Speaking to Limelight, he says, “From Aussie icons and international acts of immense fame to basement-dwelling unknowns . . . this is a festival of risks, leaps of faith, huge laughs and bigger heart.” Kaye will host the opening Variety Gala, front a series of free talks and unleash a solo show. He will also join the cast of the recent Australian tour of Jesus Christ Superstar for a night of song and backstage gossip in What’s The Buzz?. Other artists in the festival include Mahalia Barnes, Alfie Boe, Casey Donovan, Vince Jones, Jay Laga’aia, Lime Cordiale with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Em Rusciano and Ursula Yovich, to name just a few.

Limelight Editor’s Choice

Headlining the 2026 Winter Cabaret Season is the premiere of HOUSE OF ROT: GREY GARDENS, starring über-talents Paul Capsis (Cabaret) and Adam Noviello (Hedwig and the Angry Inch).

HOUSE OF ROT is inspired (loosely, dangerously) by Grey Gardens, the documentary that introduced the world to Big and Little Edie; two eccentric recluses who lived in a house slowly falling in on itself.

Created by director Dino Dimitriadis and musical director Victoria Falconer, this is a cabaret invocation, part unholy communion, part elegy in heels.

Weaving original compositions with new interpretations of known songs both contemporary and classic, Capsis and Noviello reckon with legacy, survival, and the spaces we inherit when no one’s looking. Because maybe there’s a way to live inside collapse. Because grief and fury, if left untouched, will eat through the floor.