Come to the Kew Court House cabaret

We’re turning up the razzle-dazzle this spring with a 4-date cabaret series at Kew Court House.  

It’s curated and kicked off by jazz singer, cabaret artiste and self-described gender-transcendent diva Mama Alto. She’s graced stages from Melbourne to New York to the ABC’s Spicks and Specks, and a sample of her silk-and-velvet voice is preserved in the National Film and Sound Archives. 

As she explains below, audiences can expect the sublime, the ridiculous, and everything in between.

In her words: Mama Alto 

This series brings 4 cabaret vocalists – myself, Joti Van Carlos Gore, Piera Dennerstein and Tomas Parrish – to the Kew Court House stage, uniting with jazz pianist James O’Brien to craft inviting, intriguing and intimate evenings of music, storytelling and connection.  

There is a live-ness, a sparkle, a grit and a flame to the art of cabaret which is enticing and intoxicating! It combines story, song and stage presence to shape moments of human connection – from the sublime to the ridiculous and everything in between.  

It’s up to an audience member to determine what they get out of the show. For some people, it might be simply enjoying the music. For others, they might feel engaged with the story and experiences of the performer – while others might find that the performance actually opens them up to some enlightenments about their own life and the world around them. 

I was exhilarated to have the chance to curate 3 cabaret performances alongside my own for this series.   

Joti effortlessly traverses the tantalising line between classy and raunchy, and his knowledge of legendary 20th-century performers, including his first-hand encounters with them, is second-to-none. 

Piera’s exquisite journey from the stunning world of opera into the glittering belly of cabaret is really emphasised by her stunning voice and her remarkable emotional intelligence. 

And there’s something deeply enchanting and moving about the way Tomas sings, and the emotionally poignant and musically sumptuous experience they create for an audience. 

See Mama Alto on Thursday 3 September, Joti Van Carlos Gore on Thursday 1 October, Tomas Parrish on Thursday 5 November, and Piera Dennerstein on Thursday 26 November. Find out more and book at the links below.